This document discusses the key characteristics and components of Baroque opera. It provides an overview of how opera developed from early dramatic works and became a large musical genre combining poetry, singing, instrumentation and staging. The document focuses on important composers like Monteverdi, Purcell and Handel who helped establish opera and discusses key works like Monteverdi's Orfeo and Purcell's Dido and Aeneas. It describes characteristics of Baroque opera like the use of recitatives, arias and basso continuo accompaniment.

1. THE ENJOYMENT OF MUSIC
ESSENTIAL LISTENING
EDITION
by
Kristine Forney
Andrew Dell’Antonio
Joseph Machlis
THIRD EDITION
Lecture Slides

2. Chapter 18
Performing Grief: Purcell and Early Opera

3. Baroque Opera and Its Components
The Components of Opera
Large-scale musical drama
combining:
• Poetry
• Acting
• Scenery
• Costumes
• Singing
• Instrumental music

4. All the Great Operas in 10 Minutes
• All the Great Operas

5. Baroque Opera-Forerunners
• Medieval liturgical
dramas, Mystery &
miracle plays
• Renaissance Intermedi : of
pastoral or mythological
character, performed
between acts of plays,
consist of solo &
ensemble madrigals
• Dramatic madrigals &
madrigal cycles-content of
epic & pastoral poems
with two types of text
setting: narrative for plot
development(recitative),
reflective for emotional
outpouring(aria)
• The Pastoral-poems about
shepherds and other rural
subjects; amorous, light

6. Baroque Opera: Characteristics
• Libretto--the story or play
– Usually based on Greek dramas.
– Started in Italy but moved to England and France.
– Italian remained the popular language for opera
during this period.
– Currently, Baroque operas have been translated to
many languages.

7. Characteristics of Baroque Opera
• One character = one voice
– Homophonic texture with accompaniment
• Easier to understand the text
• Restores balance between text and music
– Accompaniment consists an instrument that can play chords
(such as a lute or harpsichord) and a low melodic instrument
that can play long notes, such as the cello or bassoon.
– Accompaniment plays continuously and is known as basso
continuo.
• Bel Canto Singing Style--”beautiful singing”--the lilting flow of
melody
– Involves elaborate embellishments.
– Trained singers are taught this style of singing routinely.

8. Characteristics of Baroque Opera
• Types of compositions: recitatives, arias, choruses, duets, trios, sextets,
etc.
– Recitative--moved the action along--a style of singing that lies
somewhere between singing and speaking.
• Not very elaborate musically
• Simple accompaniment
• Less embellishment
• Secco (Dry) or Accompagnato (accompaniment)
– Aria--character who sings this pauses to reflect on the story or an
emotion.
• Musically elaborate; this is where the singers get to display their
virtuosity.
• Accompaniment can also be more elaborate than the
accompaniment for a recitative, but it does not overshadow the
singer.

9. Characteristics of Baroque Opera
• Types of compositions:
recitatives, arias, choruses,
duets, trios, sextets, etc.
– Chorus--polyphonic
texture--various
members of the chorus
comment on the action,
reflect emotions, etc.
– Duet--2 singers
– Trio--3 singers
– Quartet--4 singers
– Quintet--5 singers
– Sextet--6 singers
– Septet--7 singers
– Octet--8 singers
– Nonet--9 singers

10. Baroque Opera: Characteristics
• Soloists--principal characters are trained singers
– Sopranos, altos, tenors, and basses all used to give
variety.
– Sometimes male voices used in female roles.
– Some male roles required high voices; a castrated
man would sing these roles (called castrati).
• Boys were castrated before their voices
changed; they were celebrities!
• These roles are now usually sung by women
(called “pants roles”).

