Classical Opera Research Paper

The first concert I attended was performed by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. The orchestra had performed Shostakovich’s “Symphony NO. 7, Leningrad” from the Romantic era. The orchestra was a large ensemble (1) containing various instruments that contributed to the overall sound of the piece. Since the orchestra was a large ensemble, just like the instrumentation common in the Romantic era, the orchestra was able to perform in a lively, vigorous manner, probably vivace (2). The orchestra performed tutti

Music during the Baroque period was diverse and composers began to rebel against the styles that were popular during the Renaissance. In the Baroque era music was driven by the text and the emotions behind it. Vocal and sacred music developed greatly during the Baroque period. During the mid-17th century the Italian phenomenon opera dominated most of the theatres in Europe. Sacred music was deeply influenced by the opera, contributing to the development of the oratorio and cantata genre. The opera, oratorio, and cantata contain musical similarities; among all three genres they feature recitative, soloist orchestras, and duet arias.

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

The Baroque period stretched across half of European history. It began shortly before 1600 and ended with the death of Bach in 1750. During this time, there were change and

The Classical era of music also had a different sound than music in the previous Baroque era. Music from the Classical era contained highly flexible rhythm, a variety of dynamics ranging from soft to very loud, an increase of tone color, more simplistic melodies, and a homophonic texture. The rondo form between Classical and Baroque music was also changed. Classical music had an ABA or ABACA form, in comparison to Baroque music which had an ABACABA form. The modifications made caused the music from the Classical music to be more easily

opera. This law was made by Joseph. Then after seeing the play without it, he wanted it

Oratorio and cantata were two genres that re-emerged in the first half of the eighteenth century. They were already important musical alternatives to opera by the mid-seventeenth century, but differed in nearly every respect from the genres of the same names found in the early eighteenth century. As genres late in the period, they both bespoke the traditions from which they originally sprang and permitted new recombination of the musical elements of these same traditions.

Opera Seria refers to a very serious opera, this style of opera was the predominant style in Europe, and was typically performed for royalty and individuals of the more affluent social classes. A non-mozart example of Opera Seria is Rinaldo by George Frideric Handel

Beginning in the mid-1700s composers started to resist the changes that occurred in opera. They began to resist: the preferential treatment that the divas and castrati received, the excessive and replaceable arias and the melodic phrasing, and the extreme vocal embellishments. Coming out of the opera seria where the focus remained squarely on the divas, castrati, and where the da capo aria was the standard form of the time Christoph Willibald Gluck was the leader of the Operatic Reform. While Christoph Willibald Gluck and other composers of the time did not abandon the da capo aria entirely, they began to modify it to more effectively to fit the telling of a story. With the reform, opera was returned to expressing dramatic truth.

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.

He removed the overuse of da capo aria or the showing off desire of the singer; he also broke down the contrast of the recitative and aria and gave his opera more dramatic relevance than had been the case in opera seria:

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

Zadok the Priest is a piece by George Frideric Handel from the Baroque Era, and Missa Papae Marcelli "Gloria" is a piece by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina from the Renaissance Era.Baroque music broke away from the harshness of the Medieval and early Renaissance style with new emphasis on the use of vocal and instruments. Many musical forms were born out of this era including opera. Some composers of this time were Tomaso Albinoni ,Antonio Vivaldi, Johann David Heinichen,George Frideric Handel, Domenico Scarlatti , and Johann Sebastian Bach.The church was the most important place where Baroque and Renaissance were playing as a serve in the church . There are many changes happened between the renaissance and baroque period : The first crucial distinction is the texture the shift from the imitative polyphony in the renaissance era to treble-bass polarity,monody and the development of basso continuo . The second crucial distinction is the tone of the baroque music was of development of tonal architecture and formal principles; baroque, binary, ternary, fugue, etc. while the form of renaissance music was much of the systematic point imitation and Cantus Firmus structures.The third crucial distinction is the Baroque musical genres include both vocals and instrumentals, with the only difference being they were quite larger in number of categories than those of in the renaissance era . The fourth crucial distinction is Renaissance music consisted of smooth regular flow of

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

The Baroque time period was a time of artistic style extravagant motion and clear, simply interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, excitement, and magnificence in sculpture, painting, architecture, literature, dance, theater, and music. Opera is an arrangement in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining libretto (text) and musical score, typically in a theatrical setting. Opera came out of the baroque period of people wanting to make music that was more expressive. A group of people in Italy decided that a single line of melody with simple accompaniment would be much more expressive than words. This caused the creation of recitatives, which early operas consisted entirely of. This also caused arias, duets, and