Even in the eighteenth century, the opera was associated with the court, and its creators were supposed not only to provide entertainment, but above all, they had to satisfy the tastes of the court audience. Therefore, the number of comic operas created at that time is not surprising. The process of change in the field of opera intensified at the end of the 18th century, when the two largest opera centers to date, Italy and France, slowly began to give way to others. A realistic picture of opera life in the first half of the 19th century in Europe was left by Karol Kurpiński, who in 1823 set off on a journey to get to know major European theaters in Vienna, Dresden, Berlin, Paris, Milan, Rome, Florence and Naples. He wrote down his remarks on the musical life of the visited cities in his "Journey Diary" to use them on his return for the Polish scene in Warsaw.