11. Baroque Opera
• Rise of Virtuoso singers
– Done with consent of parents
who hoped sons would
become highly paid opera
singers
– Faranelli-most famous
Castrato-combined lung power of man
with vocal range of woman; agility,
breath control, and unique sound
intriguing; received highest pay of any
musician; audiences more impressed
with vocal virtuosity than realism

12. Farinelli
• Farinelli - "Lascia Ch'io Piaga" From Rinaldo

13. Baroque: Vocal Music
• Concertato Style: Vocal music that also
included instrumental ensembles
– “concert” and “concerto” come from the word
meaning “bring contrasting performing groups
together”
– Three musical genres (i.e., types of compositions):
oratorio, cantata, and Mass
– Composers: Monteverdi, Schütz, Telemann,
Handel, and J. S. Bach

14. Aria Form: “Da Capo”
Three parts: called A B A (letters designate sections)
A section: highly melodic, minimal ornamentation
B section: contrasts of mood, tonality, or change of tempo
A section: repeat 1st section. Singer is free to improvise/ornament embellish
melody
– “da capo” means “go back and sing the beginning again”
A B A

15. Baroque Opera: General
Information
• One of most important musical innovations of
this period
• Monteverdi’s Orfeo made opera more popular
with public, outside the courts.
• First opera house, in Venice, opened in 1637.

16. Claudio Monteverdi
(1567-1643)
• A portrait of
Monteverdi, circa 1613
• Made when he was
appointed music
director at St. Mark’s in
Venice, Italy; became a
priest and composed
sacred music.
• Orpheus, Coronation of
Poppea

17. Monteverdi’s Orpheus
• Orpheus--the story
– His beloved, Euridice, has been poisoned by a snake bite
and gone to the Underworld. Orpheus uses singing to
persuade the guardians of the Underworld to let him bring
Euridice back. They agree with the stipulation that he not
look back while leaving the Underworld. He cannot resist
the urge to look back, and he loses Euridice forever.
• Orpheus—this selection
– A recitative, a chorus--Orpheus is grieving the loss of
Euridice, and the Chorus is commenting on his grief and
sadness. Both sections are accompanied by basso
continuo, although it is harder to hear in the chorus.

18. Orfeo, “Tu se morta”
• Tu se morta

19. Baroque Opera and Its Components
Opera in England
• Masque
• Stage plays forbidden
during the
Commonwealth
• Play set to music and
called “concert”
was allowed

20. Henry Purcell
(ca. 1659-1695)
• Dido and Aeneas--his only opera
• Wrote many works that included song
and spoken dialogue (semi-operas).
• Was far ahead of his time in writing
opera in English. Opera wasn’t popular
during his time, and even when it
became popular, audiences wanted it
sung in Italian, adopted French
• Born into a musical family.
• Served as composer and organist in the
English court and later at Westminster
Abbey (buried near the organ there--a
BIG honor).
• Secular & sacred music

21. Henry Purcell--Dido and Aeneas
• One of the first operas ever written in English
• First documented production--at a girls’ school in Chelsea in
1689
• Short, for strings & continuo; no elaborate staging; dances &
choruses
• Libretto-Nahum Tate, inspired by The Aenid(Virgil)
• Plot--foreign prince (Aeneas) promises to marry the Queen of
Carthage (Dido), but abandons her and drives her to suicide
• Chief characters
– Dido--(soprano)
– Aeneas--(baritone)
– Belinda, Dido’s maidservant--(soprano)

22. Act III: Dido’s Lament (Listening
Guide)

23. The Form of This Selection
• Recitative – Dido speaks to Belinda
• Song-- aria in which Dido laments her situation
• Melody sung over a repeated pattern in the bass--
ostinato
• Ostinato can also be called a ground bass--a short
sequence of low notes repeated over and over.

24. Dido’s Lament
• Dido's Lament

26. Other Baroque Composers of
Opera
• Italian
– George Frideric Handel
• Rinaldo--includes da capo aria--an aria in ABA form.
The first section is repeated (embellished) after the
contrasting second section
• French
– Lully--Armide
– Marc-Antoine Charpentier--Andromède
– Jean-Philippe Rameau--Hippolyte et Aricie

27. Britain’s Got Talent
• Nessun Dorma - Paul Potts

28. by
Kristine Forney
Andrew Dell’Antonio
Joseph Machlis
Lecture Slides
THIRD EDITION
THE ENJOYMENT OF MUSIC
ESSENTIAL LISTENING EDITION
http://wwnorton.com/web/enjoyess2