History and Performance Styles of Italian Opera and Chinese Opera - Coursework Example

COMPARISON OF HISTORY AND PERFORMANCE STYLES BETWEEN ITALIAN OPERA AND CHINESE OPERA By Location Introduction Opera is often described as an exotic and irrational entertainment that has always been combated and prevailed in the society. It has a feasible addition to leisure and can survive the arrows and slings of outrageous misfortune (Fredman, et al., 2004, p. 1). Originally, the word Opera did not have any connection to music but later came to mean the fusion of text and music in a dramatic setting. The actual designation of the term Opera was noted by an English diarist, John Evelyn in 1644 during a visit to Italy. All in all, Opera music is old and is used together with a play. People sing the music while acting out the parts without talking much. Some popular types include Italian and Chinese Opera. The essay compares the differences in history and performance styles between Italian Opera and Chinese Opera. The development of different period Italian opera Even though opera did not originate in Venice, its development in Italy was stimulated by the nurturing environment that existed in a serene republic. A good percentage of Europe’s music was dominated by the Italian opera during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries (Kimbell, 2004, p.238). The bourgeoisies would regularly commission huge and interesting pieces of work that combined drama, music, and dance. The combination of fine arts marked the birth of opera and several cities in Italy, Rome, Florence, Venice, and Naples contributed to the development and perfection of this new genre (Levey, 2004, p.388). But, the entire opera movement was started in Florence, Italy by the Florentine Camerata and the Bardi, who regularly met in an attempt to recreate the Greek drama. As the 17th century drew to an end, Italian opera was undergoing many challenges and alterations that were later expected to affect its standing in various ways. These changes had produced two visible and different forms of Italian opera. One type was the serious and tragedy-like type referred to as opera seria, while the second type is a lighter and more comic and earthly style that was referred to as opera buffa (Dahlhaus, 2004, p.63). The two forms of Italian opera arose out of common ancestor but were exposed to different influences that shaped and cultured them into the forms we are acquainted with today. Opera seria first arose in the cities of Venice and Naples and toke an inflexible and practical form by 1720. It was the product of a philosophical movement that started in the late 1600’s (Dahlhaus, 2004, p.45). The famous movement was referred to as Enlightenment and worked effortlessly to seize the entire Europe while affecting different aspects of life. The basic characteristics of opera seria are demonstrated through its libretti as well as, musical composition. When the philosophers of the Enlightenment turned their ideas into opera, their intentions were drawn much to maintaining a musical dramatic form that reflected the new ideals of unity and clarity. The ideals were based primarily on the ancient Greek philosophical treatises. According to Grout and Palisca, the main objective of Italian opera was being clear, simple, truthful to nature, rational, able to pressurize the audience, and with a universal appeal that does not cause mental fatigue. Some early forms of motivation for the changes in opera came from scholars at the Arcadian Academy located in Rome. The academy was primarily led by Gian Vincenza Gravina. The scholars are considered the important reformers who wanted to subject the Italian opera to the essential guidelines of the Greek tragedy. In simple terms, the scholars aimed at eradicating the older Baroque operas with extravagant characterization and complex plots (Dahlhaus, 2004, p.185). Also, they worked effortlessly to take away the comic elements and regulate the composition of Italian opera, both structurally and musically. These reforms resulted in the restriction of the role of music in its dramatic developments. However, the reforms left the role of explaining the events and occurrences in the musical story to the unaccompanied and dry recitatives. The utmost influence on the formulation and development of opera seria came from two opera librettists, Apostolo Zeno (1688-1750), and Pietro Metastasio (1698-1782) (Talbot, 2009, p.179). Metastasio’s libretti were immeasurably popular among the composers of that period. His 27 dramas were interpreted in over a thousand settings during the eighteenth century, with some being set as many times as possible. These dramas covered the conflict between human affections and emotions, and were almost based on a historical figure from the ancient world rather than an ancient myth as has earlier been common. Zeno’s libretti were in quintessence similar to the Metastasian type since he too favored the historical subject matter and relied on a set cast of characters. According to Grout, Zeno sought to purge into the opera of unevenly motivated plots, machines, supernatural inventions, bombastic declamation, and irrelevant comic episodes that reigned during the seventeenth century. Composers of opera seria found it rather challenging to achieve much contrast in the structure forms of their music or actions. Essentially, opera seria appeared as a mere stringing together of different recitatives and arias while in the hands of the composers. However, the most daring and skilled composers had a way to avoid the strict rigidity. Also, the ornamental improvisation and final cadenza of each singer provided other means of contrast as done several years through the century (Talbot, 2009, p.51). Along the development period, there was the emergence of more variations in the parts of the orchestra, increase in