Opera (baroque and classical style)

Opera Buffa (comic opera)

comes from comedia del arte

preludes

orchestral introductions to acts in the opera other than the first

librettist

person who writes the text of the opera

opera

drama that is sung to orchestral accompaniment

chorus

generates atmosphere and makes comments on the action. their sound creates a kind of tonal background for the soloists

prompter

gives cues and reminds the singers of words or pitches if they momentarily forget

intermezzo

musical interludes inserted in between acts of the spoken play - They accustomed Italian theatrical audiences to having music in the theater. - They allowed Italian composers to compose for the solo voice in a manner that they otherwise might not have had the opportunity to do.

overture

purely orchestral composition that most operas open with - The overture is a short musical statement that involves the audience in the overall dramatic mood.

Venetian Opera (1700)

"Venetian opera had thrown dignity into the canals and was busy encrusting Latin history with a scandalous, picaresque confusion of plot. It had completely debased recitative in favor of painfully simple arias and had completely eliminated the chorus. It was the worst period of Italian opera." - Joseph Kerman -

the elements of Opera

- An opera has from one to five acts subdivided into scenes - A single act presents a variety of vocal and orchestral contrast - A section may end definitely, or it may be linked with next section to form a continuous flow of music within the act

JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU (1712-1778)

- Co-writer of the French encyclopedia - Rousseau's Beleifs: He claimed that opera seria plots and characteristics were as hopelessly artificial as their complicated and overblown music. He insisted that only an operatic genre that portrayed real people in real life, singing natural music, could be relevant to the humanistic spirit of the Enlightenment.

The earliest, fully sung stage work to have survived

- Composer: Jacopo Peri - Poet: Ottavio Rinuccini - Euridice, Premiere: October 6, 1600 - It was composed for the wedding fo King Henri IV of France and Marie de' Medici and was performed in Florence

the elements of Opera

- Dance in opera is generally incidental. It provides an ornamental interlude that contrasts the plot.

HENRY PURCELL (1659-1695) (English)

- Dido and Aeneas (1689) - Dido's Lament - Libretto by Nahum Tate - Characters are: Dido, queen fo Carthage; and Aeneas, king of the defeated Trojans. - After the destruction of his native Troy, Aeneas has been ordered by the gods to seek a site for building a new city. He sets out on the search with twenty-one ships. After landing at Carthage, a north African seaport, Aeneas falls in love with Dido. A sorceress and two witches see this as an opportunity to plot Dido's downfall. A false messenger tells Aeneas that the gods command him to leave Carthage immediately and renew his search. Aeneas agrees but is desolate at the thought of Dido. - In the act, which takes place at the harbor, Aeneas's sailors sing and dance before leaving, and the witches look on in glee. An emotional scene follows between Aeneas and Dido, who enters with her friend Belinda. Dido calls Aeneas a hypocrite and refuses his offer to stay. After he sails, Dido sings a noble, deeply tragic lament and kills herself. The opera concludes with the mourning of the chorus.

the elements of Opera

- In an opera, characters and plot are revealed through song, rather than the speech used in ordinary drama. - In opera, the music is the drama, and the flow of the music carries the plot forward.

the elements of Opera

- Opera characters are people overwhelmed by love, lust, hatred and revenge. They wear fantastic costumes and commit extraordinary acts of violence. - Through the music, the composer paces the drama, controlling the speed of gestures, entrances, exits, and stage movements. - Some operas are serious, some comic, some both. - Operas may contain spoken dialogue, but most are entirely sung. Spoken dialogue is used mainly in comic opera.

Opera in the Baroque Era

- Opera was born in Italy. A group of nobles, poets, and composers began to meet regularly in Florence around 1575 and prepared the grounds for developing a new vocal musical form by fusing theater and music. This group was known as the CAMERATA (Italian for fellowship or society) - The Camerata wanted to create a new vocal style modeled on the music of ancient Greek tragedy. The Camerata wanted the vocal line to follow the rhythms and pitch fluctuations of speech. - The new vocal style became known as RECITATIVE. It was sung by a soloist with only a simple chordal accompaniment. Therefore the music was homophonic in texture.

W.A. MOZART (1756-1791)

- Operas: 9 opera seria 7 opera buffa 6 singsipiels - While Italian operas are entirely sung, the German operas include spoken dialogue. - The comic operas contain both humorous and serious characters. The major characters are not mere stereotypes but human beings who think and feel. - Emotions in Mozart's arias and ensembles are not static, they continuously evolve and change.

