Opera Reform/Opera Wars

opera seria

• light opera buffa style invaded serious opera
• metastasio set the standard for opera seria
  • court poet in vienna
  • heroic operas present a conflict of human passions and were intended to promote morality through entertainment
  • two pairs of lovers, resolution of drama, deed of heroism
• three acts consist of alternating recitatives and arias, main focus is on the aria
  • opened it up to abuses - singers made crazy demands on poets and composers, singers added irrelevant embellishments
• da capo aria continued to grow
  • expressed a succession of moods
  • ritornello could introduce all the material sung later - began incorporating structural features of instrumental music
• melodies presented in four measure units of antecedent and consequent phrases
• hasse was the master of opera seria

opera reform

• some italian composers wanted to bring opera into harmony with the changing ideals of music and drama by making it more natural - changes reflected enlightenment thought
  • flexible structure, expressive, less coloratura, more varied in other musical resources
  • modified da capo aria and introduced other forms
  • employed arias and recitatives less predictably to make it more realistic
  • made orchestra more important and brought back chorus
  • more resistant to singers’ arbitrary demands
  • trying to get a happy medium between all of these categories
• jommelli, traetta
• gluck
  • synthesized french and italian opera
  • strongly affected by reform movement in 1750s
  • resolve to remove abuses that had deformed italian opera
  • music serves the poetry, advances the plot
  • overture: integral part of the opera
  • lessen contrast between aria and recitative
  • chorus of furies in act ii of orfeo
  • music molded to the drama
  • integrated chorus into the action