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A musical dramatic work in which the
actors sing some or all of their parts; a union of
music, drama and spectacle, with music normally
playing a dominant role.
Baroque
Antecedents of opera indude the
intermedio, but the earliest operas staged by the
group of 'camerata' around patrons in
Florence were courtly entertainments in the form
of the pastorale. The spread of the new "stile
rappresentativo" to other Italian courts began
with Monteverdi's
"Orfeo" (Mantua, 1607). As
opera became a public entertainment, from 1637 at
Venice, its content and structure changed to meet
the demands of new audiences. A more
accessible type of opera can be seen in the
romantic dramas of Faustini which Cavalli set in
1642-52 with expressive recitative and fluid
arias.
By the 1660s
- the aria structure in opera had become
standardized as either ABA or ABB;
- the proportion of arias increased as arioso
became less promiment and recitative less
melodic.
- Plots and action became more varied and
violent and spectacular stage effects were
featured.
- The Venetian repertory and the operatic
style of Cavalli, Sartorio, Pallavicino,
Legrenzi and others spread elsewhere, partly
through the activities of travelling troupes.
In 1650 one of these, the Febiarmonici, took
opera to Naples, a city soon to rival Venice
as a centre for and disseminator of opera.
By 1700 opera in Italy had been more or less
standardized in a form familiar from the
middle-period works of Alessandro
Scarlatti:
- a three-movement overture followed by three
acts,
- each consisting of a succession of sharply
differentiated recitatives and arias (almost
invariably ternary, ABA, in structure),
- with the occasional duet or ensemble and a
final "coro" for the entire cast.
The situation in France was somewhat different. French
opera,
- as seen in the tragedies lyriques
of Lully,
- was essentially a court spectacle,
- predominantly on legendary or mythological
themes,
- and in five acts,
- with big choral and ceremonial scenes
reflecting the magnificence and social order
of the age of Louis XIV.
France and Germany both imported Italian opera in
the later 17th century, and there were attempts at
German-language opera, especially at Hamburg,
where an opera house had opened in 1678, Keiser
was the leading figure and Handel
wrote his first operas.
In England, French influence was at first
dominant in the 'semi-opera' with spoken
dialogue; all-sung English operas, of which Purcell's
"Dido and Aeneas" is the outstanding
17th-century example, were to be a rarity until
well after 1900.
In the early 18th century there was a reaction
in Italy against the alleged extravagance,
over-elaboration and confusions of the
17th-century libretto; this was initiated by
Zeno and completed after 1720 by Metastasio,
whose opera
seria librettos were set by numerous
composers throughout the 18th century, including
Vinci, Leo, Porpora, Hasse, Jommelli, Paisiello
and Cimarosa. (Handel, whose mature
operas were written for London and lie off the
mainstream of the Italian tradition, set only
three of them, adjusted to his requirements.)
Metastasio's librettos
- serve as a model of the prevailing
rationalist philosophy,
- the action moving through conflicts and
misunderstandings to an inevitable "lieto
fine" (happy ending),
- in which merit receives its due reward,
- often brought about through an act of
renunciation by a benevolent despot.
- The music is equally orderly, largely an
altemation of recitatives (in which the action
takes place) and arias (in which the
characters give vent to their emotional
states).
It is, however, important to realize that in 18th-century
opera, particularly as given in public opera
houses,
- the composer was not the dominant figure he
was to become:
- operas were usually put together by house
composers and poets,
- often drawing on several composers' music,
old and new,
- to suit the available singers, who (then as
now) were the chief draw - above all the
castratos and the sopranos.
Classic
As the century went on, the structure of
opera seria was again challenged, this time from
below. Lighter forms of opera, such as
- opera buffa
in Italy,
- opéra
comique or comédie mêlée d'ariettes in
France,
- ballad opera
or comic opera in England and
- Singspiel
in Germany,
came from humble beginnings to flourish alongside
opera seria and even to penetrate its substance.
Serious opera began to change
- in the direction of freer choice and more
imaginative treatment of subject matter,
- reflected in the music by modifications of
the strict da capo
- and the rise of new aria forms,
- greater use of accompanied recitatives
- and of the chorus,
- and in the end a virtual fusion of the
formerly distinct French and Italian
characteristics.
The 'reforms' of Traetta, Jommelli and especially
Gluck
("Orfeo ed Euridice", 1762) were stages in
this process; the final stage is best represented
by the operas of Mozart from "Idomeneo"
(1781), including his three with Da Ponte with
their many ensembles (including extended act
finales, following the Venetian reforms of the
poet Goldoni and the composer Galuppi) which bring
a new emotional weight to comic opera. Two-act
form came to be preferred, especially in comic
opera, at this period. (See also The
Operas
of Mozart)
By the early 19th century, even 'serious' opera
had moved from its earlier aristocratic milieu
into the great public theatres with their mass
audiences. One manifestation of this was the
popularity of 'rescue' operas, of which Beethoven's
"Fidelio" (1805) is the best known.
Popular audiences were undoubtedly an
influential factor in the growth of French grand
opera, with its emotion-charged plots, colourful
orchestration and massive choral numbers; this
is seen at its most successful in the
collaboration between the librettist Scribe and
the composer Meyerbeer. Nature and the
supernatural entered into the substance of the
drama, particularly in Germany with Weber,
Marschner and others.
Romantic
While Italian serious opera as
cultivated by Rossini,
Donizetti
and Verdi
remained relatively conservative, there was a move
towards greater musical continuity during the 19th
century. The rigid separation of recitative and
aria was gradually broken down, and virtually
eliminated in the Wagnerian
music
drama, with its 'endless melody' and
elaborate system of leitmotifs,
and (in a different way) in the final works of
Verdi and the verismo
operas of his Italian successors, above all Puccini.