the use of ensembles and other pieces, as well as the introduction of dance numbers and ballets which were included in Opera seria. Furthermore, the keys and meter that were standardized gained more freedom in the course of time. In essence, the period after 1770 saw the increase in the diffusion and freedom of opera seria. The phenomenon led to its abandonment since it was considered strict and a strict dramatic form. The opera buffa or the Italian comic opera marked the other prominent of opera seen during the eighteenth century. Opera buffa had its ancestors in the seventeenth century but diverged from opera seria in interesting ways. According to Grout, it was similar to the other forms of comic opera at the time (Grout & Williams, 2004, p.73). The immediate predecessor to opera buffa arose during the late seventeenth century and was the musical drama referred to as intermezzo. Intermezzo represented a short piece that was usually one act long and produced by the acts of a longer and more serious opera. In the later years, during the turn of the century, these pieces grew to a larger size and were of greater importance. They were eventually performed as opera in their right and were no longer intermixed with the other forms of serious opera. Later forms of intermezzi characteristically had two or three acts that were short and consisted of one or two arias for every main role. An outstanding and renowned forms of intermezzi is the Pergolesi’s La serva padrona, that was performed in the year 1733. It was a distinctive piece as compared to the later intermezzi in various ways and showed aspects that were later expected to become a standard operation for opera buffa. La serva padrona constitutes only two singing roles, including the soprano and the bass (Grout & Williams, 2004, p.836). The leading male actor was a bass, unlike what was the typical opera seria, a castrato. Also, there was one mute character, as well as an orchestra that comprised solely of a harpsichord and strings. A greater percentage of all forms of the late intermezzi were comic pieces and their music was of a simple but pleasant character. Also, most of the music was largely dependent on text, and the singing was highly sensitive and flexible in expressing emotion through the melody. There was a common occurrence of textual repetition as well as heavily rhymed recitatives, but this did not result in artificiality. In fact, the intermezzo was a very realistic form of art when striking contrast to the many forms of opera seria. At the start of the second half of the eighteenth century, opera buffa had taken a different format from the mere comic opera. They were no longer simple buffoonish parodies but rather semi-serious and sentimental works with a comic element. According to Grout, the comic opera libretto occurring in the second half of the eighteenth century was distinctly varied and more interesting than the opera seria (Grout & Williams, 2004, p.349). At this later period, the music too showed a definite increase in continuity and more independence for the instrumental and orchestral parts. The later form of opera buffa was expected to become an extremely important aspect in relation to its influence on the Italian opera scene. Opera seria that came as the 1700’s came to an end and during the beginning of 1800’s went through several modifications: most outstandingly the loss of supremacy by da capo aria. The opera buffa had an influence on major developments that cannot be denied. As Sadie states, the European intellectual who had initially considered opera buffa to be an inferior form of art later began appraising their attitude and came to admire its expressiveness and vivacity. Chinese opera Chinese opera refers to a fashionable form of drama originating from the Tang Dynasty with Emperor Xuanzong that took place between 712 and 755 (Lovrick, et al., 2014, p.192). Emperor Xuanzong developed the “Pear Garden”, the first to appear Chinese opera troupe. The troupe majorly performed for the personal pleasure of the emperor. To this day, the operatic professionals in China are still referred to as “Disciples of the Pear Garden”. In the Yuam dynasty, forms like the Zaju, which acts based on the rhyming schemes and the innovation of having specialized roles such as Sheng, Dan, Hua, and Chou were introduced into the structure of opera. The dominant form of the Ming and Qing dynasties was the Kunqu, which came from the Wu cultural area and later evolved a longer form of play that was referred to as chuanqi. At present, Chinese operas exist in 368 different forms, the best being Beijing opera that adopted its present form in the mid-19th century. Beijing opera was extremely popular in the Qing Dynasty from 1644-1911. In Beijing opera, the traditional Chinese string and the percussion instruments provided a stronger rhythmic accompaniment to the acting. The acting was based on the allusions to gestures, footwork, and the other body movements that express actions such as rowing a boat, riding a horse, or opening a door. The character roles are defined strictly, and each elaborate make-up design portrays the acting character. The traditional collection of Beijing opera comprise of over 1,000 performances that come from the chronological novels that cover military and political struggles. In the traditional Chinese theater, there were no plays that were performed in vernacular Chinese or without any form of singing (Lovrick, et al., 2014, p.3). However, at the turn of the 20th century, the Chinese students returning from abroad started experimenting with the Western plays. Several Western plays were staged in Chine following the May Fourth Movement that occurred in 1919. Chinese playwrights started imitating such forms of opera. The most notable form of the new-style of playwrights was the Cao Yu. His major works include “Sunrise”, “Thunderstorm”, “Peking Man”, and “Sunrise” (McDougall & Clark, 2004, p.41). These works were written from 1934 to 1940 and have been widely read throughout China. The development of Beijing Opera was encouraged, and many new operas on modern and historical themes were written. As a popular form of art, Chinese opera is considered the first of the arts to imitate the changes in Chinese policy. However, during the Cultural Revolution, most opera troupes were disbanded, and scriptwriters and performers were persecuted. Also, all the operas except the eight model operas approved by the Jiang Qing and her associates were proscribed. The Western-style plays were condemned and considered as poisonous weeds and dead drama, and were not performed at all. Beijing opera enjoyed a revival after the fall of the Gang of Four in 1976 and persisted in being a very popular form of entertainment on television and in theaters. Chinese opera appears to have originated in the southern parts of China during the Song Dynasty. Oddly enough, it seems to have originated as a true folk of theater in contrast to the later developments of Chinese opera. The future classical Chinese opera of the noble court was much restricted to the formal or classical Chinese language performances that were characterized by the use of vernacular language. The Chinese language was referred to as nanxi and was characterized by love, friendship, betrayal, and loyalty (Shen, 2010, p.38). The nanxi performances attracted huge crowds, even though it was more than the operatic performances carried out by the nanxi showmen that attracted large crowds of people. Italian bel canto vs. Chinese folk singing Bel canto opera points to the early decades of Italian opera in the 19th Century. During this period, popular artists such as Bellini, Rossini, and Donizetti dominated the field quite effectively (Lamperti & Blankenbehler, 2009, p.7). But, the general notion of Bel Canto started earlier with a common consensus among the opera lovers that there was nothing more stunning than the beautiful voice that was singing a beautiful melodic line. More important was the melodic line that was driven by a sensitive and musical setting of poetic and singable text. The technique of singing produced desired results and valued smooth production throughout the complete vocal range. Ideally, Italian opera veterans did not want to hear the singers shift gears as their voices rolled from low to middle and high registers. The ability to execute all manner of embellishments effortlessly was also prized. As the Romantic movement took hold during the 19th Century, the public taste for the operatic drama started evolving. The composers started writing works that demanded very powerful and intense singing, and the voices grew much weightier. A good example of the major change in style was the highly praised tenor Gilbert Duprez, who was born in Paris in the year 1806. Duprez was a light lyric tenor with a flexible and agile voice that depicted itself in the roles like Almaviva in “Barbiere di Siviglia” (Stark, 2004, p.41). Increasingly, he displayed intense dramatic characters that are notable in Rossino’s “Guillaume Tell”, and later in other operas by Berlioz and Donizetti. He is believed to be the first tenor to have sung a high C with a full and powerful chest voice. The singing drove crowds wild, but drove Rossini more crazy, and he eventually likened it to “the squawk of a capon with its throat cut”. The other historical dimension of Bel Canto era deals with the nature of operas written for the voices steeped in the practice (Stark, 2004, p.197). It was natural to compose music that would display such vocalism since beautiful singing formed the order of the day. The fascinating element of this practice was the approach of writing the melody. The melodic line formed everything in Bel Canto opera especially in the elaborate scenes that contained them. The scenes offered long stretches of expanded and recitative spans of Arioso that were lyrically enhanced. Bel Canto melodies that are most captivativating are those that spin in long, endless, and elegant lines that disguise the phrase structure of the melody. Norma’s aria “Casta Diva”, would serve as a good example in the Bellini masterpiece that carries her name. On the other hand, Chinese folk singing has the longest history, richest numbers, and simplest structures of the musical genre among the traditional Chinese culture (Stark, 2004, p. 43). There are a dozen styles of folk music in the history of Chinese opera. Together with the Han folk music, Chinese folk music that tourists are likely to hear includes the Uighur, Tibetan, and Dong folk music. The Miao is also famous for their singing. About 92% of the people in China are Han Chinese, and there are several regional styles of Han folk music. Han folk music is the common form of music for the people in China. Since the Han people have several dialects and languages, thereby creating many regional styles of Chinese folk music. You are likely to hear folk music being played during funerals, weddings, and major festivals such as the New Year Festival. Even though most Chinese people prefer playing modern music at their wedding dinners, you are likely to hear some traditional suona played or rather the clanging of gongs. In Northern China, there is much ensembling of wind and percussion instruments and musicians play mouth organs, flutes, suonas, gongs, and drums. In the rich Eastern Coastal provinces like Zhejiang, Shandong, and Jiangsu, the major instruments used by folk musicians are the stringed varieties such as the erhu, Gu Zheng, and gao hu. Musicians also liked to perform in groups or rather solo. In Fujian Province, folk music tradition had a genre of traditional ballads that were referred to as Nanguan and Nanyin (Thrasher, 2008, p.12). These songs were sung by a