Chapter 6 Baroque Opera

Baroque Culture Use of arts to celebrate the Church and to support those in political power Grand churches and palaces richly decorated with ornamentation Ornamentation reflected in visual arts Laborers created buildings and art for the Church and ruling class

Baroque Music Purposes/Performers Music composed for and performed for or by aristocracy Music for aristocracy performed in homes and in public Songs and dances also performed in alehouses and streets for average citizens Characteristics Constant motion Use of ornaments (melodic decoration) Use of contrasts (loud then quiet phrase) Songs performed by average citizens not written down

Opera Origins Began in Italy, circa 1600 Florentine camerata (society of scholars and musicians) Added melodies to Greek dramas Emphasized clarity of text Rhythm followed textual accents

Early Opera Vocal Style Monody Solo singer Accompaniment Homophonic texture Basso continuo (also called continuo) Accompanied monody Bass instrument (cello or bassoon) + chordal instrument (lute, harpsichord, or organ) Figured bass – bass line with numbers indicating harmonies for chordal instrument to improvise

Baroque Opera Vocal Styles Recitative Speech-like, served as dialogue Rhythm flexible, based on text Usually limited accompaniment Early operas were mainly recitatives Arioso More lyrical than recitative Melodies were more distinct and expressive than recitative Aria Expansion of arioso style Song-like, focus of operas Can stand alone outside of the opera In da capo arias (ABA form) singers embellish the repeat of the A section

Opera Chorus Opera Firsts Included to represent groups of people Often homophonic texture so that audience can understand text Repetition of text by opera chorus was common Opera Firsts Jacopo Peri Eurydice (circa 1600) earliest surviving opera from the camerata almost entirely recitative Francesca Caccini first known female opera composer La Liberazione di Ruggerio first opera to be performed outside of Italy

Baroque Italian Opera Composer: Claudio Monteverdi Life spanned from Renaissance into baroque (1567-1643) Composed madrigals and opera First master of opera Opera Orfeo (1607) introduced opera as a major art form including: Costumes Staging and lighting 40 instrumentalists, chorus, dancers

Listening Guide Excerpt Listening Guide: “Tu se’ morta” (“You Are Dead”) from Act Two of Monteverdi’s Orfeo Based on Greek legend of Orpheus The libretto (literally, “book” or the text) changed from original legend to operatic version to provide happy ending Homophonic texture Tenor soloist with continuo Non-metric recitative from opera Listen to the ending of this recitative sung by Orfeo he descends to the underworld to find his wife: Text Translation Farewell earth, farewell heaven and sun, farewell. Listening Guide Excerpt from CD 3, track 15, p. 72

Opera Audiences Italy Across Europe Originally for aristocracy Public opera houses by 1637 Entertainment for middle classes and nobility Across Europe Opera spread Works composed and performed in vernacular and in Italian

Henry Purcell (1659-1695) Composed sacred and secular music Composed vocal and instrumental works Organist at Westminster Abbey and Chapel Royal Composed funeral music for Queen Mary Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas considered first English opera

Listening Guide Excerpt Featured Listening: “Thy Hand, Belinda” and “When I am Laid in Earth” from Act Three of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas Adapted from Virgil's Aeneid Operatic recitative and aria Homophonic texture Solo soprano with string accompanmiment The aria employs a five-measure ground bass (repeating bass melody) Listen to the ground bass and the first iteration of sections A and B of this aria sung just before Dido’s death: When I am laid in earth, may my wrongs create no trouble, no trouble in thy breast. Remember me, remember me, but ah! Forget my fate. Listening Guide Excerpt from CD 1, track 4, pp. 73-74

Other Baroque Opera Composers George Frederic Handel Italian-style opera in England Jean-Baptiste Lully French opera simple arias, similar to recitatives use of dances and chorus Handel