Opera History Midterm

stile rappresentativo

“Acting style” - 17th century -through composed music for dialogue and narrative, follows text stresses with expressive harmonies- continuous melody

Euridice

1600)—the first extant full-length opera: libretto by Ottavio Rinuccini, music by Jacopo Peri with additions by Giulio Caccini; presented at the Pitti Palace in Florence as part of the wedding festivities for King Henri IV of France and Marie de' Medici
(1600; perf. 1602)—Caccini soon composed his own Euridice (to the same Rinuccini libretto) to challenge Peri's setting (the two were bitter rivals); Peri's opera is generally considered more dramatic, Caccini's more lyrical; both are recitative operas, proceeding almost totally in stile rappresentativo (lyrical recitative)

castrato

most popular btw 1650-1750, men with altered sex-organs that produced a boy’s voice with an adult male’s lungs which created a person with grand virtuosity.

1637 (significance for the history of opera)

The first public opera house opens in Venice - the new social center of the neighborhood

Monteverdi- L’incoronazione di Poppea

The Coronation of Poppea- 1642, Three scenes: Libretto by Gian Francesco Busanello- was written for the public, the attention is on the soloists, Castro main role of Nero. Lyrical recit. is the main element of this work. Unsure how much Monteverdi actually wrote.
 - italian- a venetian, recitative opera [acting style throughout] with dramatic monologues and duets and no chorus or instrumental movements. - contains a castrato role (Nero)- his last opera written at 75, story based on history not mythology and written for public not private aristocratic audience- Sung by a bass originally- with counter tenor! harpsichord

stile concitato

“agitated style” Monteverdi’s invention- music portrayed anger and agitation through the use of fast, repeated notes

Tragédie-lyrique

Created by Jean-Baptiste Lully - (Librettist Phillippe Quinault) French Opera in 5 acts, depicting stories of mythology or legend, heroism or love, sung by all natural voices
Lyrical recit. reflecting natural text declamation, short arias (not da capo form), choruses, instrumentals, ballets with continuous flow from one element to the next

Schiller [Friedrich]

author of the Play Don Carlos

Philip II

Real King to the Spanish throne- and central character in Don Carlos- played by a bass/baritone

Dardanus

Opera by Jean-Phillippe Rameau, combined tragedie-lyrique with italiante lyricism, extensive orchestration

Schikaneder [Emmanuel]

owned the theater an der Wieden that commissioned The Magic Flute, he wrote the libretto, created Papageno and starred in that role

da Ponte [Lorenzo]

Viennese court poet who worked in collaboration with Mozart as one of the most celebrated writing pair- wrote three operas together, Don Giovanni, Cosi fan tutte and Le Nozze di Figaro.

intermezzo

short comic entertainment btw acts of an Opera Seria in the 1730s

Der Freishutz

Singspiel regarded as the first german romantic opera - composed by Weber

Florentine Camerata

A social academy led by Giovani Bardi in Florence from 1560-1592, sought to create music that would move the emotions

17th century Opera Seria

complicated plots with moments of comic relief

18th century Opera Seria

a much simpler story without comic relief, throughout the opera, each major character has multiple arias- each focusing on dif. emotions so by end audience sees a well rounded character, Principal element is the ARIA, arias extended in da capo form, recit is non-melodic and speechlike

Metastasio [Pietro]

leading librettist of the 18th century opera seria- helped shift focus to aria vs recit, created number opera and created stylistic shifts between recit and aria

recitative - 18 cent opera seria

declamatory, not lyrical like early 17c., accompanied by harpsichord (recitativo secco/ simplice) or orchestra (recitativo accompagnato) Compelling when are truly acted well,

Aria - 18 century Opera Seria

extended arias in Da capo form, minimal text, exploring a singular emotional state, ends with the character exiting stage- focuses as much on the performers

Early Baroque It. Opera

1600-1680: principal element is recitative, recit is melodic and expressive, arias are short not in da capo form, focuses more on the drama

da capo aria

in ABA form, where the repeated A material is elaborately ornamented

opera serie

“serious opera” virtuosic singing, da capo arias,

Beaumarchais [Pierre -Augustin Caron de]

Created the play The Marriage of Figaro that Mozart’s Opera was based, he wrote a trilogy of comedies about Figaro ( his alter ego) 1. The Barber of Seville the Sequel is this play

Rossini crescendo

compositional technique, adding more and more instruments to a fast-moving repeated phrase, creating a naturally occurring building crescendo

Vinci [Leonardo]

leading composer in the early development of the pre-classical style in 1720s Italy- that bridged late Baroque opera seria and the classical language of Gluck/Mozart

opera-comique

light French opera with spoken dialogue instead of recit., fairly simple catchy melodies, with everyday ppl, no mythology, not comic