Unit 4: Opera Flashcards

1
Q

Reason for Gluck and Operatic Reform

A
  • late Baroque era: opera began to favour empty musical display over dramatic integrity
  • overture little to do w/ work that followed
  • lengthy ballets were a distraction
  • stars of the day - singers - would substitute aria from different opera if they felt it would display their virtuosity more effectively
  • Gluck’s goal: restore dramatic integrity to opera, (much like Monteverdi did before him: that the music should serve the poetry)
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2
Q

Gluck and Operatic Reform

A
  • restore chorus in opera: make it integral part of dramatic action
  • minimize contrast b/t recirative and aria: arioso stye
  • make overture organic part of score: use themes that would be heard later in opera
  • reject empty display of virtuosity: favor “beautiful simplicity”
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3
Q

What are examples of the Fluck and Operatic Reform?

A
  • Orfeo ed Euridice
  • Alcest
  • Iphigénie en Aulide
  • Iphigénie en Tauride
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4
Q

opera buffa

A
  • Italian comic opera
  • sung throughout with no spoken dialogue
  • down-to-earth characters, fast-paced plots, farce, sexual innuendo
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5
Q

modified sonata form

A
  • abbreviated sonata form
  • exposition and recapitulation, no development
  • developed 18th century
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6
Q

terzetto

A
  • Italian: “trio”

- musical number for three voices (characters)

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7
Q

trouser role

A
  • male character performed by soprano, mezzo-soprano, or contralto
  • male castrati roles turned to trouser role in modern performance
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8
Q

(overture)

A
  • orchestral work preceding opera or oratorio
  • frequently sonata form
  • in 18th century: quoted themes heard later in opera
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9
Q

(singspiel)

A
  • German comic opera

- contains spoken dialogue

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