Throughout Baroque music history, Italy flourished noticeably due to the mere fact that they had financial support from churches, wealth and trade, as well as rulers supporting the best musicians. Therefore, throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Italy was the primary European country to develop the musical drama, or opera, and it remained the dominating force of the genre. Techniques, such as recitative and aria, evolved throughout Italian opera, and they became a model for future opera composers. Jacop Peri’s, “L’Euridice,” is a fine example of these Italian elements. Nearly eight decades later in France, Jean-Baptiste Lully composed, “Armide,” in which there exists a utilization of a basic skeleton of Italian opera, however new techniques were introduced. Because French were averse to Italy’s politics and cultures, they were equally reluctant to adopt Italy’s musical guidelines. French and Italian opera were similar in structure, however French opera composers embraced …show more content…
It is a story about the lives of Ancient Greek Orpheus and Euridice, and is based on books from “Metamorphoses,” by Roman poet Ovid, although there were alterations to the ending. Italian opera styles are evidently present throughout. Peri matches the text of the libretto by introducing a new singing style, recitative. Recitative imitates speech in a way that it is halfway between speech and song. This style helps to better communicate the emotions and the intellect to audience members, and it is modeled after Ancient Greek drama. The recitative within “L’Euridice” consisted of a texture that gave the singer more freedom to express the text. This technique was contrasted by the aria. The aria was an accompanied song for a solo voice within an opera, most typically after a recitative, and was more song-like and lyrical than the
Daum, Gary. "Chapter 12 The Baroque Era (1600-1750)." Georgetown Prep. 1994. Georgetown University. 12 July 2005 .
John Dowland (1563-1626) was a composer of Renaissance England and considered one of the most prolific and well-known composers of English lute song. A composer and accomplished lutenist, he is probably the most well traveled English composer of his time. Through his travels he was exposed to the musical elements of his Italian, French and German contemporaries. He developed his own musical language, in which he created a unique style for the lute song. As a composer, he focused on the development of melodic material and was able to elegantly blend words and music with a wide range of emotion and technique. For the purpose of this document we will focus on the influence of his Italian travels. John Dowland’s use of chromaticism in his lute songs as can be directly associated with such as “All ye whom love or fortune.” In these pieces, we can see the influence on this genre through his travels to Italy and encounters with such composers as Marenzio.
...et’s drama.” The music, subsequently, exists today in a concert version, much like an oratorio, for chorus, orchestra, and soloists which included a spoken narration based on D’Annunzio’s play. From Le martyre has also come out a suite of symphonic fragements, minus the voices and narration, which has gained some popularity.
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.
Harman, Alec, and Anthony Milner. Late Renaissance and Baroque Music. London: Barrie Books LTD., 1959. ML193.H37
In looking at the contribution that the chorus makes this essay will look at the various functions of the chorus - their role as a commentator, participating in and commenting on the dramatic action and how they present traditional moral and soci...
Jean Baptiste Lully made significant contributions to French music. His initial compositions “ballets de cour” didn’t deviate from the Italian forms. (Straughan (a)) They were merely collections of dances and burlesque scenes. (Gregory) “A step in Lully’s progression from ballet to opera was the increased role of music in his ballets.
From the Early Renaissance to the High Renaissance, there was a movement from vocal music to a combination of vocal and instrumental music (Brown, 1976). There are seven categories of instrumental music: 1) vocal music played by instruments, 2) settings of pre-existing melodies, 3) variation sets, 4) ricercars, fantasias, and canzonas, 5) preludes, preambles, and toccatas for solo instruments, 6) dance music, and 7) songs composed specifically for lute and solo voice (Brown, 1976). Italy dominated the stage for instrumental music at this time, and it was not until the last decades of the sixteenth century that English instrumental music became popular (Brow...
There are two pieces in our Renaissance Era musical feature this evening, the first by Pierre Phalèse called Passamezzo d'Italye - Reprise – Gaillarde. Phalèse began as a bookseller in 1545 and not long after he set up a publishing house. By 1575 he had around 189 music books. Much of his work was devoted to sacred music but there was a small amount of Flemish songs and instrumental works. Phalèse borrowed work from many composers and did not hesitate to include other composer’s music in his works. The sec...
In many respects, and with hindsight, it seems natural that the Romantic composers and writers would take a new direction in their approach to expression, reacting against the classical and neo-classical ideas of reason and order from the previous age. It was a revolt against classicism, and against the pre-prescribed rules that defined it. The main catalyst for this change was the French Revolution in 1789, where the French monarchy and aristocracy was overthrown by a rebellion of the people and France became a republic. This, in a musical sense, had an immediate impact on French opera, with the emphasis of the stories now beginning to be drawn into the present as opposed to the ancient world, and the old hierarchy of the Gods and feudal systems. T...
Dominick Argento’s The Masque of Angels is a short opera which is not often performed, yet displays great use of Argento’s composition style. The Masque of Angels encompasses serialism aspects of twentieth century opera, as well as twentieth-century adaptation of the English masque through the composer’s use of atonality, symbolism and twelve-tone writing. Dominick Argento was born in York, Pa., in 1927. He attended Peabody Conservatory where he earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees, and attended Eastman School of Music in Minnesota where he earned his Ph.D. Argento became the director of Hilltop Opera in Baltimore and later joined the staff at Eastman, where he taught theory and composition.
Essay on Themes Pride and Prejudice. In this novel, the title describes the underlying theme of the book. Pride and prejudice were both influences on the characters and their relationships. The.
John Warrack, author of 6 Great Composers, stated, “Any study of a composer, however brief, must have as its only purpose encouragement of the reader to greater enjoyment of the music” (Warrack, p.2). The composers and musicians of the Renaissance period need to be discussed and studied so that listeners, performers, and readers can appreciate and understand the beginnings of music theory and form. The reader can also understand the driving force of the composer, whether sacred or secular, popularity or religious growth. To begin understanding music composition one must begin at the birth, or rebirth of music and the composers who created the great change.
When adapting a novel, there are three different ways directors can translate that into a film. They may take on the literal, traditional or radical interpretation of their adaptation of the novel; in Joe Wright’s 2005 Pride and Prejudice, he takes on the traditional interpretation. This translation demonstrates the same ideas, central conflicts, and characters as those of Austen’s novel 1813 novel, Pride and Prejudice. Linda Costanzo Cahir, the author of Literature into Film, gives sufficient evidence to prove that this adaptation is in fact a traditional one.
The Chorus is very much an important part of Euripedes’ Medea, and indeed many other works written in the ancient Greek style. In this play, it follows the journey Medea makes, and not only narrates, but commentates on what is happening. Euripedes uses the Chorus as a literary device to raise certain issues, and to influence where the sympathies of the audience lie.