Baroque Vocal Music and Opera

Baroque Vocal Music: Opera

Introduction

  • Previously explored Baroque instrumental music (concerto, concerto grosso) with Vivaldi and Bach.
  • This lesson goes back chronologically to examine the vocal world and the emergence of opera.

The Innovation of Opera

  • Opera was a major innovation in music history.
  • It involved setting a story to music entirely, without spoken dialogue.
  • Early activities in 17th-century Italy saw opera develop as elite, private entertainment before public engagement.
  • Claudio Monteverdi is a key figure.
  • Henry Purcell in London composed Dido and Aeneas, an early English opera based on Virgil's Aeneid (ancient literature, c. 20 BCE).
  • Later, Handel developed opera and oratorio in London.
  • A sidestep will cover absolutism and music, showing how music served as a power symbol (e.g., Louis XIV in France).

Venice, Italy: A Cultural Center

  • Familiar with Venice as Antonio Vivaldi's home.
  • Venice was a key destination and cultural center for public entertainment, including vocal and instrumental music and theater.
  • Giovanni Gabrieli (c. 1555-1612) was an important composer.
    • His last compositions were published after his death.
    • He was highly respected.
    • Heinrich Schutz studied with him and adopted Italian stylistic influences.

Gabrieli's Sonata Pian'e Forte

  • Dynamic level markings are important (piano and forte).
  • Gabrieli was the first composer to publish music with specified dynamic levels.
  • Previously, musicians interpreted dynamics naturally.
  • No crescendos or decrescendos in Gabrieli's music; dynamics were like a toggle switch between piano and forte.
  • Sonata pian'e forte: Sonata is a generic term for an instrumental composition (sonare = to sound).
  • Performance practice in Venice, centered at Saint Mark's Basilica, influenced composition.
  • The architecture of the space influenced the musical style.
  • The basilica's interior with balconies allowed for antiphonal performance (call and response).
  • Two choirs (instrumental or vocal) were positioned facing each other.
  • Call and response style became essential to Baroque music, alongside the harpsichord.
  • The performance features separated choirs:
    • Choir 1: cornetti (early horns)
    • Choir 2: sacbutts (early trombones)
    • Organ as basso continuo

The Birthplace of Opera: Italy and Florence

  • Opera originated in Florence within an elite artistic community supported by wealthy patrons.
  • The concept: a story set entirely to music, without spoken dialogue.
  • Early names for opera: favola in musica (fable in music), dramma in musica.
  • The term "opera" (Italian, plural of opus = work) refers to the combination of music, story, sets, costumes, and interpretation.
  • Opera is a secular vocal genre.
  • The oratorio is the sacred equivalent, using biblical stories.
  • The Florentine Camerata developed opera in the 1580s and 1590s.
  • Opera evolved from the Italian madrigal (1530s), featuring love stories and human emotions set outdoors, with mythological characters.
  • The Camerata linked madrigal-style choral pieces and solo pieces (a singer performing a poem with basso continuo accompaniment).

Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643)

  • Monteverdi is revered in early Baroque music.
  • He worked primarily in Italy, including a position in Mantua.
  • He composed artistically satisfying complete operas with compelling stories and remarkable music.

L'Orfeo (1607)

  • The story is based on the Orpheus legend (Orpheus in the underworld).
  • Orpheus and Eurydice's love story is a tragedy: Eurydice dies, and Orpheus attempts to retrieve her from the underworld.
  • He is forbidden from looking back but fails, losing her forever.
  • The opera was composed for a wedding entertainment as a cautionary tale about trust in love.
  • Baroque opera audiences desired tragedy as a way of purging emotions.
  • They wanted to experience deep feelings and leave the theater feeling cleansed.
  • Classical era composers (e.g., Gluck) later created happy endings for the same stories.

Basics of Opera

  • Opera is fully sung; spoken dialogue makes it musical theater.
  • Three functional types:
    • Recitative (recit): Approximates natural speech patterns, moving the story forward, lightly accompanied (basso continuo).
    • Aria: Italian for "air," a song for solo voice with accompaniment, expressing a clear emotional state; text is shorter, with ritornello sections.
    • Ritornello style comes from opera
    • Chorus: Communicates the moral nature of the drama, expresses communal emotion, and reflects on events.
    • Similar to Ancient Greek theater

Recitative Example

  • L'Orfeo example: Orpheus and messenger; messenger delivers tragic news of Eurydice's death.
  • Orpheus is happy; messenger is heavy and brooding; music reflects the different emotional states.
  • Recitative is about communication without repetition.

Aria Example

  • L'Orfeo, expressing the emotion (vs. communication).
  • The emotion is is showcased in dancing rhythms.
  • Ritornello creates structural divisions between singing sections.

Chorus Example

  • The chorus in L'Orfeo reflects Orpheus's emotional state after hearing the tragic news.
  • It originates in Italian madrigal traditions.
  • Includes word painting: music describes the text (e.g., speeding up rhythms when singing about fleeting time).

Language and Libretto

  • Opera was originally in Italian, the local vernacular.
  • Audiences knew the stories drawn from ancient history, mythology, and literature.
  • Non-Italian speakers used librettos (little books) containing the story.
  • The librettist compiles the story for the composer.
  • Opera is collaborative (composer, librettist, designers, performers).
  • It functions as an entertainment industry.
  • Seeing opera is as important as hearing it.

