Opera Divas

The Italian composer Chiara Margarita Cozzolani was one of the few women who could compose well known music during the Baroque Era. Religious wars were raging on across Europe, and many of Cozzolani’s musical pieces focus on religion and musical dialogues, which portrayed notable religious scenes from the bible (Forney, Dell'Antonio, & Machlis 111). One of Cozzolani’s pieces, Magnificat, was focused on in our textbook. After listening to the piece and reading some history about Cozzolani and her music, I felt like I could really understand what was happening during that time in history and how she wanted to make people feel with her music. Chiara Margarita Cozzolani’s music relates to the Baroque Era of music for several reasons. First of all,

Cited:1. Balthazar, Scott Leslie. Evolving conventions in Italian serious opera: scene structure in the works of Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti and Verdi. University of Pennsylvania, 1985.

In any musical drama, be it opera, oratorio, or even musical theatre, it is possible for a composer to convey the personality of their characters through compositional and musical techniques. Doing so heightens the audience’s understanding of the characters, their motivations, and the relationships between them. Monteverdi, as a pioneer of opera, was one of the first to capitalize on this opportunity to heighten the audience’s understanding of the characters. This is highly apparent in his last opera, L’Incoronazione di Poppea. The music for two of the characters, Poppea and Nerone, is especially well composed to demonstrate personality, and this is no more apparent than in the dialogue which introduces the audience to them, Signor, deh

Anne also needs to convince the musicians of her commitment to the arts and her ability to lead such a prestigious organization and to do so, she will need to highlight her past accomplishments. Anne has had enormous success in directing operas, including serving as stage director for over 60 opera productions world wide, including the adored San Francisco Opera. In addition, she had stints as assistant director at the San Francisco Opera and the Canadian Opera. She also sought to increase the amount of productions during her time at the Boston Lyrics Opera instead of decreasing them to help retire the debt there. This should convince the musicians not only of Anne’s ability to lead them but also of her desire to build an elite arts

Oratorios were performed in prayer halls, which was a sacred setting similar to the cantata. Oratorios were recitative and contained de capo arias and chorus, like the Italian opera. It was sung drama performed without staging or costumes. “The catholic church saw the power of operas and was quick to take on operas for sacred subjects, such as the lives of saints. However, the church also condemned operas for its power to seduce and dazzle, banning the performance of opera during Advent and Lent.”3 George Handel, an opera composer also composed Messiah, which was one of the best-known oratorios. Another important composer of this genre was Giacomo Carissimi, who wrote many early

30. What is a comic opera? Reaction against baroque style. Light in mood and modest in

Nanette Salomon, a very well known feminist writer, wrote the article, “Judging Artemisia: A Baroque Woman in Modern Art History.” The article opens up with a discussion about the 2001-2 exhibition of Orazio and Artemisia Gentileschi: Father and Daughter Painters in Baroque Italy. The author explains that three things are unusual here: the fact that two famous artists were presented at the same time, that they were related as father and daughter, and the fact that the woman was better known than the man. Her intent in this article is to look at the effects of this trope (figure of speech) in the past and in the present.

The choice of the “Three women of Don Giovanni” can give a good understanding of the type of music which was used to create an opera in the 18th century Italy. The opera buffa was a comic opera with a funny story line and light music. Mozart wrote at different levels.

The Italian Renaissance is the “rebirth” of new ideas based on classical teachings. The Italian Renaissance gave birth to many innovations in theater architecture and scene design, including the proscenium arch stage, painted-flat wings and shutters, and Torelli’s mechanized pole-and-chariot system. In addition, the Italian Renaissance saw the development of the neoclassical rules of dramatic structure, and of opera and Commedia dell’arte. Between the 14th and 16th centuries Renaissance drama developed in Italy, marking an end to medieval practices and a release of traditional Roman ways of presenting drama. (Web.) The three major Renaissance contributions to Theatre were one, Neoclassical ideal in playwriting and criticism, two, Italianate staging and architecture, and three, Commedia dell’arte. By 1600, this rebirth had moved to other parts of Europe. It remained dominant for over 200 years, especially among upper classes.

Also he had composed keyboard pieces, oratorios, symphonies, and operas. He performed his first major opera when he was fourteen it was staged in Milan in 1770 the style of the opera was opera seria, Mitriade.

As stated by Burkholder, Grout and Palisca, Weber’s Der Freischutz’s “rustic choruses, marches, dances and airs”; multisectional aria form (influence from Rossini) and florid vocal lines were all common characteristics of the Italian Opera. Meanwhile in Verdi’s Otello, Wagnerian influence could be seen. Verdi used melodic motives to show the characters’ emotions. In Act 4 scene 3, the orchestra was used to heighten the dramatic moment instead of the voice, which was a breakthrough in the history of Italian Opera. It is apparent that both Italians and Germans knew how to blend the musical elements and text well to demonstrate the Romantic traits in their opera.

Carmen is a depictive work that represents the social and gender issues that were present in nineteenth century France and Spain. It introduces readers to numerous aspects of life including treatment of women, prejudices towards individuals and groups, social structures, and accepted social behavior. Carmen, as both a novel and opera, is a literary work that was written not only to entertain but also to reflect nineteenth century society.

There were also stricter demands of the solo singers. The two mid eighteenth century composers, Jomelli and Traetta played a big part in the reform of Italian opera in the late 18th century by influencing the French towards opera of a more international flavour.

Opera in the Romantic Period was a time when opera changed drastically, especially in the country of Italy. The recognition of singers as being important, almost irreplaceable, in the art of “bel canto” opera changed the idea of a vocalist in opera forever. A singer’s voice was prized and Italian composers, like Rossini, Donizetti, and Bellini wrote operas and works to showcase the voice, it’s color, range and agility. These Italian composers were moving away from the normal style of composition of the time, and the composer Rossini, who set the stage for many other followers. Many of the operas written during this time are still performed today and are highly acclaimed. For the most part, before Italy became a main player, France

The first roots of modern opera first appeared in Italy in the 17th century from the Camerata (an academy of Florentine poets, musicians, and scholars). The Camerata, inspired by ancient Greek drama, sung dialogues and choruses which were accompanied by musical instruments. The Camerata developed the “stile recitative,” in order to integrate drama, action, dialogue and narration. In this “sung speech,” a singer delivered a recitative melody with an actor’s dramatic and oratorical skills, achieving the goal of providing