Transcript Opera 1 - Seventeenth Century Review

Opera Week 1 Seventeenth-Century
Review
1.
2.
3.
4.
The Birth of Opera and
The Baroque –
The Cameratas –
Caccini, Peri, Mei and
Bardi.
Back to the Greeks.
The two practices – the
affections.
Italy 2 
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1.
Florentine Intermedi of 1589 – Bardi
and Cavalieri – published in Venice 1591.
2. For Tuscan Wedding of Ferdinand de
Medici and Christine of Lorraine– tradition
going back to 1539.
3. Vittoria Archilie – famous female
singer/lutenist wife of Antonio Archilie stared in 1589 Intermedi.
4. Mei’s research on Greeks and Greek
music informed the performances.
Italy 3
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1.
Monteverdi’s Orfeo (1607) first
opera still performable today. Blend of
styles and genres. Colourful
instrumentation – blend of renaissance
and baroque elements.
2. Involved more elements than earlier
Operas – dance, music (chorus, soloist,
orchestra), drama, spectacle.
3. Real drama and emotion –
4. Put on first for private Mantuan
wedding, then performed in public and
published in Venice.
Italy 4
1. Opera then taken up in Rome –
in private theatres of rich. Later it
becomes unacceptable to church
and Roman opera stops.
 2. Start of public opera in Venice in
1637 (Andromeda by Manelli).
Timed to coincide with Carnivale and
put on in the Venice theatres.
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Italy 5
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1.
Monteverdi’s last masterpiece
L’Incoronazione di Poppea (1642)
2. Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria (1641)
first opera for new Opera house.
Smaller resources than earlier operas –
dominated by monodic style.
Less colourful than Orfeo but greater
emphasis on character portrail.
Italy 6
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1.
From Cavalli to Cesti. Orontea (1649)
showed the way forward with a new more
elaborate aria style to show off the voice. Main
features of Italian opera were established by
1650: The castrati had been important from the
first and remained so.
2.
Venetian composers of opera after 1650
concentrated on aria writing (increasing from 20
to 60 per opera by end of century) and in
developing types – strophic, ostinato-patterns
(ground basses), dance forms.
French Opera
1. History of France and the experience of
Henry IV, Louis XIII and Louis XIV in
dealing with the religious divide and the
nobles.
2. Separateness of French culture and the
special importance of the language. Great
age of classical French letters and
playwriters – Moliere, Racine, etc.
3. Absolutism and ordering of French
society. Monopolies and Family traditions.
France 2
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1. Importance in France of the ballet and
the ballet de cour in particular from.
2. Popularity and character of the air de
cour outside the ballet.
3. Ballet the embodiment of state in a
perfect relationship.
4. French opera has its roots in ballet de
cour and the dance remained central to
the conception of French opera.
France 3
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. There had been performances of Opera
in France before Lully.
Caccini and his family were invited to
Paris (1605) - plans to put on Dafne
French ideas influenced Italian opera.
Italian opera was performed in Paris in
run up to 1670s.
France 4
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Arrival of Lully in 1646 aged 14. His success with the
Violins du Roi and then with ballet (La Nuit 1658). His
dancing ability and dance music attracted the attention of
Louis. Superintendant of King’s chamber music in 1661;
he consolidated his position gradually removing and
ruining any rivals.
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Lully attempted many forms that combined dance as
spectacle on stage (Comedie-Ballet, Pastorale, Tragedie
Machines) – but avoided Opera until 1673.
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His rival Perrin produced Pomone in 1671 and founded an
Academie d’Opera – Lully had to act and was
characteristically ruthless.
France 5
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4. First Tragedie en Musique was Cadmus et
Hermoine (1673) combined all elements: ballet,
pastorale, tragedy, comedy scenes, machines.
Usually 5 acts and a prologue, plus each usually
has one or more divertissement of songs and
dances.
5. Each year from 1673 to 1687 a new Lully
opera was composed. Armide (1686). After
Lully then grand form was discontinued in favour
of lighter forms (pastorales involving more
ballet) and the composers less renowned –
Campra. Lully remained popular until Rameau
produced his first grand opera in 1733.
England 1
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1. Context of Stuart monarchs and the
masque as the embodiment of society in
harmony around the King. Like French
ballet.
2. Elements of Stuart masque – antimasque and the 5 entries, ball to follow.
Professional and amateur and involving
the whole court. Put on for special events
and hugely expensive.
3. Last full masque 1640, and court was
abandoned and fled London in 1642.
England 2
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1. Civil War and Commonwealth. Theatres
closed but a play set to music was allowed –
semi-operas. Cupid and Death (1653) and Seige
of Rhodes (1656).
2. Rise in music participation among middleclasses.
3. Restoration period 1660 onwards – music in
the two licensed theatres. Last court Masque
Calisto (1675). Large amount of theatre songs
and orchestral suites for plays produced from
1660 onwards but little in the way of full opera.
England 3
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1. Purcell’s 5 semi-operas and Dido and Aeneas
(1689) also Blow’s Venus and Adonis (1685 ).
2. Luis Grabu started to produced Albion and
Albanius (1684) only to abandon it when
Monmouth’s rebellion put London into panic. It
was effectively a Lullian opera in 5 acts in
English.
3. Purcell’s and his contemporaries produced a
huge amount of theatre music but true opera did
not seem to appeal to British public.
England 4
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1. After Purcell’s death plenty of theatre music
(John Eccles in particular) e.g. ‘I burn, I burn’
from Don Quixote (1694), but little in the way of
full Opera.
2. William III did not encourage music and arts
and England was much preoccupied with war in
the 1690s and early years of the eighteenthcentury.
3. Attempts to bring Italian opera to Britain
were attempted but seemed doomed.
4. Italian was a problem – But Camilla (1706)
by Bononcini was a great success in London.