Download An Overview: What is opera, and what do we need to know about it?

OLLI Fall 2016
9/14/2016 (Week 1)
Sheppard
1. Welcome/Review Syllabus
2. An Overview: What is opera, and what do we need to know about it?
a. What is/Musical-Dramatic spectrum
b. Vocabulary
i. Musical
ii. Operatic: text
iii. Operatic: musical
iv. Operatic: musicians
v. Operatic: style
c. A History of Opera Before Mozart
i. Before opera, there was…
ii. The first operas
iii. 17th and early 18th century musical-dramatic works
iv. Mid-18th century reform
An Overview:
What is opera, and what do we need to know about it?
What is opera? Class opinions/definitions. Picky and specific - details of drama, stage, staging, costuming, etc.
The Musical-Dramatic spectrum
- “Dramatic” in this sense means drama in theatre, not of the drama as tension
LEANS MUSICAL
Absolute music
Programmatic music: descriptive
Programmatic music: narrative
Passion
Oratorio
(Semi-staged opera)
Opera
Operetta
Musical
(Play w/ incidental music)
Play
LEANS DRAMATIC
Musical vocabulary
- Interval: space between two notes
- Melody (Twinkle Twinkle)
- Harmony (Twinkle Twinkle)
o Tonic: home base; root key, “in G-minor”
o Dominant: strongest pull to home base; includes LT, “V” chord
o Pre-dominant: weaker pull…filler between I and V
- Phrase - A musical sentence - ends at a point of repose or a breath
- Cadence - the end of a musical sentence - the punctuation. Period = Authentic Cadence (V-I), Ellipses =
Half-cadence (I-V), Question mark = Deceptive Cadence (V-vi), Amen = Plagal Cadence (IV - I)
PHONE: 724.554.0181
EMAIL: [email protected]
-2-
September 14, 2016
Operatic vocabulary: the text
- Libretto: The text of an opera/musical (etc.) - verbatim, with every word.
o Who writes the libretto? Depends on the composer. Some composer it themselves (Wagner, Berlioz,
Berg), others have a dedicated librettists (Mozart and Lorenzo da Ponte, Verdi and Arrigo Boito),
and others burn through multiple librettists (Puccini)
o Which came first, the music or the words? Generally but not always the words. Some (Glinka,
Rimsky-Korsakov, Puccini) wrote some musical passages first and added words, but this is rare
o Where does it come from? Highly variable. Sometimes, it’s almost verbatim from a play (Porgy and
Bess from DuBose and Dorothy Heyward’s play excepting the choruses), other times it’s highly
adapted (Wozzek from Georg Büchner’s play Woyzeck or Debussy’s Pelleas from Maeterlinck), other
times it’s based on a play (the Figaro trilogy by Pierre Beaumarchais) or a novel (Don Quichotte by
Jules Massenet from Miguel Cervantes)
o Which is more important, the words or the music? Discuss!
- Lyrics: Not used in opera. Text is the appropriate term for opera
Operatic vocabulary: the music
- Overture: The orchestral introduction or prelude to a dramatic work.
o What does it contain and how does it relate to the upcoming work? Depends on the composer
o Mozart overtures that do not quote or fade into the opera: Marriage of Figaro, Abduction from the Seraglio,
Cosi fan tutte, The Magic Flute. This is not to say that they don’t reference the opera. Mozart overtures
the do quote or fade into the opera: the others, including our example Don Giovanni
o Marriage of Figaro: what adjectives describe the Figaro story? Funny, bright, witty, sarcastic, topsyturvy, hilarious, wild, chaotic, energetic, etc. Sound like those adjectives?
o Abduction from the Seraglio: Similar opera buffa with similar qualities, but an added catch: what’s the
setting? Notice anything? The hint: instrumentation. Also, notice the Turkish March trio section.
o Don Giovanni: Here, Mozart quotes directly from the opera. What does the opening of the overture
evoke for you? Adjectives or stories? It’s taken from this section of the opera (2:47:38).
- Aria: An operatic song for one voice. Main vehicle for stardom, and comes in many varieties for all voices
- Recitative: narrative or conversation section of the opera sung in a rhythmic stylization of speech. A
comparison to musical theatre: in musical theatre this would be the spoken part
- Duet/Trio/Quartet/Quintet: exactly what they sound like - 2, 3, 4, or 5 singers together
- Chorus: Music sung by the chorus (with or without the leads)
Operatic vocabulary: the musicians
- Chorus: group of singers, in opera the smaller or non-named parts
- Tessitura: range
- Voice types: Soprano, alto, tenor, bass. But within that, there is a lot of variety, and we need to know it for
opera. So:
o Fach system: German system for categorization of operatic voices. Six categories referring to range
(SATB), and then divisions within that referring to detailed range and, more importantly,
character/tone quality
 Soprano: highest female voice, often a leading role. Approx. middle C + 2 octaves
 Coloratura: agility. Bel canto - but common across all repertoire
 Soubrette: Coquettishness.
