Jommelli’s last Stuttgart opera was _Fetonte_.[5] When he returned to Italy in 1769 he found the public mad with enthusiasm over a new _opera buffa_ entitled _Cecchina, ossia la buona figliuola_. In Rome it was played in all the theatres, from the largest opera house down to the marionette shows patronized by the poor. Fashions were all _alla Cecchina_; houses, shops, and wines were named after it, and a host of catch-words and phrases from its text ran from lip to lip. ‘It is probably the work of some boy,’ said the veteran composer, but after he had heard it--‘Hear the opinion of Jommelli--this is an inventor!’ The boy inventor of _Cecchina_ was Nicola Piccini, another Neapolitan, born in 1728, pupil of Leo and Durante, who was destined to become the most famous Italian composer of his day, though his works have not survived to our time. His debut had been made in 1754 with _Le donne dispettose_, followed by a number of other settings of Metastasio texts. We are told that he found difficulty in getting hearings at first, because the comic operas of Logroscino monopolized the stage. Already, then, composers were forced into the _opera buffa_ with its greater vitality and variety. Piccini’s contribution to its development was the extension of the duet to greater dramatic purpose, and also of the concerted finale first introduced by Logroscino. We shall meet him again, as the adversary of Gluck. Of hardly less importance than he were Tommaso Traetto (1727-1779), ‘the most tragic of the Italians,’ who surpassed his contemporaries and followers in truth and force of expression, and in harmonic strength; Pietro Guglielmi (1727-1804), who with his 115 operas gained the applause of all Italy, of Dresden, of Brunswick, and London; Antonio Sacchini (1734-1786), who, besides grace of melody, attained at times an almost classic solidity; and Giovanni Paesiello (1741-1816), whose decided talent for _opera buffa_ made him the successful rival of Piccini and Cimarosa.