The History Of Opera

Inspired by the Greek's staged works with musical context, the Italians created opera. Venice, Rome, and Naples were the three key cities in the start of opera. Musical Baroque also began showing up in the 17th century as well. Musical Baroque, instrumental and orchestral music grew in popularity. Alessandro Scarlatti and Antonio Vivaldi were very important composers during the Baroque Era.

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 ... ... middle of paper ... ...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.

At first, the music was used mainly for background. However, by the end of the century, the drama and the music were equally important. The opera innovation inspired some of the biggest composers known today. In France, Je... ... middle of paper ... ...); and Puccini’s Madame Butterfly (1904); to list just a few. Famous recording opera stars include Enrico Caruso, Maria Callas, Dame Joan Sutherland, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Plácido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti, and José Carreras.

Opera, is a formal medium of theatre that coneys its dramatic essence through the fusion of words and action, among other theatrical elements with music says author Burton D. Fisher (A History of Opera, 14). Opera is an art form with such a rich history and memorable music. Well, at least where Italian opera is concerned. Italy was and has been in the limelight concerning Opera since its genesis. In the 17th century, Italy set greek dramas, especially the tale of Orpheus, to music (A History of Opera, 17) and from there the Italians evolved such a distinctive art form and cornered the market on its popularity.

This genre of comic opera was strikingly different from the rigorous opera seria, but it still managed to acquire some noticeable traits. Primarily, the arias in opera buffe shirk the da capo style of the seria mold. The subject matter deals frequently with common people in every day situations, instead of the mythological gods of seria. Arias often incorporate patter singing, which contrasts strongly with melismatic seria vocal melodies. The buffa style originated in Naples in the early 18th century and spread north through Rome and Bologna.

As the 19th century rolled into the 20th , WWI was imminent and life was changing. The romantic era had flourished and passed, impressionistic music was well into its lifespan, but arising from amid the rubble of the romantic era was the Verismo movement! Verismo was a movement or new school of thought embodied in the operas of composers like Pietro Mascagni, Ruggero Leoncavallo, Umberto Giordani, Giacomo Puccini. Verismo is virtually synonymous with ‘realism.’ It was an attempt made by composers to inject into opera, the real-life pains and experiences that so easily worked their way into drama, poetry and the spoken arts, but seemed to fall short when it came to opera. In 1827 was birthed that which we know and recognize as the Romantic Era.

(whenham) Monteverdi’s L’orfeo had a profound impact on opera today due to his personal accomplishments as an early baroque composer, and the classic Greek story’s success with using deep symbolism throughout the libretto. According to John Whenham’s book Orfeo he mentions that this opera is, “a rich blend of Greek myth with 16th-century dramatic conventions, and of the varied instrumental and vocal groupings of the intermedio and madrigal traditions with the newer expressive recitative style of the Florentines.” This is represented quite well since it was one of the first operas to come into existence using the basso continuo, a new idea that was able to thicken ... ... middle of paper ... ...use syncopation, dissonance, and free ornamentation to stress more emotive words so that there would be times in the music that felt like a “dislocation of the voice”. (Warren 49) Claudio Monteverdi was able to invent a whole new style of music, a new type of composition, and even defined the whole transition of musical era. He was also able to construct one of the most well known baroque operas, so without him, modern music would be enormously different. Due to his well-established text painting, Monteverdi was able to bring his beautiful creations to life even to this day where they are performed regularly.

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.

Examples of this type of opera can be seen in the works of Lully and Wagner (Grout 7). The second type of opera is characterized by the music and other factors being of equal importance (Grout 6). Mozart, Bellini, and Rossini composed operas that belong to this second type of opera (Grout 7). The origins of seventeenth century opera can be traced back to Greek drama, and medieval theatre. Throughout the seventeenth century different forms of opera could be found in various countries including Italy, Germany, France, and England.

The Medici Family controlled Florence throughout most of the Renaissance, they played a large part in the patronage of the arts and the political development of the city of Florence. He created the first monody, a forerunner of the aria and essentially the beginning of opera. 17th Century Opera: This period is known as the birth of Opera! The earliest known operatic composition is Dafne by Jacopo Peri (1561-1633) it was written in 1597. Peri was born in Rome but he relocated to florence to