Coronazione di Poppea (1643)

  • Completed by Monteverdi
  • Drawn from Ancient Roman story
  • Poppea, the mistress of Emperor Nero, seeks to become Empress.
  • Themes: love, passion, betrayal, murder.
  • The final scene sees Poppea and Nero separate; her music changes, and she celebrates her successful scheme.

Opera in London: Henry Purcell (c. 1659-1695)

  • By the 1680s, opera was prominent in Italy and gaining popularity in England.
  • English audiences wanted their own English-language operas.
  • Henry Purcell was an English composer and organist in service of the monarchy.
  • He composed instrumental and vocal music, including for girl students.

Dido and Aeneas (1689)

  • Based on Virgil's Aeneid (c. 20 BCE), excerpting the story of Dido, Queen of Carthage, and Aeneas, a Trojan soldier.
  • A love affair with supernatural elements (witches).
  • The final scene involves Aeneas leaving Dido, leading to her death.
  • Composed of recitative, aria, and chorus.
  • The opera showcases recitative to drive the story forward
  • Musical numbers (Arias) are implemented to convey the depth of the characters emotions
  • The chorus showcases a heavy reflection of the sadness surrounding the story.
  • Dido tells her servant Belinda she is dying.
Recitative
  • "Thy hand, Belinda; darkness shades me…"
  • Accompanied by basso continuo (lute, viola da gamba).
Aria
  • Dido's lament is often cited for how emotional it is
  • Dido's voice descends, representing descent to the grave (word painting).
  • A ground bass (repeating baseline pattern) descends chromatically, illustrating the lament.
  • g-d tetrachord filled by chromatic pitches.
Chorus
  • Courtiers act as cupids, mourning Dido's death.
  • Drooping wings depicted by descending melodic lines and imitation.
  • Scatter roses representing the mourning through music.
  • Closing statement in homophonic texture emphasizes unity.
Significance
  • The opera is considered the oldest, most consistently running musical genre in Western art music.
  • Its themes continue to evolve in different eras.

Absolutism and Music: Louis XIV

  • Vocal music in the late Baroque connected to the court of Louis XIV.
  • Louis XIV (reigned 1643-1715) loved music and dancing and participated in court entertainment.
  • He commissioned operas to flatter him, using allegorical characters.
  • Expensive entertainment was funded via taxes from the French citizens.
  • Absolutism: the belief that power is divinely ordained.
  • Portraits showcased wealth and opulence of the French court.
  • The fashion was that of French masculinity.
  • Music from Italy was reframed as French entertainment.
  • Jean-Baptiste Lully, an Italian-born composer, became Louis XIV's primary court composer.
    • Ballet was incorporated into opera
  • French overtures established a style with stately dotted rhythms alternating with lighter dance styles.

Other Composers

Élisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre (1665-1729)

  • The court recognized women composers, and she was very influential despite the patriarchy
  • She was a child prodigy who played for Louis XIV at age five.
  • She was a court composer and received patronage from the king.
  • Her keyboard music was published and arranged for other instruments.
  • Suites (collections of movements) was what she was especially known for
  • Unmeasured prelude: a piece without specified rhythms, open to performer interpretation.

The Harpsichord

  • The sound reflects lute music popular in French society.
  • Gestures, rhythms, and ornamentation transferred to the harpsichord. All to mimic the lute style and to connect to French renaissance
  • The prelude is from a collection of stylized dance movements that create a somber mood.
  • Composed around 1685, prefiguring keyboard music by Bach.

Last Composer: George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)

  • Born in Germany and spent time in Italy, learning Italian operatic styles, especially opera seria (serious, tragic opera).
  • He became the English monarchy's top composer, succeeding Henry Purcell.
  • A position he fulfilled with the utmost responsibility
  • He composed with kings George I and II
  • He was a fantastic businessman. He earned his money by hiring and managing all the musicians, all the singers, promoting and selling his music
  • He was known for his personality and talent.
    • Great story of him wanting a solo for himself and not being happy other music was not working

Operatic Sacred Vocal

  • Handel took Italian style, and reframed them over a number of genres
  • Oratorio: A sacred loop hole genre; biblical stories set to similar vocal and instrumental music.
  • This stemmed from the church ceasing all secular musical preformances during the holidays to ensure the public remained focused on their religion.
  • Secco recitative: basso continuo only (dry).
  • Accompanied recitative: fuller accompaniment (strings, woodwinds).

Messiah (1741)

  • Completed in 1741 for the Easter season and in Dublin, Ireland.
  • Story in three parts:
    • Part 1. Christmas
    • Celebrates Christ's Birth
    • Part 2. Good Friday
    • Celebrates Christ's death and ressurection.
    • Part 3.
    • How do these things impact the human experience
  • Composed of secco and other musical elements.
  • Different sections were emphasized through homophonic, monophonic, and imitation textures.

The Hallelujah Chorus

  • The hallelujah chorus used different types of vocal textures
  • Commercial performance led the charge for Baroque music
  • Celebration themes connected Handel's music across many spectrums, and connected the audience with the music better
  • Started as a tradition because everybody stood during a performance of one of Handel's pieces that exploded into commercial success.
  • His pieces are also often considered parody's cause of their comedic elements in a lot of them that were used to connect with wide audience.

George Handel and Jimi Hendrix

  • The London residency showcased his contributions to modern music, with both artists being connected to modern social themes.
    • Hendrix -Rock Music
    • Handel - Opera