| Preface and Acknowledgments | |
| Editorial Policies | |
| Abbreviations | |
| Introduction | 3 |
| Pt. 1 | Opera Buffa as Entertainment | |
| Ch. 1 | Opera Buffa as Sheer Pleasure | 27 |
| Ch. 2 | Opera Buffa's Conservative Frameworks | 52 |
| Ch. 3 | Opera Buffa's Social Reversals | 71 |
| Pt. 2 | The Closed Musical Numbers of Opera Buffa and Their Social Implications | |
| Ch. 4 | Arias: Some Issues | 95 |
| Ch. 5 | Class and Gender in Arias: Five Aria Types | 110 |
| Ch. 6 | Ensembles | 156 |
| Ch. 7 | Beginning and Ending Together: Introduzioni and Finales | 196 |
| Pt. 3 | Cosi Fan Tutte le Opere? A Masterwork in Context | |
| Ch. 8 | Cosi fan tutte in Conversation | 247 |
| Ch. 9 | Cosi fan tutte and Convention | 273 |
| App. 1 | Operas Consulted | 299 |
| App. 2 | Musical Forms in Opera Buffa Arias | 305 |
| App. 3 | Plot Summaries for I finti eredi, Le gare generose, and L'incognita perseguitata | 309 |
| Works Cited | 313 |
| Index | 323 |
