Music ch. 18

Who was the main Italian opera composer after Verdi?

Puccini

Which composer complained that opera had degenerated into a concert in costume when it should be a serious drama?

Wagner

Which composer's operas and anti-Semitic writings were later taken up by the Nazi's in the 20th century?

Wagner

What is Gesamtkunstwerk?

Wagner's term for "the total work of art," in which music, drama, poetry, philosophy, acting, and stage design all have an equal part

Romantic composers of opera viewed opera as

a form of serious drama in music.

For the plots of their operas, many Romantic composers drew from

famous novels and plays, especially Shakespeare's plays

A musical motive that is associated with a particular person, idea, thing, or symbol in a drama, and that helps guide the listener through the story, is called a

leitmotiv.

What did Wagner call the new style of opera that he developed?

music drama

Wagner's opera "The Valkyrie" is one of four parts un the larger music drama called

"The Nibelung's Ring."

The "bel canto" style emphasizes what?

Beautiful singing

What is Cho-Cho-San singing about in the aria "Un bel dì"?

She is fantasizing about Lieutenant Pinkerton's return, which she is sure will happen one day

Which describes the plot of "Rigoletto"?

The Duke seduces Gilda, the daughter of his court jester. Her father hires an assassin to kill the Duke, but Gilda is tragically killed instead.

In what way did the orchestra's role greatly change in the 19th century opera?

The full orchestra's role expanded to accompany passages of recitative with active music that urged the singers on

How did opera audiences' tastes change in the period following Verdi and Wagner?

They wanted more modern-day, realistic subjects about regular people

Who composed the opera "Rigoletto"?

Verdi