 Lyric: rich and lyrical - more mature than coloratura or soubrette
 Dramatic: Wagnerian. Hefty voices…hefty people? Brunnhilde…
 Mezzo-soprano: middle female voice, often supporting or villain roles. Approx. G below
middle C + 2.1 octaves
 Coloratura: Agility. Many trouser roles originally written for countertenors too.
PHONE: 724.554.0181
EMAIL: [email protected]
-3-





September 14, 2016
 Lyric: Trouser/supporting roles - smooth
 Dramatic: Wagnerian - big. Witches, mothers, etc.
Contra-alto: lowest female voice, very rare. In bel canto days, almost always unpleasant,
unsavory, unsexy characters - Russians started using them as heroines though. Approx. F
below middle C +2 octaves
 Coloratura: Agility. Many trouser roles originally written for countertenors too.
 Lyric: Trouser/supporting roles - smooth
 Dramatic: Wagnerian - big. Witches, mothers, etc.
Countertenor: highest male voice, achieved via falsetto or castration. Same range as mezzo.
Tenor: highest “standard” male voice, hero who always gets the girl. Approx. C below
middle C + 2 octaves
 Lyric: Essentially the “coloratura” of the tenors. High, bright voices.
 Dramatic: Essentially the “lyric” of the tenors. Lower, dark, powerful, emotive.
 Heldentenor: Wagner - non-stop, powerful sound over long stretches
Baritone: middle male voice, jack of all trades voice: hero, villain, supporting, comic, old,
young, etc. Approx. G two below middle C + 2 octaves
 Lyric: Lighest of the baritones. Often comic and stay in the higher area of the range.
 Verdi: Richness throughout the range - top and bottom.
 Dramatic: Particular richness at the lowest end of the range.
Bass: lowest male voice, often supporting roles. Approx. E above middle C to two octaves
below.
 Bass-baritone: A cross-over. Low range of a bass, but comfortable in a baritone area
 Buffo: Comic. Often patter-like roles, or blustering villains
 Basso profundo: Rich, deep, powerful. Often villains (real ones) or sages
Operatic vocabulary: style
- Bel canto: means “beautiful singing” and is a particular 18th century style of opera known for brilliant vocal
displays of technique and florid elaborations
o As is often the case, wasn’t called bel canto when it was the present - was just called singing. When
was it first used? 1860s, in a nostalgic reference to this style when Wagnerian style was growing
- Opera buffa: Comic opera
- Opera seria: Can you guess? Yes, serious or dramatic opera
- Verismo: “realistic” opera. Mostly Italian - who is the most famous of this? Puccini, with his colleagues
Leoncavallo and Mascagni)
A History of Opera before Mozart
Before opera, there was…
Silence! No, of course not. To know what was before opera, we need to know when opera started. Fortunately, we
have a fixed point for this: 1598 with Jacobo Peri’s Dafne. So, what happened in the 50 years leading up to this?
- Music still depended on patronage and the church, and before 1563, church music was highly polyphonic.
- At the Council of Trent (which ended in 1563), an edict was issued claiming that church music was too
polyphonic, too florid, too complex, and too unintelligible, particularly in terms of text - as if the music was
the focus at the expense of text.
- After the Council, music shifted to a “doctrine of affection” (Descartes) in which the music should reflect
and support the emotional content of the text.
o Balance of moods was important - so many moods indicated (not personal, but human moods)
o The best way to be expressive was to deliberately break the rules of music to convey the poetic text
PHONE: 724.554.0181
EMAIL: [email protected]
-4-
-
September 14, 2016
o Led to the second practice, or seconda pratica, in which dissonances violate the rules of
counterpoint
Florentine Camerata, a group founded in 1573 to discuss music/humanities
o Patron was Count Giovanni de’ Bardi
o Developed the technique of recitative, used extensively and successfully by Monteverdi
o Guilio Caccini, Pietro Strozzi, Vincenzo Galilei (father of Galileo), Alessandro Striggio
o Theorized that the corruption of music could be fixed by a return to Greek ideals
o Believed that Greek dramas were sung…therefore recit was a natural step
o Criticized overuse of polyphony that distorted the words (like Council of Trent)
o Was very little “absolute” music without text at the time, so text was important!
o Set the stage (as it were) for the next group of ambitious composers/librettists, including…
The first operas
- Before these attempts, there had been plays with interludes or scene-change music (opera intermedio), but
nothing that truly represented operatic attempts
- Jacobo Peri (and Ottavio Rinuccini) with Dafne in 1598 (mostly lost) and Euridice (1600)
- More notably, Claudio Monteverdi (with Alessandro Striggio) composed L’Orfeo in 1607, the first mature
opera that fully realized its potential. How?
o Affective music throughout, in varied moods
o Fully set to music
o Use of operatic forms previously used, but never in such a blended environment: arias, strophic
song, recitatives, choruses, dance, dramatic musical interludes
o Interesting note: though the instruments required are clearly stated, the orchestration is not clear. So,
each performance would have a slightly different orchestration - all of the performers would have
been composers, so it would have been “realized” rather than simply “played” each time
o Gonzaga court official Carlo Magno gives more details: "Tomorrow evening the Most Serene Lord
the Prince is to sponsor a [play] in a room in the apartments which the Most Serene Lady had the
use of ...it should be most unusual, as all the actors are to sing their parts."
