The Main Features of Opera as an Art Form - Assignment Example

27 January 2008 The Main Features of Opera as an Art Form Opera's undisputed power and importance precipitated more than a little concern about its potentially adverse effects: its sensuality, its capacity to deceive, its capacity to influence human character subtly but powerfully, and indeed, even its capacity to undermine state security. Attractiveness of operas consists exclusively in the pleasure that attends contemplation of their formal configurations. Sensual pleasure is beautiful only where it gives rise to pattern or configuration, because only pattern can be beautiful. Sensual pleasure by itself is only agreeable. The ma8in features of opera as an art form are historicism and social reflections, a strong impact on feelings and sensation and authentic nature. Opera is a form of art reflecting historical or social events, criticism and observation of the epoch. For instance, Prelude and Liebestod from "Tristan and Isolda" by wagner show that opera becomes a matter for critical attention in the light of this nostalgia for power it can give its listeners (especially this most famous listener), a nostalgia that works even now as a high-class aestheticist cult and longing for and pursuit of a pure experience. Opera is a phenomenon whose time has come, even if the form is practically speaking dead in terms of new writing and performance of the new. "But within a society which was a structural unity the knowledge of certain types of material could always be relied on, so that the author of a music-drama was always in the closest contact with his audience" (Wellesz and Kean 89). Prelude and Liebestod break up the order of the singing contest by praising sensuality and emotions. These forces, heard in the orchestra, are those of the prelude, whose music momentarily reappears (Zuckermann 32). Similar to other forms of art, opera has a strong impact on feelings and sensation of the listeners. Opera represents a kind of safe place for irrationality in an excessively rational world, one whose ultimate value is its capacity to keep feeling alive in a feelingless world. Emotional listeners are easily moved to tears, and while Adorno does not question the sincerity of their responses, he doubts that the actual music serves as much more than a trigger for the response. What is more, the emotional listener "fiercely resists all attempts to make him listen structurally -- more fiercely, perhaps, than the culture consumer who for culture's sake might put up even with that." ().In short, emotional listeners display a troubling anti-intellectualism and use music predominantly as an excuse for extramusical emoting. These are people who vigorously reject the romanticized excess of emotional listening. But rather than attempting to move beyond it, into the kind of critical awareness engendered by authentically modern music, they naively retreat to the music of periods which they believe (wrongly) to be safe havens from the forces of reification and the predominantly commodity character of music. Purity and simplicity are highly desirable attributes of music destined for paidela, lest its effects become diluted, mistaken, or confused. Instruments capable of panharmonic playing were therefore particularly troublesome. For instance, in Mozart's Overture from "Don Giovanni" the unique feature is extraordinary expression of desire and emotions in music. What emerges from Prelude and Liebestod from "Tristan and Isolda" is a "sense of Wagner as a way station, revolutionary in the sacralization of art and pursuit of synaesthesia, but still too confined to produce a completely 'pure' experience" (Zuckermann 37). It was not merely a matter of draining off specificity to achieve heightened mystery and a reformulation of the Subject, but also of problematizing the relationship between word and tone (Zuckermann 39). Following Wellesz and Kean (1950) 'the very complicated laws' that govern musical discourse; these lead to two independent spheres that, fused though they may appear to be, still do not completely lose their identities. Sounding music from instrument and voice became pressed out in the Symbolic representation of music was the essence of poetry, the rhythmic core of a subject synonymous with the structure of the text itself (Steptoe 190). Regarding Overture from "Don Giovanni" it is possible to say that the musical self-sufficiency of the text is evident in this piece: where 'everything becomes music in the proper sense, the part of an instrument that is itself pensive, the violin, will drown. Wellesz and Kean underline that: In music it is the final overthrow of the cantus firmus and, connected with this, the emergence of the highest part to bear the melody; the organized use of successions of chords, which are subjected to the laws of tension and relaxation, through which the evolution of new forms was first made possible; the penetration of the melodic line by fiorituri;' (15). Opera is a form of art because listeners