There are many examples of 'comédie larmoyante' in both French and Italian opera where it gave birth to the genre of opera semiseria: André Grétry's Lucile, Nicolas Dalayrac's Nina, ou La folle par amour, Pasquale Anfossi's La vera costanza (1776) and Joseph Haydn's work of the same name (1779).
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Thomas Heywood's masterpiece, A Woman kilde with kindnesse (acted 1603; printed 1607), can be considered a forerunner of this genre.
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The innovation consisted in destroying the sharp distinction then existing between tragedy and comedy in French literature.
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