Opera 1

Front 1

Aria

Back 1

The word is used for the elaborated songs-form of opera and oratorio, especially the threefold form with da capo (ABA'). The aria of the time of Haendel, when the opera was at its moment of extreme conventionality, were divided into several classes, and it was a rule that no aria of the same class was to follow another.

Front 2

Aria cantabile

Back 2

the aria was a quiet slow movement, characterized, in the works of the best master, by a certain tender pathos and so contrived as to afford frequent opportunities for the introduction of extempore ornamentation at the singers discretion.

Front 3

Aria di portamento

Back 3

a slow movement, and generally a very telling one. Its rhythm was more strongly marked than that of the aria cantabile, its style more measured, but affording few opportunities for the introduction of extempore embellishments.

Front 4

Aria di mezzo carattere

Back 4

the aria di mezzo carattere was open to great variety of treatment. As a general rule, it was capable of expressing greater depths of passion. Its pace was generally andante, the second part being sung a little faster than the first.

Front 5

Aria parlante

Back 5

the aria parlante was of a more declamatory character, and therefore adapted for the expression of deep passion or violent emotion.

Front 6

Aria Agitata, Aria di Strepito, Aria Infuriata

Back 6

were applied to movements exhibiting a greater or less amount of dramatic power

Front 7

Aria di Agilita' (Di Bravura)

Back 7

was generally and allegro, filled with brilliant divisions or passages of rapid agility calculated to display the utmost powers of the singer for whom the movement was intended

Front 8

Aria Concertata

Back 8

was simply an aria di mezzo carattere or an aria parlante with a more than usually elaborate or original accompaniment

Front 9

Aria Senza Accompagnamento

Back 9

without the accompaniment of anykind

Front 10

Cavatina

Back 10

distinguished by all other types by the absence of a second part and its attendant da capo, is, in reality, nothing more than abbriviated form, either of the aria cantabile, the aria di portamento or the aria di mezzo carattere, as the case may be.

Front 11

Cabaletta

Back 11

short aria , in a flowing movements and of brilliant character, normally placed at the conclusion of a scena, or immediately after and aria ( a fiery allegro)

Front 12

Arioso

Back 12

the term stands for a type of vocal piece in which the singer delivers the words in a declamatory fashion while the musical movement is given a more or less definite formal shape. Thus partakes of the character both recitative and aria.

Front 13

Duetto

Back 13

composition for two voices

Front 14

Cantata

Back 14

a secular composition for a single voice accompanied by a single instrument

Front 15

Finale

Back 15

the last movement of any work, instrumental or vocal , designed on the plan of several distinct movements grouped together. The finale to each act of an opera had its origin in the Italian opera buffa of the mid-18th century, and was an important feature as long as acts were constructed out of separate movements linked by recitative or separated by spoken dialogue. From the moment that the finale began the music became a continuous web of arias, concerted numbers and recitative accompanied by orchestra( not secco). Mozart shows this at its best in Le Nozze Di Fogaro in the second and fourth acts.

Front 16

Melody

Back 16

the general term vaguely used to denote succession of single notes which made musical sense