Italian
Early Romantic opera in Italy retained
a series of recitatives, arias, duets, and
choruses, with little dramatic continuity.
Later in the century, mainly under the influence
of Verdi, it showed:
- greater dramatic unity
- better-developed characters
- and more credible plots.
- These plots were often quasidramatic, but
there was a general improvement in quality.
- The recitative and aria were still the
principal closed forms,
- with melody in the popular bel
canto style
- and an emphasis on virtuosity.
- There was also greater balance among
voices and instruments,
- but the orchestra still served as
accompaniment.
Another development in Italian Romantic opera
was the style embraced by Leoncavallo,
Mascagni, and Puccini, know as
"verismo," or realism. Realism was not
limited to music. It was also shown in
the choice of libretti that presented subjects
from everyday life and depicted people in
familiar situations. (See The
Operas
of Puccini)
German
Opera in Germany presented two
significant styles: 1) German Romantic
opera and 2) music drama, the
latter conceived and developed by Richard
Wagner.
In German Romantic opera,
- the libretti were often based on German
legends and folklore,
- with the mystery of nature and
supernatural forces serving to intensify
dramatic expression.
- The recitatives
and arias
in German Romantic operas were distinct
forms and were sometimes based on folk song
or melodies in folk style.
"Melodrama" (instrumentally accompanied
speech), sometimes an independent form, was used
for special effects.
Two traits of the music drama were exhibited
to some degree in the German romantic opera.
- The orchestra became a powerful
instrument in creating atmosphere, moods,
and even bits of realism.
- There was also a prototype of the music
dramas' "leitmotif," in which particular
instruments and melodies are used to
identify and characterize individuals.
The ideal of music-drama, or the art
of the future as it was called by Wagner,
was that of an art form in which all the arts
were woven into one cohesive and continuous
line of dramatic expression.
- Wagner continued the German tradition but
developed his own stories, drawing heavily
upon German myths and folklore.
- His libretti were filled with romantic
mysticism and supernaturalism, and almost
all were concerned with the concept of
redemption through love.
- There were few closed forms, such as
recitative and aria.
- The vocal line became a continuous melody
rising out of an orchestral fabric that was
also continuous, without usual cadences.
- The leitmotif unified the
sonorous and tension-filled musical
texture. The Wagnerian leitmotif was a
musical figure that was associated with a
particular idea, person, object, mood, or
situation.
- Because Wagner used the orchestra as the
main source of dramatic expression, his
operas are symphonic in nature.
Consequently, it has been possible to have
successful concert performances of much of
his music without staging or vocal parts.
(See also The
Operas
and Music Dramas of Wagner)
French
Opera in 19th-century France showed
some characteristics that were different from
the Italian. French grand opera
- treated historical subjects
- and was an art form of excess.
- The stage sets were grandiose,
- casts were very large,
- and the libretti were generally of great
length.
- The entire text was sung.
- The chorus and ballet
were extensively used as in earlier French
opera.
Meyerbeer, a German, was the most
important composer in this form.
During the early part of the century there
was a marked distinction between grand opera
and "opéra comique," but as Romanticism
matured, the two styles merged into one.
"Opéra comique" was generally
distinguished from grand opera by:
- use of some spoken dialogue instead of a
continuous musical texture.
- Generally it was simpler in musical
expressiveness,
- used fewer characters, and
- compared with earlier French opera,
relied very little on the chorus.
In the French lyric opera the
theatrical aspect and the simple forms of
"opéra comique" were combined with virtuosity
and drama of the grand opera. A
particular trait in all French opera was the
ballet, and it became even more important
during the Romantic era. There was:
- unity of dramatic action with the music
that was seldom found in the Italian style.
- There was also less virtuosity with more
emphasis on the lyric quality of melody.
- Moreover, French Romantic opera rarely
displayed the intensity and passion of
either the Italian or the German
- but was more conservative in its music
and in its dramatic content.
Nationalistic
In addition to Italian, French, and
German operas, there were operatic developments
in those countries where nationalism was strong,
especially in Russia and Bohemia. These
operas were
- also based on folklore
- or upon events of national significance
- with nationally important personages.
Composers such as Mussorgsky
(Boris Godunov) in Russia
created works that are
- highly original,
- with great dramatic power
- but without using the closed forms of the
the Italians and without imitating Wagner.
20th Century
Similar examples in the 20th century
were the operas of Janacek
and, on an epic scale, Prokofiev's
"War and Peace".
The underlying note of 20th-century opera is tragedy,
whether conveyed in terms of
- symbolism (as in Debussy's
"Pelleas et Melisande")
- expressionism (Strauss's
"Salome" and "Elektra", Schönberg's
"Erwartung")
- naturalism ("Peter Grimes" and
other operas by Britten)
- fantasy (Prokofiev's "The Love for
Three Oranges",
Ravel's "L'enfant et les sortilèges")
- allegory (Tippett's
"The Midsummer Marriage")
- grotesque comedy (Shostakovich's
"The Nose")
- patriotism (Prokofiev's "War and
Peace")
- irony (Stravinsky's
"The Rake's Progress", the last and greatest
neoclassical opera)
- political or philosophical tract
(Henze's "Der junge Lord" and "The Bassarids")
- personal epic (Stockhausen's
cycle on the days of the week).
New operas continue to be composed, but the
expense of staging them and the difficulty of
reconciling advanced forms of musical utterance
with the requirements of the traditional opera
house and its audience have induced many composers
to prefer chamber opera or other kinds of music
theatre susceptible to concert, 'workshop' or
experimental production.
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