In opera, the composer is the dramatist. In opera the music interprets, crystallizes, and intensifies the expressive meaning of the words, far beyond anything with the words alone are capable of (Greenberg, 2009, L11, 8:35). During the transitory period of the Renaissance and Baroque eras, the tremendous increase in the popularity of secular stage drama punctuated by musical intermezzos (music played between the acts of stage plays) invariably ignited opera into existence. As discussed by Greenberg (2009), the intermezzo and the madrigal evolved and flourished during the late sixteenth century and led directly to the invention of opera. ‘The intermezzi had music, they accentuated the dramatic and emotional content of the play in which they
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This musical work contains four instrumental parts with the highest instrumental part doubled by a soprano voice embellishing that part. “Thus scored, for one singer, an instrumental accompaniment Dalle Piu Alte Sfere is, what the locals would have called a frottola, a homophonic accompanied song” (L11, 19:06). The text sung solo is clearly heard and understood to welcome the couple to the ceremony. “The madrigal-like word painting notwithstanding, the single voice creates a much more intimate, much more expressively direct experience, than a four to six voice madrigal ensemble, ever, ever could” (L11, 21:19). “When it comes to expressive flexibility and nuance, there are things that a solo singer can do, that a group of singers, a chorus small or large, simply, cannot do” (L11, 26:41). A single performer has more expressive flexibility as a soloist that is personally identifiable with an audience. Drama and Emotions can be communicated clearly through one voice than that of a …show more content…
The three composers were Emilio de ' Cavalieri (Dalle Piu Alte Sfere), Giulio Caccini, and Jacopo Peri. On October 6, 1660, the earliest musical work referred to as opera was premiered. Euridice by Jacopo Peri was composed as part of a production for yet another Medici wedding. Peri incorporated his revolutionary stile rappresentativo (representative style which is now referred to as recitative) which allowed “large amounts of text (dialogue and action sequences) to be articulated quickly and still be sung” (L11, 38:28). This performance is now used to reference the start of the Baroque period and the invention of opera. Early opera was called Drammi per Musica, dramas with music. Seven years later, Claudia Monteverdi (1567-1643), succeeding “in composing his first opera, managed to create the first operatic masterwork” Orfeo (Orpheus in Italian). This was based on the mythological tale of Orpheus and Eurydice which was another version of the same story as Peri’s Eurydice. Greenberg (2009)
This musical work contains four instrumental parts with the highest instrumental part doubled by a soprano voice embellishing that part. “Thus scored, for one singer, an instrumental accompaniment Dalle Piu Alte Sfere is, what the locals would have called a frottola, a homophonic accompanied song” (L11, 19:06). The text sung solo is clearly heard and understood to welcome the couple to the ceremony. “The madrigal-like word painting notwithstanding, the single voice creates a much more intimate, much more expressively direct experience, than a four to six voice madrigal ensemble, ever, ever could” (L11, 21:19). “When it comes to expressive flexibility and nuance, there are things that a solo singer can do, that a group of singers, a chorus small or large, simply, cannot do” (L11, 26:41). A single performer has more expressive flexibility as a soloist that is personally identifiable with an audience. Drama and Emotions can be communicated clearly through one voice than that of a …show more content…
The three composers were Emilio de ' Cavalieri (Dalle Piu Alte Sfere), Giulio Caccini, and Jacopo Peri. On October 6, 1660, the earliest musical work referred to as opera was premiered. Euridice by Jacopo Peri was composed as part of a production for yet another Medici wedding. Peri incorporated his revolutionary stile rappresentativo (representative style which is now referred to as recitative) which allowed “large amounts of text (dialogue and action sequences) to be articulated quickly and still be sung” (L11, 38:28). This performance is now used to reference the start of the Baroque period and the invention of opera. Early opera was called Drammi per Musica, dramas with music. Seven years later, Claudia Monteverdi (1567-1643), succeeding “in composing his first opera, managed to create the first operatic masterwork” Orfeo (Orpheus in Italian). This was based on the mythological tale of Orpheus and Eurydice which was another version of the same story as Peri’s Eurydice. Greenberg (2009)