woman who was accompanied by a pipa or Xiao and other traditional instruments. The music was melancholic in tone. The folk style uses Chinese traditional singing techniques. For instance, there is a common Chinese folk song from Sichuan province called “Kangding Love Song.” The song is often sung in a high pitched voice that sounds like the Italian opera. Also, the poems of the earliest Chinese poetry anthology appeared for over 3,000 years ago. The 305 poems composed in the anthology were divided into three major categories: Feng (local folk songs), Song and Ya (Thrasher, 2008, p.211). These forms of poems display the music for folk customs, rituals of the pre-Qin period, and court. It is important to note that “Tan’Ge” that was recorded in the history of the Yue and Wu Kingdom are still popular among the farmers of the Jiangsu Province. Also, there are some secular and ancient songs of the Qing (1616-1911) and Ming (1368-1644) Dynasties that spread from a single generation to the next in the different regions. Performance styles Italian Opera During the 17th century, Italian cities developed several operatic styles. A greater percentage of the Roman composers of the time like Domenico Mazzocchi, Stefano Landi, Michelangelo Rossi, and Luigi Rossi followed the Florentine tradition of including choral finales and vocal ensembles in the performance of Italian opera. They diverged from the normal Florentine style and increased the contrast between recitatives and arias, allowing the arias to interrupt the dramatic continuity. They also rendered the recitatives less interesting musically and more speechlike. Furthermore, they employed more comic episodes to lighten the existing tragic stories and introduced instrumental overture-like pieces that preceded the sections and acts of acts (Stark, 2004, p.199). Chinese opera The traditional performances in the Chinese culture integrated the essence of the notion. Through these performances, China expresses its wisdom and innovations through the world. Chinese opera is attractive and interesting for the people who love studying the musical forms, unique instruments, and ways of singing employed by the Chinese. Besides opera art, Quyi played a greater role in asking the performers to combine their skills of learning, speaking, and singing. Also, Chinese traditional performances were a representation of the national connotations, spirits and the oldest cultures that melted in them. Common performances of Chinese opera include Peking, Kunqu, Quyi, acrobatics, and shadow play opera (Thrasher, 2008, p.3). Peking opera is considered the national opera in China for the the long history and complete system involved during the stage performance. Popular performances of Quyi opera in the ancient times included comic performances and storytelling that were common among common people and those of nobility. Acrobatics opera involves the performance of agility, extraordinary feats of balance, and motor coordination. The performance can be found in many of the performing arts and sports and is associated with the activities of the extensive use of the gymnastic skills such as gymnastics and circus. Lastly, shadow play opera marked the earliest ancestor of modern cinema and the unique artistic value that makes it be reserved from the ancient time. In shadow play, the performers controlled the characters while singing the libretto to tell a story behind the screen. Conclusion Opera, whether Italian or Chinese has always been vocal and its tradition has been very pivotal in their successful production. Since the 20th century, more emphasis has been placed on the operatic ensemble with roles such as the scenic designer, conductor, and stage director assuming coequal positions with the singers. But, a growth in the techniques of multimedia production has paralleled a similar increase in the synthesizer and electronic music developed by the modern composers. Technology has also contributed to the development of new audiences, more so the proliferation of whole recordings that made the possible invention of long-playing records. Towards the last quarter of the 20th century and the years later led to the thriving of opera in technological and artistic standpoints. Bibliography Dahlhaus, C., 2004. Nineteenth-century music. 5th ed. Berkeley: University of California Press. Fredman, M., Sutherland, J. & Bonynge, R., 2004. The drama of opera : exotic and irrational entertainment. 2nd ed. Brighton; Portland: Sussex Academic Press. Grout, D. J. & Williams, H. W., 2004. A short history of opera. 4th ed. New York: Columbia University Press. Kimbell, D. R. B., 2004. Italian opera. 3rd ed. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press. Lamperti, G. B. & Blankenbehler, G., 2009. The technics of bel canto = Die Technik des Bel Canto (1905). 1st ed. West Pymble, NSW, Australia: Pitch Perfect Publishing Co. Levey, M., 2004. Florence : a portrait. 3rd ed. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press. Lovrick, S. W.-N. w. P., Siu, W.-N. & Lovrick, P., 2014. A short history of opera. 1st ed. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press. McDougall, B. S. & Clark, P., 2004. Popular Chinese literature and performing arts in the Peoples Republic of China 1949-1979. 4th ed. Berkeley: University of California Press. Shen, J., 2010. Playwrights and literary games in seventeenth-century China : plays by Tang Xianzu, Mei Dingzuo, Wu Bing, Li Yu, and Kong Shangren. 1st ed. Lanham, Md: Lexington Books. Stark, J. A., 2004. Bel canto : a history of vocal pedagogy. 3rd ed. Toronto; Buffalo: University of Toronto Press. Talbot, M., 2009. Aspects of the secular cantata in late Baroque Italy. 1st ed. Farnham, Survey; Burlington, VT: Ashgate. Thrasher, A. R., 2008. Sizhu instrumental music of South China : ethos, theory and practice. 2nd ed. Netherlands: Leiden: Brill. Read More