CLAUDIO MONTEVERDI (1567-1643) (Italian)

- The Orfeo (Orpheus, 1607) - Recitative: Drammi per musica (dramas with music) - Orpheus, the supremely gifted musician of Greek myth. - Orpheus, son of the god Apollo, is ecstatically happy after his marriage to Eurydice. - But his joy is shattered when his bride is killed by a poisonous snake. - Orpheus goes down to Hades hoping to bring her back to life. - Because of his beautiful music, he is granted this privilege - on the condition that he not look back at Eurydice while leading her out of Hades. - During a moment of anxiety, however, Orpheus does look back, and Eurydice vanishes. - Nonetheless, there is a happy ending, of sorts. - Apollo pities Orpheus and brings him up to heaven, where he can gaze eternally at Eurydice's radiance in the sun and stars. - Eurydice is dead and that terrible news was brought to Orpheus by a grieving nymph Sylvia. - Sylvia greatly scared and sorrowful that she needs to be a bad messenger entered the room where Orpheus was mingling with his friends in anticipation for the approaching wedding. They take one look at her and they freeze. What ever happened it can not possible be good. - In aria, real time stops. - In an aria librettist provides words that pause and reflects, and a composer creates a music that interprets and deepens the emotions behind those words.

Voice elements of the Opera

- The basic voice range SATB are divided more finely in opera. Some of the voice categories of opera are as follows: WOMEN 1. Coloratura soprano - very high range; can execute rapid scales and trills 2. Lyric soprano - rather light voice; sings roles calling for grace and charm 3. Dramatic soprano - full, powerful voice; is capable of passionate intensity MEN 4. Lyric tenor - relatively light, bright voice 5. Dramatic tenor - powerful voice; is capable of passionate intensity 6. Basso Buffo - takes comic roles; can sing very rapidly 7. Basso profondo - very low range, powerful voice; takes roles calling for great dignity

Ensembles

- The forward - moving action of recitative - The melodic contour of aria - Accompanied non-stop by the orchestra

W.A. MOZART

DON GIOVANNI (Don Juan) (1787) - a unique blend of comic and serious opera, combining seduction and slapstick with violence and supernatural - Mozart librettist for Don Giovanni was Leorenzo De Ponte (1749-1838) - He was friend of Casanova - The Don attempts to rape a young noblewoman, Donna Anna; her father, the Commendatore (Commandant), challenging him to a duel. Don Giovanni kills the old man, causing Donna Anna and her fiancé, Don Ottavio to swear revenge. Pursued by his enemies, Don Giovanni deftly engages in new amorous adventures. - During one of them, he hides in a cemetery, where he sees a marble statue of the dead Commandant. The unearthly statue utters threatening words, but Don Giovanni brazenly invites it to dinner. When the statue appears at the banquet hall, it orders the Don to repent. Don Giovanni defiantly refuses and is dragged down to hell. - A comic, patter-style aria by Laporello - A dramatic trio - A tragic trio - A dry recitative

the elements of Opera

ONSTAGE ARE: - Star solo singers - Secondary soloists - A chorus - Sometimes dancers (all in costumes) - There may be "supers" (supernumeraries or "extras") ORCHESTRA PIT: - The instrumentalists and the conductor, whose great responsibility is to hold everything together

aria

a song for solo voice with orchestral accompaniment - The action stops while the character's feelings are revealed through music. - It is a complete piece with definite beginning, high point, and end

recitative

a vocal line that imitates the rhythms and pitch fluctuations of speech - Opera composers often lead into an aria with a recitative. - In recitative words are sung quickly and clearly, often on repeated tones. - Recitative is used for monologues and dialogues that connect the more melodic sections of the opera

Opera Seria (serious opera)

started with a librettist named PIETRO METASTASIO (1698-1782) - "Metastasio's scheme was fatally easy for (other librettists to emulate) and for composers with small talents to set to music, and it did not simulate the higher faculities of great composers, while great and small were equally at the mercy of singers." - Sir Donald Francis Tovey

libretto

text (we do not call it text or script in the opera)

ground bass or basso ostinato (obstinate or persistent bass)

the repeated musical idea - Often in baroque works, a musical idea in the bass is repeated over and over while the melodies above it change.

emsemble

when three or more singers are involved in the main song or aria the composition is called...