Music History Ch.26

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Opera enjoyed a golden age in the first half of the nineteenth century.

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New opera houses appeared throughout Europe and the New World. Most operas were run for profit by an impresario, usually supported by the government or private sources. Performances of excerpts helped to popularize opera. Opera stories appealed to middle class. Repertory in 1850

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Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868)

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primarily known for his operas. Tancredi and L'Italiana in Algeria (The Italian Woman in Algiers), both from 1813. In 1815, he became musical director of the Teatro San Carlo in Naples. Rossini moved to Paris and became director of the Théatre Italien. Guillaume Tell (William Tell, 1829) is his last major opera. During the last forty years of his life, he wrote no more operas. Blended opera seria and buffa

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Bel Canto

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Rossini helped establish, Literally "beautifully singing," the term refers to lyrical lines, effortless vocal technique, and florid delivery. Melody most important.

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Rossini's operatic style

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tunefulness with snappy rhythms and clear phrases, sparse orchestration, simple harmonic schemes by third related keys. Rossini crescendo: single phrase repeated getting louder.

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Rossini's scene structure

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Instrumental introduction, Recitative accompanied by orchestra, Cantabile, the slow and lyrical section of the aria, In some, an interlude called tempo di mezzo (middle movement) interrupts and changes the mood, Cabaletta, the final and more active part of the aria, is usually repeated in whole or in part with embellishments. The finale brings together many characters.

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Guillaume Tell

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500 performances in Paris during Rossini's lifetime. includes choruses, ensembles, dances, processions, and atmospheric instrumental interludes in the manner of French grand opera.

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Rossini's overtures

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His overtures have found an independent life in the concert hall. Most consist of a slow introduction and a fast sonata form without a development section. The overture to Guillaume Tell, his most famous overture, has four sections: A slow pastoral introduction, A musical depiction of a storm, Another pastoral featuring a Swiss cowherd's call and A galloping allegro

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Vincenzo Bellini (1801-1835)

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Came into prominence after Rossini retired, built action in arias, 10 operas: La Sonnambula (The Sleepwalker, 1831), Norma (1831) and I Puritani (The Puritans, 1835). His style is characterized by long, sweeping melodies

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Gaetano Donizetti (1797-1848)

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composed over seventy operas, about one hundred songs, several symphonies, and a number of other vocal works (Lucia di lammermoor (1835), La Filled u regiment (The Daughter of the Regiment, 1840), Don Pasquale (1843)) averted cadences, continuity (like in mad scene from Lucia)

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French Opera

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Napoleon allowed only three theaters to present opera: The Opéra, which primarily showed tragedies, was the most prestigious. The Opéra-Comique gave operas with spoken dialogue. The Théatre Italien presented Italian operas. A new building for the Opéra theater was built in 1821 during the Restoration. After the "July Revolution" of 1830, the government continued to subsidize opera.

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Grand opera

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appealed to the middle class. Spectacle was as important as music, Spectacle was as important as music. Leaders were Scribe and Meyerbeer (1791-1864) (Robert le diable, Les Huguenots). Meyerbeer was German/Jewish

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Les Huguenots

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typifies grand opera. Five acts, Large cast, Dramatic scenery and lighting effects, Tragic story set in sixteenth-century France , Combination of entertaining spectacle and glorious singing, as exemplified by the closing scene of Act II

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Other grand operas

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Guillaume Tell (1829) by Rossini, La Juive (The Jewess, 1835) by Jacques Halévy, Don Carlos (1867) by Verdi, Rienzi (1842) by Wagner

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Les Troyens (1856-58) by Berlioz

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has elements of grand opera and the traditions of Lully. Berlioz created the libretto from Virgil's Aeneid. ballets, processions, and other musical numbers

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Opéra comique

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Opéra comique used spoken dialogue instead of recitative. It was less pretentious and required fewer singers. The plots presented comedy or semiserious drama. Romantic or comedy.

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Ballet

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Ballet had been popular in France since the seventeenth century. Marie Taglioni introduced a new style called Romantic ballet. Composers for Romantic ballet fit the music to the choreography.

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German opera

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The interaction between music and literature was strong in German-speaking regions. Singspiel integrated romantic elements from French opera with the genre's national features.

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Der Freischütz (The Rifleman) by Carl Maria von Weber (1786-1826)

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established German Romantic opera. Ordinary folks center stage, The plots are drawn from medieval history, legends, or fairy tales. Mortal characters represent superhuman forces, both good and evil. simple, folklike melodies, giving it a distinctly German quality. The chromatic harmonies and orchestral color are also distinctive.

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Wolf's Glen" scene

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melodrama, a genre of musical theater that combines spoken dialogue with background music. offstage chorus support the supernatural elements of the plot.