La Gazza Ladra belongs to a very important transitional genre, the “opera semiseria.” Literally the term means “half-serious.” In practice it means that the characters are drawn from the world of “opera buffa” - villagers, ordinary working-class people, not nobles drawn from history - but serious things happen. The heroine of La Gazza is tried and condemned for theft, and is on her way to the gallows when rescue arrives (yes, the titular magpie was the real thief of the missing silver). This “slice of life” approach paved the way for everything from La Traviata to Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci, all treating subjects that would have been impossible for the earlier concept of “opera seria.”