Opera Means a Drama Set to Music - Essay Example

Page Meghana Nerikar Topic- Opera “Opera is when a guy gets stabbed in the back and, instead of bleeding, he sings.” Ed Gardiner has mentioned this fine statement while describing about Opera. Opera means a drama set to music. It consists of singing accompanied by an orchestral overture and interlude. It is a form of musical and dramatic work, in which the singer conveys his message through the song. Traditional Opera comprises of two modes of singing, first is recitative and second is aria. Claudio Monteverdi is regarded as the father of Opera. This beautiful form then spread all over in Europe and Italian Opera became dominating in Europe in eighteen century. To know more about the opera it is essential to study the different styles of operas as well as different composer who contributed a lot in the Opera. We can get maximum information about opera from New Groove Dictionary which is produced by Stanley Sadie. The dictionary comprises of 6 different categories in different period starting from 16th century to 21st century. Claudi Monteverty was the first great composer of the new form of Opera. “Dafne” is supposed to be the first opera which is composed in 1598 by Jacopo Peri. And soon the opera prevailed everywhere in Europe. There are different types of Operas which we are going to discuss in this topic. Monody is a kind of music which is distinguished by having a single melodic line and accompaniment This term generally is used in Italian song of early 17th century. Compositions in monodic form is called madrigals, a setting for 4 6 voices of a secular text. It is often in Italian. Monody was developed by the attempt of Florentine Camerata. Page-2 The term Florentine Camerata means the group of humanists, musicians, poets and intellectual in late Renaissance Florence that gathered under the patronage of Giovanni de’ Bardi, Count of Vernio, a critic, writer and composer. Florentine Camerata basically aimed at restoring the ancient Greek ideas of melody. In Venetian school, most monodies were composed independently. Venetian Opera:- In Seventeen century Venice was the ideal place for the establishment of opera due to some special social circumstances. Venetian Opera mainly focuses on formal arias and use of choral orchestral music is very less. Vocal elegance is more important than dramatic expression. Venetian Opera has a special characteristic and that is its complex and improbable plots. The Opera which is still performed regularly is “Orfero” by Claudio Monteverdi. It was composed in 1607. Claudio Monteverdi was a famous Italian composer, violinist as well as singer. In the world of music he proved himself as a revolutionaries that brought about the remarkable changes in musical style. He is the person who first introduced this style. Venetian style is a style which involved spatially separate choirs singing in attention. Italian opera was dominating the whole Europe and to compete it was the main purpose behind the birth of the French Opera. Soon after the French Opera, This form was followed in Germany. German Romantic Opera Dafne was the first German Opera. This was written in 1627.Heinirich Schutz composed the German Romantic Opera in 1627. Der Weber was one of the significant composers. Weber’s operas were greatly influenced by the Romantic opera in Germany. He also composed many instrumental musics. Peter Schmoll und seine Nachbarn was the first opera written in1803, got a grand success. French Opera: - Jean Baptiste Lully was an Italian born French composer who introduced the French Opera, As mentioned above the new style to compete the Italian Opera, which was generally sung in French. Lully established an academy of music and he took great efforts to create monopoly of French Opera from 1672. Opera in France has continued to include ballet interlude and feature elaborate scenic machinery. Starting with Cadmus et Hermione, i.e. French tragic tale Lully along with his liberttis Quinault created a form known as “tragedie en musique.” Lully’s operas also focus a concern for expressive recitative which matched the contours of the French language. Tragedie en musique is the fine blend of dance, music and choral writing. Italian Opera in England –Prucell About 1683, John Blow composed Venus and Adonis. It is supposed to be the first Opera in English language. After John Blow his successor, Henry Prucell introduced Italian style in English. He achieved a grand success in Dido and Aeneas which was created in 1689.Prucell generally kept attention on the semi opera format, which developed in England first betwwen 1673 and 1710. Prucell’s style was adopted later on by many artists and Great Britain became an outpost of Italianate opera. Intermedio-La Serva Padrona-Pergolesi- Opera Buffa Opera