Ch14 baroque traits & invention of opera

MUS 3022
Dr. Wallace
Department of Music
Southeastern Oklahoma State University

1. Chapter 14 Lecture Slides A History of Western Music TENTH EDITION by J. PETER BURKHOLDER DONALD JAY GROUT CLAUDE V. PALISCA © 2019 W. W. Norton & Co., Inc.

2. General Traits of Baroque music basso continuo written-out melody and bass line performers fill in chords, continuo instruments harpsichord, organ, lute, theorbo later 17th century bass line reinforced; viola da gamba, cello, or bassoon figured bass = added figures above or below bass notes Realization = actual playing of figured bass varied according to work and player; improvisation

3. Concertato style (stile concertato) = combining voices with instruments use of diverse timbres in combination Mean-tone and equal temperaments concertato medium: problems in tuning just intonation: singers, violinists mean-tone temperaments: keyboard player approximations of equal temperament: fretted instruments General Traits of Baroque music

4. Baroque Harmony chords and dissonance consonant sounds as chords Dissonance = note that did not fit into a chord greater variety of dissonances tolerated chromaticism used to express intense emotions (aka the affections) harmonic exploration in instrumental pieces harmonically driven counterpoint emphasis on the bass counterpoint driven by succession of chords implied by bass

5. Baroque Rhythm & Tonality Regular and flexible rhythms flexible rhythms - vocal recitative, improvisatory solo instrumental pieces regular rhythms - dance music barlines became common by midcentury, used to mark off measures flexible and metric rhythms used in succession to provide contrast recitative and aria, toccata and fugue From modal to tonal music composers expanded modal system; evolved gradually last third of the century, major and minor keys Rameau’s Treatise on Harmony (1722), first complete theoretical formulation

6. Baroque Performance Practice Performance practice styles for voice and instrument families diverged, became distinct music centered on performer and performance performers interpret, dramatize the music ornamentation as means for moving the affections trills, turns, appoggiaturas, mordents singers often added cadenzas to arias church organ works shortened to fit service sections of variation sets, movements of suites: omitted, rearranged

7. Chapter 14 Lecture Slides A History of Western Music TENTH EDITION by J. PETER BURKHOLDER DONALD JAY GROUT CLAUDE V. PALISCA © 2019 W. W. Norton & Co., Inc.

8. The Invention of Opera The artform of the 17 th Century Opera = the union of poetry, drama, music and stage craft Libretto (little book) = the word/text of the opera Opera has continuous music, no dialogue Opera invented … to recreate Greek drama to blend existing genres: plays, theatrical spectacles, dance, madrigals, solo song

9. Forerunners of Opera Music combined with drama Greek Plays by Euripides and Sophocles – choruses, sung lyric speeches Medieval Liturgical Dramas – sung throughout Renaissance Plays – songs, offstage music

10. The  intermedio   [ interˈmɛːdjo ]  was a musical interlude on pastoral, allegorical, mythological subject; performed between the acts of a Renaissance play in Italian courts. Usually linked by a common theme Very elaborate productions Forerunners of Opera The Italian Renaissance Intermedio Set and costumes for the first intermedio - La Pellegrina performed in Florence in 1589.

11. Renaissance Precursors The Pastoral Drama Pastoral drama = plays in verse, music and songs interspersed pastoral poems, idyllic love, rural settings, youths and maidens, mythological figures popular in Italian courts and academies, 16th century

12. Opera Precursors The MAdrigal Madrigal = a Renaissance song for several voices, without instrumental accompaniment madrigals as miniature dramas emotion, dramatizing text through music madrigal comedy/madrigal cycle = madrigals grouped in a series with a succession of scenes or a simple plot

13. The Invention of Opera Greek Tragedy as a model Humanism - Renaissance movement that revived interest in ancient Greek and Roman thought Humanist scholars, poets, musicians, patrons interested in reviving Greek tragedy music in Greek tragedy was debated Did they sing the whole thing or not?

14. The Invention of Opera Florentine Camerata Florentine Camerata ( Camerata Florentina ) – also known as the Camerata de’ Bardi early 1570s academy hosted by Count Bardi discussed literature, science, and the arts musicians performed new music attacked vocal counterpoint (aka – the old way of singing) argued for single line melody, natural speech inflections (aka – the new way of singing – opera)

15. The Invention of Op Monody, aria, and solo madrigal era Monody = originally an ode sung by a single actor in a Greek tragedy, but also music with only one melodic line, usually one singer and continuo accompaniment advocated by Vincenzo Galilei all styles of accompanied solo singing, late 16th and early 17 th centuries Caccini’s Le nuove musiche (The New Music, pub. 1602) 1580s and 1590s, songs for solo voice with continuo Arias and madrigals Example: Vedrò ‘l mio sol, solo madrigal melody shaped to natural accentuation of text ornaments enhance message of text

16. The First Baroque Operas Recreating an ancient Greek genre in modern form Peri’s Dafne (1598), setting of Rinuccini’s pastoral poem fragments survive staged drama, sung throughout, music conveyed character’s emotions presented at a palace Rappresentatione di anima et di corpo (Representation of the Soul and the Body, 1600), produced by Emilio de’ Cavalieri musical morality play produced in Rome longest entirely musical stage work

