The Historical Origins of Opera

Historical Origins of Opera

Opera (Italian: opera) is a comprehensive art that combines music (vocal and instrumental), drama (libretto and performance), literature (poetry), dance (folk dance and ballet), and stage art. Below I give you the historical origins of opera, I hope to help you, welcome to read!

The historical origins of opera

The birth of opera

1. The origin of opera can be traced back as far as the tragedy of the Ancient Greek period, an art form that is the root of the art of opera.

2. A number of musical forms from the medieval period also laid the foundation for the creation of opera. The first is the religious drama in the late 10th century, and later the religious drama was replaced by the mystery drama (Mystery) and miracle drama (Miracles), prevalent in the 14th-16th centuries; the second is the idyllic drama, this genre with music, poetry, drama means to express the scenes of rural life, it has been prevalent until the 16th century, becoming one of the important origins of opera.

3. The Renaissance pastoral opera also heralded the birth of opera. Composers used the genre of pastoral to compose some dramatic scenes in poetry, or a group of pastoral songs to depict some simple storylines, the latter form being known as pastoral opera.

4. The most direct origin of the opera is the Intermedio of the late 15th century. These were allegorical, mythological or idyllic dramas interspersed between the acts of the comedies of the day, and by the 16th century the interludes between the acts formed a connected story in terms of plot, and incorporated decorative melodies and simple harmonic accompaniments.

5. Opera was finally produced in Florence, Italy, in the late 16th century. At the time, a group of cultural and artistic luminaries, who met regularly at the homes of the aristocrats Bardi and Corsi, were keen to revive the drama of ancient Greece, seeking to create a lively art that combined poetry and music. Believing that the art of polyphony undermined the expression of the meaning of lyrics, they advocated the use of monophonic melodies, and discovered in practice that freely chanted tones accompanied by harmony could be used not only in the same poem, but also in an entire drama. This then gave rise to the earliest operas, which then became idylls.

Characteristics of Opera:

Florentine Opera:

1. First Opera: It was Dafne, staged in 1597, with a libretto written by Linuccini and a score by Peri. Since only fragments of the score of this work remain, it is common to refer to Euridice, performed in 1600 and preserved in its entirety, with a libretto by Linuccini and music by Peri and Caccini, as the earliest opera. [2]

2. Characteristics of early operas: Scripts were based on Greek mythology, and later on historical themes were added. The musical part is in the form of a through bass, and the singing part is mainly in the form of a chanted declamatory tune, with an unforgiving range, free rhythm, a small amount of instrumental accompaniment, and the use of a chorus.

Roman Opera:

1. Representatives and works: Roman composer E. Cavalieri (about 1550-1602) composed the "Spirit and Flesh Embodiment" (La rappresentazione di Anima, edi Corpo), which was performed in the Roman Opera House in the late 18th century. edi Corpo) was performed in February 1600, and the play laid the foundation for Roman opera. La rappresentazione di Anima edi Corpo is actually regarded by historians as an oratorio, in the form of an opera, dealing with religious morality.

2. Characteristics: Focusing on the pleasure given by the grandeur of the operatic spectacle, it incorporates ornate stage design, organ sets, and ballet scenes, and ends each act with a chorus and dance.

Opera in Venice:

1. The establishment of the first opera house: the first opera house, San Casciano, was established in Venice in 1637, and it was the time when the opera moved from the aristocrat's salons and courts to the civic class.

2. Representatives and works: In 1607, the Venetian opera writer Monteverdi completed the composition of the opera Orfeo, the subject of the opera is similar to Linuccini's Eurydice. In the play, Monteverdi with his rich experience in pastoral and religious music composition, combined with the use of the 16th century musical treasury of a variety of means, so that the "Orfeo" became the first opera in the history of opera in the true sense of the opera.

3. Characteristics: the extensive use of arias and duets in the opera, the focus on emotional expression, the emphasis on beautiful singing, rarely used choral form, the family of stringed instruments for the first time occupies an important position, which strengthens the expressive power of the music.