Buffa was developed in Naples, the capital of Campania region in Italy. It was developed in the first half of eighteen century. Soon its popularity prevailed in Rome and northern Italy. Pergolesi was the major composer of Opera Buffa. Opera Buffa is a comic type of Opera. Apart from him other great composer of this opera are Nicola Logroscino, Baldassare Galuppi, and Alessandro Scarlatti. Reform Opera – Gluck Christoph Willibald composed Orfeo and Euridice. Gluck composed his first opera called Artaserse in 1741 which was known as Opera Seria. This form of opera is sometimes known as melodrama This form of Opera dominated Europe between 1720 and 1770. In his work Gluck mainly aimed his work as a stoic reaction to the undramatic nature of Opera Seria in Germany and Italy. Through his work he intelligently mixed to conventions of Opera, First is French and another is Italy. Music played an important role In this reform opera. However the contribution of choreographers as well as cast. Same style of melodrama was written in Italy by Handel and Mozart. Prussian Handel wrote around fifty opera seria, for the theatres of London. The special and genuine thing in Handel’s style was that his characters were close to real life. In December 1791, Wolfgang Mozart wrote many compositions in all the musical genres. Opera was an obsession for Mozart. He has written that opera had made him, “besides myself at once.” Some of his greatest operas were “The Abduction from the Harem,” “The Marriage of Figaro”, “Don Giovanni” and “The Magic Flute.” His last work is “The Magic Flute” which was composed in December 5, 1791. Bel Canto Bel Canto is one of the most favorite Italian music term. Bel Canto refers to the art and science of the vocal technique. In the first half of the nineteenth century this term was on its highest peak. The characteristics of Bel Canto’s style is his perfect evenness in the voice, flexibility and agility. Bel Canto used to highlight technique rather than volume. Grand Opera – Meyerbeer Giacomo Meyerbeer was a well- known opera composer who was born in Germany. Materbeer was born in Jewish family. He gained an international acclaim by his opera, ll crocatio in Egitto. He was on the height of fame when he wrote the opera called Robert le Diable which was produced in 1831. His work was banned later by the Nazis because he was Jew. Music Drama- Wagner Wagner was born in 22nd May 1813. Wagner had an idea of to compose a total work of art in which all art forms would be included like music, poetry, dance, drama and paintings. And for this idea he adopted the opera system. He transformed the opera into music drama. Wagner was a brilliant and versatile person who was a best dramatist, librettist as well as conceptual set designer. His music dramas used to be long and epical. The songs had a very complex orchestration which created the sound pictures. Post Wagenerian Italian Opera –Verdi Verdi used to depend upon the ultimate instrument of musical expression. Orchestral and contrapuntal innovation is the characteristic of his style. Verdi never came under the influence of either the style of Wagner. Verdi’s contemporaries were mostly the Frenchmen but he kept himself away from their influence. He produced his first opera named Obertto which gave him some recognition. The most important as well as the original opera which was written by Verdi in 1847 is Macbeth . Verismo - Puccini Puccini was an Italian composer whose opera are mostly performed in the standard repertoire, very standard operas. He has a strong influence of Wagner as far as style of orchestration is concerned. One of the most distinctive features of Puccini’s style is his use of the voice in the style of speech. Operetta – Gilbert and Sullivan Operetta can be defined as a light opera. Operetta are generally less serious than opera. Some of the operas are spoken rather than sung. The major hero of the English operetta were Gilbert and Sullivan. Both of these two wrote fourteen comic opera between 1871 and 1896. Gilbert and Sullivan operas had achieved a grand success on international level. They introduced innovation in content and form. They influenced the theatre of 20th century. They created their first opera in 1871. Strauss-Salome Salome is the opera which is known for its “Dance of the seven Veils,” one of the elaborations on the historical tale about the execution tale of John Baptist. Strauss was very specific about the numbers of instruments. Apart from all these there are many operas played in different part of the world. Though Italy has a wide contribution in opera style it was then spread to many parts of the world and mingled in the different cultures. Sources:- The New Groove Dictionary (Stanley Sadie) Opera Rough Guide, (By Mathew Boyden) The Viking Opera Guide Read More