- Example: L’Orfeo, Act II mid-way through (29:58-38:30). Orfeo is preparing to meet his wife with the
shepherd’s in the field singing his praise. They are interrupted by a messenger, Euridice’s companion Silvia,
who brings the tragic news that Euridice is dead. Listen in particular for:
o Clarity of text - seconda pratica
o Dissonances harsher than we expect - the emotional affect (“acerbo” = bitter, harsh dissonance;
“consola” = console, comforting cadence)
o Strophic songs (Orfeo’s opening)
o Arias (thicker orchestration, more rhythmic) when elaborating on virtues/thoughts
o Recitatives (thin orchestration or basso continuo, quasi-speech without rhythmic pulse) when
driving the dramatic action - when the messenger needs to tell us what happened
 Scolorirsi il bel viso e ne’ suoi lumi Sparir que’ lampi, ond’ella al Sol fea scorno
 Her fair face grew pale and in her eyes That light that outshone the Sun faded.
o Virtuosity through ornamentation
o Use of music to highlight the expressive qualities of the text
- After L’Orfeo, many similar attempts, and opera had essentially begun.
17th and early 18th century musical-dramatic works
Opera spread quickly. Various forms of musical-dramatic works had been incubating across Europe, and with
Monteverdi’s success, these either crystallized into operatic forms or continued to move in different directions.
- Operatic subjects were almost exclusively historical or mythological (Greco-Roman).
- Oratorios (simplistic definition: un-staged operas
o Performed as a work-around for an edict that closed theaters during Lent
PHONE: 724.554.0181
EMAIL: [email protected]
-5-
-
-
-
September 14, 2016
o Always either mythological/war or religious topics
o Particularly popular in England:
 Mythological plots (such as operas) were not known to the masses…Biblical were
 In English as well - which increased popularity with the masses and allowed for English
singers (cheaper than Italian imports)
 Strong English choral tradition helped in oratorios, with emphasis on chorus
 Handel was the premiere composer:
 less contrapuntal and complex than Bach’s works
 Orchestral parts often reinforce the choral parts: more accessible to choruses
 England remains the country with the greatest history of oratorio: Handel, Elgar, Walton
Passions
o Written for Vespers Good Friday in Leipzig
o Include recitatives, arias, ensembles, choruses, chorales, sinfonias
o Drawn on elements from operas and oratorios
o Narration from Evangelist, with solo parts given to major roles (i.e. Jesus, small parts to Mary or
disciples/Pilate)
o Generally, the recits advance the narrative and are Biblical, while the arias reflect on the action and
are solo parts that come from outside poetry
o Chorales are from standard Lutheran sources and poetry from the choir to inflect emotions
o J.S. Bach wrote 4 or 5, only 2 survive (with one reconstruction of a third)
Operas
o Opera split into two forms: buffa and seria (Interesting socio-cultural issues here - nobility and
“class” vs. desire for broad acceptance. Similar conversations happen in all art forms - and frankly,
everything - today)
o Opera buffa - frowned upon by the big-wigs, but popular. Often shorter, lighter, or used as interludes
o Opera seria - championed by great librettist/poet Pietro Mestasio
 Increased virtuosic singing, embellishment, floridity, staging, effects, and general spectacle
 Just as in pre-1563 church music, this led to a reform attempt in the mid-18th century
Example: Da tempeste il legno infranto from Handel’s Giulio Cesare, Act III Scene 3
o Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt, rejoicing after being set free by her lover
o “When the ship, broken by storms / Succeeds at last in making it to port, / It no longer knows what
it desires. / Thus, the heart, after torments and woes, / Once it recovers its solace, / Is beside itself
with bliss.”
o Sung by Beverly Sills - dramatic coloratura role
o Form: da capo aria (ABA) Note the change of character at 1:51 - minor, last three lines of text. 2:20,
returns to A - but with elaborations and figuration.
Mid-18th century reform
As the Council of Trent advocated for a return to textual prominence over music, Francesco Algarotti advocated
for a return to dramatic prominence over spectacle in his Essay on the Opera in 1755. This inspired future composers,
notably Christoph Willibald Gluck.
- Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euredice
- Are you sensing a trend? Why this topic?
- Composed in 1762 and began a return to less florid, less elaborated musical and theatrical (note the
difference between theatrical and dramatic) elements to better serve the drama
- Gluck’s work set the stage (I’ll use this pun a lot) for Mozart and early 19th century operas.
PHONE: 724.554.0181
EMAIL: [email protected]