MUS 220 Midterm

Dramma per musica

(Generic for Italian 17th Cent.) Early lyric drama that was a precursor of opera

Opera buffa

(Italian, 'comic opera') Eighteenth-century GENRE of Italian comic OPERA, sung throughout; began in Naples in 1720 a genre of opera featuring light, often domestic subjects with tuneful melodies , comic situations and happy endings; entirely sung, no spoken dialogue; featured down to earth characters and fast paced plots.

Bass continuo

(in baroque music) an accompanying part that includes a bass line and harmonies, typically played on a keyboard instrument and with other instruments such as cello or bass viol

Masque

16th and 17th century opera involving music and dancing, singing and acting, within an elaborate stage design

Opera in Venice

17th century opera; First time opera was commercial Rich nobles wanted to promote their city through opera Based off of historical events involving the emperor Nero, Seneca, Poppaea, Octavia and Agrippina (the FIRST historical opera) Venice wanted to show that they were not only the inheritors of the glories of ancient Rome but were actually better than ancient Rome Nerone was sung by a castrato

Opera seria

18th century genre of Italian opera on a serious subject (historical stories common) but normally with a happy ending; Most of Europe; Handel and his colleagues- de capo opera

Opera

A large musical drama including arias, recitatives, ensembles and orchestra. It combines poetry, acting, scenery, and costumes with singing and instrumental music

Ritornello

A short instrumental refrain or interlude in a vocal work

Aria

A song for solo voice usually with instrumental accompaniment

Da capo aria

A very specific Baroque form of aria Written in a ternary form, ABA, with the A and B sections significantly contrasting De capo used in Ariodante (1735 by Handel) Mozart doesn't have a lot of them

Libretto

All of the words of an opera

Coloratura

Elaborate singing involving vocal runs, trills and leaps (One of the most virtuosic aspects of opera) Prolonging the words in an aria Seen in Ariodante (by Handel in 1735)

Handel

German but moved to Italy 1710 started his own opera company Produced "Ariodante" in 1735 Ariodante- Ariodante comes from Orlando furioza; aria heavy; follow de capo aria ABA; very formulaic; exit aria; tons of coloratura

Opera under Louis XIV

Had the idea to keep all the rebels (nobles) occupied in the arts Decided that only he could produce opera in France At first, he didn't think opera in French was possible Reacted against Italian opera yet still had some elements of Italian opera; wanted French dance to be a big part of French opera

Commedia dell'arte (and opera)

Improvised mini play

Jean Baptiste Lully (French)

Italian born French composer and violinist Changed his name Lots of French dance No castrati Informed by French theater Used higher register voices but not castrati, kind of like counter-tenors _____called his operas "musical tragedies" French recicative was less choppy and less speech-like Not a ton of coloratura, more deliberate than Italian Repeated basso continuo is reflective of pleasure Armide (1686)- "Le perfide Renault me fuit"; based on an Italian story by Torquato Tasso; The orchestra can serve as background noise that the character hears or as an embodiment of their thoughts/emotions

Mozart

Music heavily influenced by the Enlightenment in 1750's doesn't have many de capo arias (ABA) uses orchestra to its full potential for characterization uses the music to say a lot instead of dialogue based on commedia dell'arte Figaro based off play almost all the characters are on stage by the end of the opera give and take between vocal lines and characters sometimes uses static harmony to indicate frozen moment in time also wrote singspiel (spoken dialogue and singing written in German) even though he mainly wrote in Italian

Dramatick Opera

Semi opera

Origins of opera

Started in Mantua (Italy was made up of city-states); All these city-states were ruled by very rich families Humanism (how can we learn about ourselves (humanity), read the ancients like Vergil, Ovid and also Greek writings, Create a way of singing that was actually how it was like in ancient Greece, Opera could take the notion of the ancient world to life: orpheus doesn't just stand there, he sings) Opera Euridice was actually made for a wedding (commissioned by the Medici family) Originally opera was based off of Greek tragedy

Recitative

Sung narrative which propels the action of the story Speech in an opera

Castrato

Type of classical male singing voice equivalent to that of a soprano, mezzo-soprano, or contralto. (think castration) Used so men would keep their high voices

Tragédie en musique (Tragéde lyrique)

a genre of French opera introduced by Jean-Baptiste Lully (Rameau) and used by his followers until the second half of the 18th century