1. MUH 3211 - Music History I Vocal Music, 1650-1750
11/16/2018
Chapter Nine
Vocal Music,
DAY 29 (13 Nov 17)

2. Jean-Baptiste Lully by Paul Mignard (1639-91)
Opera in France
Controlled by King
Emphasis on dance
Tragédie en musique - Philippe Quinault (poet) - J.-B. Lully (composer)
Anth I/81 – Armide (1686)
Overture (the King’s “24”) - “overdotting”
Act II/ sc. 5 (Renaud asleep, Armide approaches)
Jean-Baptiste Lully by Paul Mignard ( )

3. Opera seria (Just what it says) “Serious Opera” - Tragic content
MUH Music History I
11/16/2018
(Just what it says) “Serious Opera” - Tragic content
Plots often based on Classical Antiquity
vs. opera buffa (“comic opera”) [later]
Italy (and beyond) 1680s to late 1700s - most opera seria sung in Italian
Action (Recitative) – Reflection (Aria)
Development of standard poetic forms
Pietro Metastasio ( ) & others - librettist whose text were set over 700 times
DAY 29 (13 Nov 17)

4. Da Capo Aria Two parts (A – B) - contrasting emotions - “Ma” (…“but”…)
Performed w/ da Capo = A – B – A’
Ornamented return
Cadenza
Instrumental ritornello
G. F. Handel ( )
Giulio Cesare in Egitto - London (1724)
Act I, Scene 5 (Anth I/82) - Recitative (action) “Regni Cleopatra…”
- Aria (reflection) “Non disperar…” Kathleen Battle (w/ ornamented da capo)

5. Castrato Male soprano (contralto)
Surgically altered before puberty (!)
Heroic leads in opera seria
18th C “rock stars”
Farinelli, Senesino, et al.
“L’empio sleale, indegno” - Giulio Cesare, Act I, sc. 6 - Derek Ragin, countertenor
BBC Documentary: Castrato (6 parts)
“Senesino” (Francesco Bernardi, ) Cesar in Handel’s Giulio Cesare

6. England & Opera (before 1700)
Strong tradition of spoken drama (Shakespeare, et al.)
Political unrest in mid-17th C - Commonwealth (Cromwell) & Restoration - limited dramas & theatrical entertainments
Preference to mixed theatre & music - Masques (staged vignettes w/ music) - Semi-Operas (mixture of spoken & sung)

7. Dido and Aeneas (1689?) Henry Purcell (1659-95)
Virgil’s Aeneid (Bk IV) - adapted by Nathun Tate
Jonas Priest’s Girl’s School (Chelsea)
1st performed by 1689
All female roles (7-8?)
Later adapted as masque
Score lost/revised
Dido – Queen of Carthage
Aeneas – Hero of Trojan War/will found Rome
Anth I/83 - overture - No.1 (Scena) 1:58 - No. 2 (Dido) 3:00 - No. 3 (recit.) 7:24 - No. 4 (Chorus) 7:59 - No. 5 (recit.) 8:14 - No. 6 (Duet/Chorus) 10:15
Dido’s Lament (44:30)