I. Opera
1. Opera buffa – Early Italian Comic Opera
The term opera buffa stands for the 18th century comic opera in Italy, also known as the:
six or more characters, often speaking/singing in a dialect
rapid recitatives, accompanied on the keyboard only
arias, often in
da capo form, were short and tuneful
Composers:
2. Opera seria – 'Serious' Opera in Italy and Austria-Germany
a type of the 18th century Italian opera based on serious subjects and librettos, without any comic situations
cultivated all over Europe in a manner that was not much distinguishable from a country to a country
new emphasis on the aria:
Librettis: Pietro Metastasio (1698-1782)
the librettos of the opera seria were usually those of the Italian poet Pietro Metastasio
1729: Metastasio appointed the court poet in Vienna, where he stayed until his death
Metastasio's librettos promoted morality through entertainment
heroism
two pairs of lovers (conventional cast of the main four opera roles)
three-act operas
alternating recitatives and arias
occasional duets
the orchestra assumed more important role especially in recitativo obligato, and as carrier of dramatic development, not just an accompaniment
Composer: Johann Adolph Hasse (1699-1783)
Although German, who lived in Dresden, Hasse spent many years in Italy, married the celebrated Italian soprano Faustina Bordoni, and composed operas widely accepted as Italian
3. Comic Opera: Italy, France, England
1760-1800: roughly a period of the emergence and flurishing of comic opera
contrary to the 'international style' of opera seria, comic opera carried more culture specific features of the local country in which it was practiced
the older term, opera buffa was replaced by the new and more acceptable one:
dramma giocoso, in Italy
opéra comique, in France
ballad opera, in England
Librettist:
Composers in Italy:
Composers in France:
-
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)
François André Danican Philidor (1726-1795)
Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny (1729-1817)
André Ernest Modeste Grétry (1741-1813)
Composers in England:
The Reform of Opera
-
A new attempt was made to bring opera into harmony, in which the
drama and
music would be in
equilibrium, like in French
tragédie lyrique
This was understood as more 'natural'
-
New function of the orchestra as carrier of dramatic action
Reintroduction of choruses in opera
This reformist movement in opera was led by:
Nicolò Jommelli (1714-1774), worked in Stuttgart, Germany
Tommaso Traetta (1727-1779), worked in Parma, Italy
Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714-1787)
Synthesized French and Italian operatic genres
Reformer of opera
made overture an integral part of opera
used the opera orchestra for dramataic purposes
aimed at 'beautiful simplicity'
emphasis on the chorus
monumental proportions
amalgamation of :
Italian melodic lightness
German 'seriousness'
French grandeur
Operas:
Orfeo ed Euridice, Vienna, 1762
Alceste, Vienna, 1767
Iphigénie en Aulide, 'Iphigenia in Aulis', Paris, 1774
Iphigénie en Tauride, 'Iphigenia in Taris', Paris, 1779
Querelle des bouffons
1752: the Querelle des bouffons, 'the quarrel of the bouffons, the comic actors'