Orfeo and the Magic Flute
Compare-Contrast study of musical compositions of Monteverdi and Mozart
Introduction:
Composed in 1671, Monteverdi drew on the ancient poets of Virgil and Ovid to create the mythological narrative that is the opera Orfeo.1 His last musical work, Mozart’s The Magic Flute (Die Zauberflöte) tests the limits of the high voice register in a ancient Egyptian plot about winning love with the help of magic.2 Signaling a major shift in accepted musical form, Monteverdi’s Orfeo concerns a painful separation of soon-to-be married Orpheus and Eurydice. At the height of the drama, Orpheus uses the power of song to win back his love from over the fabled river Styx. He is permitted to rescue her on condition that he does not glance …show more content…
2) Most starkly contrasting with Orfeo, Mozart uses a simple duple rhythm and meter giving the composition a lilting quality.
3) In The Magic Flute, Mozart employs a full orchestra true to classical masterpieces of the late eighteenth century. Shared elements in both Monteverdi’s aria from Orfeo and Mozart’s Queen of the Night solo show the relationship between the Baroque and Classical eras. Mozart, composing during the Classical period, uses elements more accepted in the classical world such as simple meter and full homophony. On the other hand Monteverdi’s composition incorporates duple meter and hemiolas, reflecting the often allegro and sometimes presto tempo music of the Baroque time period. Instrumentation progressed along with musical style of each time period giving each aria a distinct tone color and other differences too complex to mention for the scope of this essay. However, each successive composer, despite the music period difference, used similar elements in musical texture. Perhaps the texture forms what is most integral and foundational to a composition and therefore endures the span of time and musical
Compare-Contrast study of musical compositions of Monteverdi and Mozart
Introduction:
Composed in 1671, Monteverdi drew on the ancient poets of Virgil and Ovid to create the mythological narrative that is the opera Orfeo.1 His last musical work, Mozart’s The Magic Flute (Die Zauberflöte) tests the limits of the high voice register in a ancient Egyptian plot about winning love with the help of magic.2 Signaling a major shift in accepted musical form, Monteverdi’s Orfeo concerns a painful separation of soon-to-be married Orpheus and Eurydice. At the height of the drama, Orpheus uses the power of song to win back his love from over the fabled river Styx. He is permitted to rescue her on condition that he does not glance …show more content…
2) Most starkly contrasting with Orfeo, Mozart uses a simple duple rhythm and meter giving the composition a lilting quality.
3) In The Magic Flute, Mozart employs a full orchestra true to classical masterpieces of the late eighteenth century. Shared elements in both Monteverdi’s aria from Orfeo and Mozart’s Queen of the Night solo show the relationship between the Baroque and Classical eras. Mozart, composing during the Classical period, uses elements more accepted in the classical world such as simple meter and full homophony. On the other hand Monteverdi’s composition incorporates duple meter and hemiolas, reflecting the often allegro and sometimes presto tempo music of the Baroque time period. Instrumentation progressed along with musical style of each time period giving each aria a distinct tone color and other differences too complex to mention for the scope of this essay. However, each successive composer, despite the music period difference, used similar elements in musical texture. Perhaps the texture forms what is most integral and foundational to a composition and therefore endures the span of time and musical