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Contrast between Renaissance and Baroque music
Renaissance through the baroque
Renaissance through the baroque
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Monteverdi is the most important Italian composer of the early to middle Baroque period, and, indeed, one of the most influential figuresin the history of music. His music represents the transition from theRenaissance to the Baroque period.
Born in Cremona in 1567, he served at the court of the Dukes of Mantua from the early 1590s until 1612, when he moved to Venice as maestro di cappella at the basilica of St. Mark. For the time it was one of the most coveted musical posts in Italy and is a position he retained until his death in 1643. His importance as a proponent of the so-called Stile moderno (modern style) is unquestioned, as is his pre-eminence in the development of the new form of opera that sprang from the combination of music and speech in the art of Italian monody.
Operas
In 1607, Monteverdi established himself as a composer of major works with his opera L'Orfeo, which is considered to be the first great opera. L'Orfeo is based on the legend of Orpheus, the musician who sought to bring his beloved Eurydice back from the Underworld by the power of music. L'Orfeo synthesized several important operatic elements: Instrumental Overture, Aria, Recitative, Ensemble, and Chorus.
After Orfeo, L'Arianna (Mantua, 1608) became one of the most influential operas in Europe. Wildly popular, the Lamento d'Arianna was admired and imitated by composers until the end of the century.
Two major works represent the culmination of Monteverdi's operatic output: Il Ritorno d'Ulise in Patria (The Return of Ulysses) (Venice, 1640), based on the final portion of Homer's Greek epic The Odyssey, and L'incoronazione di Poppea (The Coronation of Poppea)(Venice, 1642), set in imperial Rome in the time of Nero, whose love for the courtesan ...
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...avor of an English national style. Purcell, however, strongly resisted this trend, and, instead, he adopted Italian forms. In doing so, he established a foothold for opera in England, while simultaneously composing in all of the major genres. His operatic works include Dioclesian (1690), King Arthur (1691), The Fairy Queen (1692), and The Tempest (1695). His masterpiece Dido and Aeneas (1689), the story of a doomed love affair between Aeneas, the hero of Virgil's Aeneid, and Dido, the Queen of Carthage, was the first resounding public success in the history of English opera.
Dido's arias Thy hand, Belinda, and When I am laid in Earth are two of the most memorable moments in all of opera. Thy Hand Belinda is also a fine example of ground bass, a baroque technique whereby the composer repeats a melodic pattern in the bass continuously through the piece.
Austell, Edmund S. "Great Opera Singers." : Farinelli: The Great Castrato. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Apr. 2014.
name was Gian-Carlo Minotti. This man was trained in the Italian Opera and he was
In his day, Johann Adolph Hasse was at the forefront of Italian opera. Although he composed a fair amount of sacred works, he is best known for his operatic output. He was widely popular throughout Italy and Germany, and was commissioned by courts and opera houses throughout Europe. His performances were attended by cultural figures at the time, as well as some of the biggest names in common-era music today. In his later life, styles changed and so Hasse’s acclaim diminished after his death. But generations later, he was re-established as a figurehead and icon of classic ancient Italian opera, a designation he possesses even today.
Although the original purpose of Dido and Aeneas may have been that of court entertainment, it has become one of Purcell’s most widely acclaimed operas, as well as one of the most popular operas of the Baroque period. The first known performance of Dido and Aeneas was held at Mount Josias Priest’s Boarding School in Chelsea, England in 1689. Scholars such as Bruce Wood and Andrew Pinnock have questioned whether this performance was truly the first, or if it was a repetition of an earlier court premiere, due to the fact that John Blow’s opera Venus and Adonis was written and then debuted in 1684, around the same time as Dido and Aeneas, and they seemed to follow the same path to their first performances. B...
Born in 1556, Giovanni Gabrieli was an Italian composer who worked for the St. Mark’s Cathedral in Venice. During his time there, he composed works for separate choirs for both vocal and instrumental performers. One of his most famous pieces comes from his Sacrae Symphoniae completed in 1597; the Sonata Pian e Forte. Gabrieli was both a composer and organist in Renaissance and Baroque transitional period which caused elements of both periods to be demonstrated within his compositions. With instrumental music becoming more popular, it was becoming quite common during this time to have a composer who also played an instrument, especially the piano or organ. Sonata Pian e Forte gained fame from being a work that demonstrated a few characteristics and ideas about sound that had yet to be seen or often used.
