Reading Quiz Chapter 18

) Who demanded some changes to the story of Rigoletto?

the italian censors

) For what purpose did Wagner use thematic transformation in his leitmotivs?

to show a person or idea developing and changing through the drama

From which source(s) did Wagner draw the stories for The Nibelung's Ring?

Germanic (or Norse) legends

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

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 serious drama?

Wagner

Which composer's operas and Anti-Semitic writings were later taken by the Nazis 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

In what kind of plots did Puccini specialize?

portraits of helpless women in hopeless situations

The Bel Canto style emphasizes what?

Beautiful singing

) Which composer who wrote in the bel canto style is thought of as having the most refined techniques and whose melodious operas were particularly admired by Verdi?

Bellini

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

Famous novels and plays, especially Shakespeare's plays

What is Cho-Cho-San singing about in the Aria "Un bel di"?

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

(Q024) Who are the main characters in The Valkyrie?

Siegmund and Sieglinde

What is Rigoletto's plot?

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

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

The Nibelung's Ring

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

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

One of the important Romantic themes that made the 19th century the golden age of opera was

The idea that music was the most profound of all the arts

(Q023) In late Romantic opera, what happened to recitative and aria?

The line between recitative and aria became blurred and harder to maintain.

(Q025) Where do the leitmotivs appear in Wagner's music dramas?

They appear almost exclusively in the orchestra.

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

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

What was Wagner's first completed music drama?

Tristan and Isolde

Who composed the Opera Rigoletto?

Verdi