Italian Opera Section D Flashcards
What role did opera play in 19th century life?
Central role
Opera houses sprang up all over Europe
Opera was elite entertainment and a popular diversion for all classes.
Composers continued to follow national trends while developing new forms.
Operatic stories varied considerably, but they appealed to the middle class.
Music became the most important element of opera, as the composer increasingly became a dominant force.
By 1850, a permanent repertory of operas had emerged.
What role did opera play in Italy in the 19th century?
Grounded in tradition, Italy enjoyed a new golden age.
Italian operas were exported throughout Europe and the New World.
Major composers: Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti
Who was Gioachino Rossini?
1792-1868
Rossini may have been the most famous composer in Europe in the 1820s.
The popularity of his operas is partially due to his ability to blend opera buffa and opera seria.
The conventions that he created for Italian opera would endure for over fifty years.
Rossini helped establishbel canto.
Poetry was more important to him than drama
Who was Vincenzo Bellini?
1801-1835
Bellini came into prominence after Rossini retired.
He preferred dramas of passion and gripping action.
Bellini composed ten operas, including:
La Sonnambula(The Sleepwalker, 1831)
Norma(1831)
I Puritani(The Puritans, 1835)
Style: long, sweeping, highly embellished, intensely emotional melodies
Who was Gaetano Donizetti?
1797-1848
Donizetti composed over seventy operas and hundreds of other works.
He created outstanding works in both comic and serious opera.
Lucia di Lammermoor(1835), a serious opera
La Fille du regiment(The Daughter of the Regiment, 1840), an opéra comique
Don Pasquale(1843), an opera buffa
Donizetti had some of Rossini’s instinct for theatre and talent for melody.
Who was Giuseppe Verdi?
1813-1901
Verdi was the dominant opera composer in Italy for fifty years after Donizetti.
How many operas did Verdi compose?
Between the ages of 26 and 80, Verdi composed 26 operas
How did politics influence Verdi?
Opera was often a vehicle for expression of nationalistic ideas.
Although Verdi supported unification, nationalism was not an overt element of his operas.
Verdi’s name became a patriotic rallying cry: “Viva Verdi” was an acronym for “Viva Vittorio Emanuele Re d’Italia” (Long live Victor Emmanuel, king of Italy)
Nabucco (1842) - unison chorus become an emblem of Italian opposition to foreign oppression
What were the operas in Verdi’s early period?
Up to 1853:
Luisa Miller(1849) relates an intimate story of personal tragedy.
Rigoletto(1951) was adapted from a play by Victor Hugo.
The period culminates in 1853 withIl trovatoreandLa traviata.
How did Verdi want his operas to come across?
Verdi treated opera as human drama.
He chose stories with fast action, striking contrasts, unusual characters, and strong emotional situations.
The impact on the audience was his primary concern.
He composed memorable melodies that captured the character and feeling of the drama.
Verdi built upon the conventions of Rossini, Bellini, and Donizetti.
In what ways was Verdi concerned with making his operas true to life?
Picked all his subject matter - allowed him to have control over plots/characterisation
e.g. La Traviata - contemporary subject matter - book ‘La Dame aux Camélias’ took its inspiration from real people
Rejected tradition of Grand opera set by Scribe
Violetta’s emotions are matched by her melodies
Realism of V’s death
Reflects contemporary views of society - continual reference to the waltz - fashionable at the time (so much so that it was considered morally dangerous!)
Reflects unstable/changing gender constructs - duet with Germont in act 2 shows two contrasting views - at first his regular phrases show masculine self-assurance and Violetta’s hurried passages/unpredictable leaps show feminine ott emotion - BUT in the second half Violetta takes on the stable phrases and Germont sings incoherent sobbing figures.
Verdi wanted the opera to be set in the 19th century and asked for modern costumes
In what ways was Verdi not concerned with making his operas true to life?
Number opera - doesn’t reflect continuity of life/inhibits dramatic flow
Simplistic use of orchestra/harmony
What were Verdi’s middle period operas?
Verdi wrote fewer operas in the next two decades
The action becomes more continuous
Solos, ensembles, and choruses are freely combined
Harmonies are more daring
The orchestra is treated with great originality
Les vepres siciliennes(The Sicilian Vespers, 1855)
Un ballo in maschera(A Masked Ball, 1859) introduces comic roles.
Aida(1871) was commissioned for the Cairo opera
Verdi chose an Egyptian subject, which allowed him to introduce exotic color and spectacle.
Verdi retired after this opera.
What were Verdi’s late operas?
Giulio Ricordi persuaded him to compose two more operas, both on librettos by Arrigo Boito (1842-1918).
Otello(1887)
The music is uninterrupted in each of the acts.
The traditional schemes are arranged in larger scene-complexes.
The orchestra develops themes in a more symphonic manner.
Falstaff(1893)
This pinnacle of opera buffa is based on Shakespeare’sThe Merry Wives of Windsor and Henry IV.
The final act ends in a fugue for the entire cast.
How did Italian opera develop under Verdi?
greater dramatic unity
better-developed characters
and more credible plots.
These plots were often quasidramatic, but there was a general improvement in quality.
The recitative and aria were still the principal closed forms,
with melody in the popular bel canto style
and an emphasis on virtuosity.
There was also greater balance among voices and instruments,
but the orchestra still served as accompaniment.
