Intermission used to be more than a 15-minute block of time for the performers to take a breather and the audience to use the restrooms.

A couple of centuries ago, it was the highlight of the evening, the acme of the night, the pinnacle of the performance.

During the 18th century, an art form called the “intermezzo” swept through Europe, influencing period gurus such as Mozart and Haydn to join in the fun. A spin-off of the traditional opera, the form had a lot in common with the real thing, despite a few differences.

“It’s a lot shorter,” said bass singer Peter Van De Graaff. “It lasts only about 50 minutes. And a lot of times, operas are about serious things and people who are bigger than life. This is about peasants, simple people, and it’s easier to relate to.”

Van De Graaff added that most operas are about serious, emotional literary works, whereas comic intermezzos were written using slapstick comedy. Also, comic intermezzos only called for two to three cast members, instead of a 20-plus roster.

Due to these differences, comic intermezzos were given special treatment. Most full-length operas that were written during the 1700s included three acts with two intermissions. During those intermissions, a two-act intermezzo, which was completely unrelated to the main opera, would be performed.

“It was kind of like a commercial break,” related soprano Kathleen Van De Graaff. “It eventually began to be performed on its own because it was so popular.”

Eventually, the intermezzos expanded into what is now the comic opera and faded from the opera scene, embedded in the past.

“One of the reasons it’s not done as much anymore is because it’s such a short thing — it doesn’t make an entire opera,” she said.

However, the Van De Graaffs are trying to change that.

For the past 14 years, the husband and wife duo has been trying to resurrect the comic intermezzo, bringing its lecture/performance presentation to concert halls across America.

The couple averages about eight performances a year that feature a 25-minute lecture followed by an example of a comic intermezzo.

Because the art form isn’t performed consistently, the two singers had to do extensive research before they started sharing their treasure.

“We had to go to many libraries in Europe, looking for the manuscripts from old intermezzi and transcribing them ourselves,” Peter Van De Graaff remembers.

The intermezzo the duo plans to perform on Saturday, which is titled “Miride e Damari” by Johann Adolphe Hasse, has hardly been performed anywhere in the United States. Van De Graaff predicted that Saturday night’s performance of the jewel will definitely be its Iowa premiere.

Joining the singers will be a group of period musicians from across the Midwest who have mastered special instruments indigenous to the 1700s.

“They’re some of the top period musicians in the United States,” Van De Graaff noted.

One of the specific things that separates the period instruments from modern instruments is the fact that they are played a half step lower. Though this may seem like an inconvenience for the singers, the Van De Graaffs contend that the pitch depression feels right for this particular style of music.

“We’ve done this a number of times at modern pitch,” Van De Graaff says. “It’s so much easier a half step lower. It makes sense; we prefer a period pitch.”

The couple added that the flattened pitch might come in handy when they conduct a master class for high school students Saturday morning.

“By that time in the morning, it will be great to have [the pitch] a little lower,” Kathleen Van De Graaff laughed.