It was an early age when Monteverdi’s career began, he then published his first pieces, and this was based on as a collection of three-voice motets, at the age of fifteen. It was by 1591, when he went to Mantua as a musician for the Gonzaga court, by then he had already published books of “spiritual madrigals” in 1583, then another canzonettas in 1584, by 1587 and 1590 he published his first two books of “madrigals.” It was in Mantua he continued writing madrigals, and then in 1607 he produced his first work in the new genre of opera, the setting was of Orfeo. 1613, he was then appointed maestro di cappella at ST. Mark’s Cathedral which was held in Venice. Monteverdi had remained in Venice for the rest of his life, writing music in all different kinds of genres, including his final opera, “incoronaszione di Poppea in 1642.
The Baroque’s operas was based on classic mythology but within the Classical era it turned to a more realistic contemporary subject reflecting the ideas of enlightenment present in the Classical era. Some major differences between these two eras operas though was the subject matter and form. Within the Baroque era the opera seria, or serious opera, was very common. Opera seria was characterized by the rigid form and appeal to authority or those in power. The later Baroque opera emphasized the strophic variation over the da capo aria was established as a vocal form. Along with these forms was the bipartite aria, which consisted of only A and B variations. In contrast with the late Baroque opera and its rigid alternation of recitative and aria, the middle Baroque opera retained great formal flexibility.The change from this rigid serious opera form came about the years of 1762 to 1783 when the introduction of a simpler more human like opera was introduced. This change can be somewhat contributed to Cristoph
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven are very famous past composers that have created many pieces that have influenced not just people of their time, but people in modern times as well.
From that point on, he successfully founded modern French opera. “His involvement was not limited to musical composition. He collaborated with his poets in the production of libretti, and even took an interest in the acting and declamation of the performers. His insistence on discipline and high artistic standards in the opera orchestra was legendary” (Straughan (a))
Mozart wrote The Magic Flute in 1791, just after the French Revolution and just before he died. Haydn had introduced Mozart to Freemasonry, and the opera is full of the ideas (the autonomy of the individual, self-determination, appalling sexism), the ideals (power, wisdom, beauty), and the symbols (aprons, hammers, compasses, a pyramid with an ...
Opera in the Romantic Period was a time when opera changed drastically, especially in the country of Italy. The recognition of singers as being important, almost irreplaceable, in the art of “bel canto” opera changed the idea of a vocalist in opera forever. A singer’s voice was prized and Italian composers, like Rossini, Donizetti, and Bellini wrote operas and works to showcase the voice, it’s color, range and agility. These Italian composers were moving away from the normal style of composition of the time, and the composer Rossini, who set the stage for many other followers. Many of the operas written during this time are still performed today and are highly acclaimed. For the most part, before Italy became a main player, France and Germany were the main areas for music. These composer’s lives were extremely important in the development of the romantic period of opera and they really put Italy in the eye of the public for their amazing operas and musical styles.
In order to understand a composer’s popularity one not only needs to analyse the circumstances and the composer’s works, but those pieces that provided the basis of the operas as well. Dent’s (1926) idea is that the melody of the music should follow the rhythm and pace of spoken English language. He also has a language requirement: an opera cannot become genuinely English if it is composed to foreign language. He emphasises that Purcell’s work needs to be studied; his works are in connection with the proper musical adaptation, since in Dent’s view Purcell was a master in following the rhythm of the language with the music. He even adds that the original story does not need to be written by an English author. In this chapter I am examining
The Orpheus Chamber Orchestra performed Overture to La Scala di Seta by Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868), which represents the Classical Period. Rossini
appreciation. Because of these composers and musicians, music was enjoyed by the public and revered by the church. Because of their creativity and their willingness to take musical risks, these composers were the fathers of the Renaissance, the rebirth, the life of the vigorous and intellectual activity, the beginning of music.
Richard Wagner and Opera One of the key figures in the history of opera, Wagner was largely responsible for altering its orientation in the nineteenth century. His program of artistic reform accelerated the trend towards organically conceived, through-composed structures, as well as influencing the development of the orchestra, of a new breed of singer, and of various aspects of theatrical practice. As the most influential composer during the second half of the nineteenth century, Richard Wagner's conception of music remains very much with us even a century after his death. He was a remarkable innovator both in harmony and the structure of his work, creating his own version of the holistic kunstwerk, dramatic compositions in which the arts were brought together in a single unity. In the later part of his career Wagner enjoyed the support of King Ludwig II of Bavaria and was finally able to establish his own theatre and festival at the Bavarian town of Bayreuth.