17. Peri’s L’Euridice L’Euridice (1600), by Jacopo Peri (1561–1633) Based on poet Rinuccini’s pastoral drama L’Euridice story demonstrates music’s power to move the emotions (aka the affections) performed in Florence, wedding of Maria de’ Medici to King Henri IV of France production incorporated sections by Caccini both versions published, earliest surviving complete operas recitative style = halfway between speech and song way to express dialogue invented by Peri similar to style used for reciting Greek epic poems Steady basso continuo, voice moved freely through consonances and dissonances, liberating the voice from the harmony

18. Example of Aria & Recitative Aria is a strophic song (aria= song in Italian) rhythmic, tuneful, resembles canzonetta or dance song Varied styles of recitative narrative recitative - moments of narration, like epic poem expressive recitative - lyric moments, heightened expressivity

19. Chapter 14 Lecture Slides A History of Western Music TENTH EDITION by J. PETER BURKHOLDER DONALD JAY GROUT CLAUDE V. PALISCA © 2019 W. W. Norton & Co., Inc.

20. Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643) Most innovative and imaginative composer of his day born in Cremona, Italy prodigy as a composer; accomplished viol and viola player 1590, service of Vincenzo Gonzaga, duke of Mantua first operas: L’Orfeo (1607), L’Arianna (1608) 1612, maestro di cappella, St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice; 30-year post 1632, he became a priest transformed the genre of the madrigal major works: 3 surviving operas, 9 books of madrigals, 3 volumes of secular songs, 3 masses, 4 collections of sacred music

21. Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo L’Orfeo by Monteverdi commissioned by Francesco Gonzaga, 1607 modeled on Peri’s L’Euridice ; wider range of styles 5 acts, each centered around song by Orfeo, ending with vocal ensemble larger and more varied group of instruments varied monody: songlike arias to recitative strophic variation: arias are strophic, strophes varied to reflect text recitative style varies depending on the situation in the drama ensembles duets, dances, ensemble madrigals and ballettos

22. Monteverdi’s L’orfeo Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo Act II dramatic rush forward; series of arias and ensembles strung together culminates with Orfeo’s strophic aria, “Vi ricorda ” lighthearted style, hemiola rhythms

23. Monteverdi’s L’orfeo Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo Act II “Ahi, caso acerbo ” (Ah, bitter event), news of Euridice’s death Messenger’s cry, impassioned recitative tonality changes to Aeolian, change in continuo instruments messenger’s melody recurs as a refrain throughout the act tonal area, timbre, formal organization deepen dramatic impact

24. Opera from Florence to Rome Florence: Francesca Caccini (1587–ca. 1645) daughter of Giulio Caccini ( Le Nuove Musiche ) brilliant career as singer, teacher, composer highest-paid musician employed by grand duke of Tuscany among the most prolific composers of dramatic music La liberazione di Ruggiero dall’isola d’Alcina (The Liberation of Ruggiero from the Island of Alcina , 1625), Francesca Caccini billed as ballet, now considered an opera sinfonia, prologue, recitatives, arias, choruses, instrumental ritornellos, elaborate staging explores theme of women and power

25. Rome: center for opera development, 1620s subjects expanded: lives of saints, epics, comic operas spectacular stage effects emphasized music recitative and aria more clearly defined recitatives: more speechlike arias: melodious, mainly strophic mezz- arie (half-arias), later termed arioso; style between operas often included vocal ensembles, extended finales for each act Opera from Florence to Rome

26. The Castrati Castrati (plural for Castrato – a male castrated soprano) women prohibited from stage in Rome female roles sung by castrati later 17th and 18th centuries, castrati sang outside of Rome in male roles Powerful voices, extreme range, lots of flexibility Trained from a very young age

27. Public Opera in Venice Impresarios and singers theater owners contracted with impresarios (managers) impresarios competed for most popular singers, high fees phenomenon of the operatic diva (star) – especially Castrati! Librettos and staging mythological subjects, epics of Homer, Virgil, Tasso, Ariosto, and Roman history plots: wide range of emotions, dramatic conflicts, striking stage effects three acts plus prologue became standard story told through drama itself, character interactions move plot along number of arias increased, 50 or 60 in an opera choruses and dances used at end of an act stage sets: series of painted flats, removed and replaced in seconds

28. Monteverdi’s Venetian OPeras Three new operas written in Venice, two survived L’incoronazione di Poppea (one of the surviving Venetian operas) 1642 Monteverdi’s masterpiece surpasses Orfeo in depiction of human character, emotions, interpersonal drama Act I, Scene 3 (NAWM 75) expressive recitative with dissonance and chromaticism simpler recitative for dialogue arias with ritornellos, triple meter declaration of love ariosos highlight specific feelings

29. Francesco Cavalli (1602–1676), Cavalli - Leading Baroque Opera Composer composed 30 operas for Venice pupil of Monteverdi, organist and maestro di cappella at St. Mark’s Basilica most successful, best-paid composer of his time Artemisia (1657) - exemplifies mid-century Venetian opera Operatic Conventions established by Cavalli plots center on two pairs of noble lovers, united after conflicts one pair, prima donna and primo uomo female nobles played by sopranos; males are castrati melodius , graceful, simple harmonies, triple meter

30. Italian opera abroad Venetian touring companies: went to Bologna, Naples, Lucca, Genoa 1650s, permanent opera houses in Naples and Florence opera reached other lands