take deep pleasure in music. Listeners also take pleasure in music for the right reasons: pleasure, enthusiasm, and passion are not good in and of themselves, and such is music's power that a more substantial defense is required: one that shows a value beyond its capacity to arouse, delight, and entertain. Not just any listener's preferences count; only those of the fully competent, responsible listener. Nor is inspiration enough; artistic inspiration must be critically informed, disciplined, rational. The opera is a unique form of art in which words and music are interdependent: music begins where words become powerless in expression. Both Mozart and Wagner achieved a unity between action and reflection, where one discrete state often passes imperceptibly into another. For Mozart and Wagner, sometimes the words do indeed say it all on their own, and even in relatively quotidian language. In traditional operatic thinking such self-sufficiency causes a lowering of the lyrical temperature, quite unlike the Symbolist idea of merged form and content Zuckermann 32; Steptoe 191). The prelude by Wagner and Overture by Mozart remain a central feature of plot development and an important influence for developing character and maintaining civic order. It was given, after all, precisely for the harmonization of the soul. Opera's capacity to forge unity and its exemplary coherence make it a highly desirable imitation, offering insight into the harmonious foundations of virtue, reason, and beauty alike. Opera pursues for pleasure's sake alone, thus music that merely entertains, music that caters to self-indulgence and appetitive gratification. In Prelude, the dream-like atmosphere, certain scenes seemed pedestrian, and the point should be well taken: the accoutrements of theatrical representation might easily puncture symbolism (Steptoe 192). Following Steptoe, "A central factor in this development of Mozart's operatic technique was the manner in which he welded individual scenes and episodes of the story into the broader sweep of the opera. Instead of a genial sequence of memorable but distinct musical experiences, the work is characterized by a powerful unity of purpose" (195). As a form of art, opera is fundamentally representative, and our souls do indeed undergo changes when we hear it. Instead of dangerously irrational pleasures and copies thrice removed from reality, then, images may apparently afford acceptable pleasures and, indeed, constitute instances of learning. Part of the pleasure people derive from imitations comes from their capacity to show "something fresh", something new and beneficial. What is imitated is not so important as the manner of its representation. And the pleasure of the experience is the understandable result of our having learned something, of appreciating a particularly imaginative perspective or manner of portrayal. "Artistic creation consists in the artist's attempt to give a formal, visible, and audible expression to his thoughts. Artistic talent is something not stable but fluctuating. It is only in moments of creative excitement that the artist can express his consciousness of an interior world of forms, words, and sounds" (Wellesz and Kean 99). That opera's sounds may have the capacity to yield insight. Taking pleasure in sounds is a natural human tendency because pleasure needs not be fundamentally irrational and suspect. The nature and the significance of pleasure is as various as its attendant activities. Mozart's observation about leitmotifs are unique. Mozart demonstrated how at certain stages of the composition it is possible to retreat from a systematic use of leitmotif. Wagner's leitmotifs designate 'specific objects', 'deeds, curses, or magic', and 'characters', distributed in his scores just like signposts. Mozart was only attached to emotions, even the prominent dotted-rhythm tag. Perception of which dominates at any moment is influenced by a range of factors, including musical texture and context as well as the degree of narrative or plot advancement inherent in the text (Steptoe 194). In sum, opera need not necessarily be soothing and relaxing to confer psychological benefits, though. Even the wildest, most irrational music has value. Opera can either relax directly or provide a cathartic outlet for pent-up tension. Since people take pleasure in what is natural to them, and since the tastes of educated nobility differ from those of the uneducated, the same opera is not necessarily appropriate to both. But predictability, leitmotif sounds, character appears or is mentioned, does risk subverting affect. In this case, musical pleasure may distract or disrupt a rational train of thought. Works Cited 1. Steptoe, A. The Mozart-Da Ponte Operas: The Cultural and Musical Background to Le Nozze Di Figaro, Don Giovanni, and Cosi Fan Tutte. Clarendon Press, 1990. 2. Wellesz, E., Kean, P. Essays on Opera. Dennis Dobson, 1950. 3. Zuckermann, E. The First Hundred Years of Wagner's Tristan. New York: Columbia University Press, 1964. Read More