Download EVOLUTION OF OPERA How has opera changed throughout the

EVOLUTION OF OPERA
How has opera changed throughout the many years it’s been alive? This report focuses on
the composers, music, and settings throughout the history of opera. It begins with the
Baroque era and ends with the present time.
What is an opera? The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Volume 13, states
that opera is the term used for the dramatic works for the actors singing their parts,
whether it is some, or all that has been put together differently throughout the years and
in different countries although the music plays the dominant role. It can also be defined
as a rather long and dramatic composition in which all parts are sung with an
instrumental accompaniment including arias, choruses, recitatives, and sometimes ballet.
Opera originated in Italy around the late 1590s. The very first opera was written
1597-1598 called Dafne, by Jacopo Peri. This report will include composers, music
details, and the opera settings from the Baroque, Classical, Romantic, Twentieth Century,
and Present time periods.
There were three main composers of the Baroque era: Jacopo Peri, Claudio Monteverdi,
and Jean-Baptiste Lully. Peri was born in 1561 as an Italian opera composer. He wrote,
what is considered as, the first opera Dafne in the years of 1597-1598. Presently, only the
prologue and one aria can be found; all else is lost. Then, in the year of 1600, Peri wrote
Euridice, with some help from Giulio Caccini. Peri died in the year of 1633.
Claudio Monteverdi - he was born in the year 1567 and died in the year 1643, ten years
after Peri’s death. Monteverdi wrote La favola d’Orfeo, and is considered the first opera
still performed. La favola d’Orfeo was first staged in Mantua in 1607. He was also an
Italian.
The remaining composer - Jean-Baptiste Lully - was born 1632 and died 1687, younger
than the previous two composers at age fifty-five. Lully wrote tragedie-lyriques that used
the Greek myths. He also established the French Overture, which is music that starts off
with a slow introduction but is followed by a fast allegro section.
In the Classical time, there was one main composer: Christoph Willibald Gluck. He
upgraded the instrumental preludes, and was considered a natural opera composer. And in
modern time, there were two important composers: Richard Strauss and Benjamin
Britten. Strauss composed rich and stunning orchestrations for his operas, and he used
dissonant harmonies. He abandoned tonality to emphasize humor and drama in the
scenes. Britten wrote Peter Grimes in 1945, and his operas were cast in a traditional
musical/dramatic form.
The music of the early Baroque operas were a collection of recitatives - a solo-singing
style with a literary-musical texture - that were separated by the occasional orchestral
interludes to revive Greek drama. Monody’s - one melody; the solo vocal lines were sung
with instrumental accompaniment - were used and were thought to correctly enhance the
natural speech inflections. The operas usually ended with a love duet.
In the Roman operas, recitatives and arias were common. Recitatives, dissonance, and the
new musical efforts created a more expressive and melodious vocal line. The French
opera was started with Jean-Baptiste Lully, who created the French Overture. In this
opera, recitatives and arias merged together. And in Germany, opera was hard to flourish
until Beethoven and Weber’s time. An opera company was started in Hamburg, Germany
in 1678. Also, in Venetian operas, the recitatives were mostly arias and duets.
In the late Baroque, recitatives and arias became even more separated than they were in
the early Baroque operas and the Italian works. The virtuosity was emphasized in vocal
singing, and throughout the years, the words lost their importance and music dominated.
During this time, opera seria and opera comique came into existence. Opera comique,
also known as opera buffa, had a more vigor, exuberant, spontaneous, direct, and
charming fluency. The plots were more understandable and down-to-earth. Rescue opera
also began, but wasn’t as much of an importance until the Classical era.
The operas of the Classical time ended, not with a love duet, but instead an operatic
finale, with all the characters singing together leading up to the grand climax. Rescue and
heroic opera become more of an importance, especially during the war. It was a
subdivision of opera comique, and was first staged in Vienna. In rescue opera, the main
character is usually in prison because of a political act. The character is rescued by
mundane people and done realistically. Themes are more focused on survival than death.
In the Romantic era, opera was a result of a combined influence between the French and
Italian styles. Opera was mostly based on the stereotyped musico-conventions, popular
material, and historical events. Often, the French opera plots were taken from European
history.
In the Baroque time, opera spread to many different places. Beginning in the country of
Italy, in the 1620s it rooted in Rome, and soon spread to Venice. The first commercial
house opened in Venice in 1639. Later, Naples became the center of opera in Italy. Then
by 1700, Vienna, Paris, Hamburg, and London became operatic centers. Opera spread to
Germany, but was unable to flourish until later on.
During modern time, many opera composers wrote in community and college workshops
because of the financial burden of creating new works. Younger people during this time
begin to become interested in opera.
So, what is an opera? One thing is sure, it has progressed throughout the years since it
first began in Italy with the first opera Dafne by Peri in the years of 1597-1598. Since
then, music styles have changed and opera has become more widespread.