2. Domenico Scarlatti 1685-1757

3. Alessandro Scarlatti 1660-1725

4. Da capo aria A and B sections A section then repeated (“da capo” means literally “from the head”) Performers expected to improvise variations and ornaments during the repeated A section

5. Cardinal MazarinQueen Anne of Austria

6. Louis XIV

7. The Palace at Versailles Versailles –Landscaping Hall of Mirrors –Extravagance

9. Pierre Perrin

10. Jean-Baptiste Lully

11. Opera in France Tragedie lyrique: combo of dance scenes, lyrical music and plot based upon courtly love. Jean Bapiste Lully (1632-1687) father of French opera

12. French Overture Overture is French for “opening” 2 sections, each repeated 1.First section homophonic, dotted rhythm, majestic (was supposed to signal the entry of the king) and slower 2.Second section polyphonic, faster

13. How evil is opera? a French critic, late 1600s: Opera is a bizarre affair made up of poetry and music, in which the poet and the musician, each equally obstructed by the other, give themselves no end of trouble to produce a wretched work.

14. Opera was illegal in Rome in the early 1700s. an English critic, 1872: Opera is to be regarded “musically, philosophically, and ethically, as an almost unmixed evil.” How evil is opera?

15. Opera in England James I (r. 1603-25) Charles I (1625-490 –Stuart Kings –Supported musical plays called “masques” to be performed in private palaces. –Very popular during this period of time.

16. Commonwealth Period 1649-60 Ruled by the Puritans Opera, Stage Plays, Secular forms of entertainment were forbidden. Considered blasphemous Plays set to music could be performed if set with the proper precautions. John Blow is the first English masque writer. His pupil, Henry Purcell (1659) was the first major English Opera Composer.

17. Henry Purcell 1659-1695

18. Dido and Aeneas (1689) Dido, filled with grief meets her death. (loss of love) Climbs a funeral pyre. Music: descending line in ground bass is a sign of grief in baroque music. Descending line paints “laid in earth.” Use of ground bass. Use of dotted rhythms to denote royalty.

20. Dido and Aeneas, Act III Dido’s Lament Virgil’s Aeneid Adventures of Aeneas after the fall of Troy Aeneas is stranded in Carthage, Northern African coast Falls in love with Dido, Queen of Carthage Aeneas pushes her away as he must leave for Italy…. Soon to be the founder of Rome.

21. After Dido... English preferred spoken drama Purcell wrote some “Semi-operas” –Example: The Fairy Queen (1692) Opera had support of the monarchy in France and the public in Italy, but from neither in England

22. Types of Recitative arioso – passages that lie somewhere between recitative and aria style recitative semplice (simple recitative) – as speechlike as possible and accompanied only by basso continuo recitative accompagnato (accompanied recitative) – used orchestra to dramatize tense situations