Naples Opera:

1. Towards Orthodox Opera: Naples was the last city in Italy to develop opera, beginning in the late 17th century and finalized in the 18th century as Orthodox Opera (Opera seria), which extended its influence into the 19th century. It was often based on fictional historical or heroic events, and the pursuit of beautiful voices led to the prevalence of "eunuch" singers who had both the powerful lungs of men and the soft, bright tones of women.

2. Representatives and works: the representative of the Neapolitan school of music, A. Scarlatti (Alemandro Scarlati, 1660-1725) in the lyrical tone of the voice on the basis of the creation of free development of the aria (aria), to give the American singing to a wide range of world to show. The representative work is "Teodora".

3. Characteristics (also the characteristics of the opera):

1) in the content: more from ancient myths and historical legends, the content is serious, as opposed to comedy.

2) In the form of structure: from the original five-act opera into a compact three-act structure, often interspersed between the acts of the comedy interlude (Intremezzo, performed on the stage mouth). By the very personalized overture (fast-slow-fast three-part form) opening, declamation and return to the beginning of the aria alternately, rarely use repetition and chorus, and do not need to dance.

3) two different types of declamation: one is a dry narrative declamation, used for longer dialog or monologue, the solo voice is accompanied only by a passable bass; the other is a declamation with accompaniment, which is good at expressing complex emotions, but also in the dramatic tension scene, the soloist accompanied by the orchestra.

4) Return to the beginning of the aria: this aria is the ABA three-part form, the composer usually no longer reproduces the A section of the writing, but only at the end of the B section marked da capo, meaning repeated from the beginning, so as to "return to the beginning of the meaning of", and at the end of the mark Fine (meaning the end).

The development of opera

At the end of the 17th century, the most influential in Rome was represented by Ascarati. Neapolitan opera school. This school did not use choral and ballet scenes in their productions, but highly developed the technique of solo singing, which later became known as "beautiful voice". When this style of "singers only" went to the extreme, the original dramatic expression and ideological connotation of the opera was almost lost. Thus, in the 18th century and 20s, there was the rise of the genre of comic opera, which was based on everyday life, with witty plots and simple music. The first model of Italian comic opera is Pagolesi's "Maid as Housewife" (premiered in 1733), which was originally an opera opera interlude, staged in Paris in 1752, was denigrated by the conservatives, which set off the famous "comic opera polemic" in the history of opera. Out of Rousseau's handwriting, the first French comic opera, "The Village Soothsayer" was born under the inspiration of this debate and this opera.

Italian opera was the first to be transformed in France, and to be integrated with the national culture of France. Lully, the founder of French opera ("lyric tragedy"), pioneered the use of ballet scenes in opera, in addition to creating solo melodies that were closely tied to the French language. In England, Purcell created the first English national opera, Didon and Aeneas, based on his country's masque tradition. In Germany and Austria, it was Haydn, Dietersdorf, Mozart and others who developed folk singing opera into German and Austrian national opera, represented by Mozart's The Magic Flute. To the 18th century, Gluck, in response to the mediocrity and superficiality of the Neapolitan opera at that time, argued that the opera must have profound content, music and drama must be unified, and the performance should be pure and natural. His ideas and "Orfeo and Eurydice", "Iphigenia in Oleander" and other works have a great influence on the development of later generations of opera.

After the 19th century, Italian g. Rossini, g. Verdi, g. Puccini, German r. Wagner, French g. Bizet, Russian m.i. Glinka, m.p. Mussorgsky, p.n. Tchaikovsky, and other masters of the opera made an important contribution to the development of opera. Molded in the 18th century, "light opera" (operettta, meaning: small opera) has evolved and developed into an independent genre. It is characterized by a short structure, popular music, and the use of narration in addition to solos, repetitions, choruses, and dances. The Austrian composer Sobey and the French composer of German origin, Offen Bach, are the founders of this genre.

Among the 20th century opera composers, the early representatives are Richard Strauss (Salome, Knight of the Roses), who was influenced by Wagner; after the First World War is the principle of atonality applied to the creation of operas Berg (Wojciech); in the 40s so far there are: Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Miyo, Manotti, Barbier, Orff, Giannasdella, Henze, Moore, and the famous British composer Britten.

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