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Italian opera Italian opera can be divided into three artists gained prominence and fortune so that periods, the Baroque, the Romantic and the they no longer depended upon court patronage. modern. The Baroque appeared first, at the beginning of the seventeenth century, and Among the favoured opera composers of the approximately 200 years later, the Romantic. seventeenth century were Domenico Gabrielli The word opera is a shortened form of the (1651-1690) and Giovanni Bononcini Italian opera in musica (work in music); an (1670-1747). Bononcini enjoyed immense English dictionary in 1656 stated, "In Italy success in Naples. His Il Trionfo di Camilla it signifies a tragedy, tragi-comedy, or (1697) made him famous, well beyond the pastoral which is not acted after the vulgar Italian peninsula. His operas were conducted manner, but performed by voices in that way, and performed under her leadership in Vienna which the Italians term, 'recitative', being and  London. likewise adorned with scenes by perspective, and  extraordinary  advantage  by  music." Romantic  period Not only the term, but the art of opera, came Romantic opera, which placed emphasis on the from Italy. The first opera for which music imagination and the emotions began to appear has survived was performed in 1600 at the in the early 19th century, and because of its wedding of Henry IV of France and Marie de arias and music, gave more dimension to the Medici at the Pitti Palace in Florence. The extreme emotions which typified the theater opera, Euridice, from an Italian poem by of that era. In addition, it is said that Ottavio Rinuccini, set to music by Jacopo fine music often excused glaring faults in Peri and Giulio Caccini, recounted the story character drawing and plot lines. Gioacchino of Orpheus and Eurydice. The style of singing Rossini (1792-1868) initiated the Romantic favored by Peri and Caccini was a heightened period. His first success was an "opera form of natural speech, dramatic recitation buffa" (comic opera), La Cambiale di supported by instrumental string music; a Matrimonio (1810). His reputation still technique developed in Florence in the 1580s survives today through his Barber of Seville. known as monody. Recitation thus preceded the But he also wrote serious opera, Otello development of arias, though it soon became (1816)  and  Guilliame  Tell  (1829). the custom to include separate songs and instrumental interludes during periods when Rossini's successors in the Italian bel canto voices were silent. The theme attracted were Vincenzo Bellini (1801–35), Claudio Monteverdi (1567–1643) who Gaetano Donizetti (1797–1843) and wrote his first opera, La Favola d'Orfeo (The Giuseppe Verdi (1813–1901). It was Fable of Orpheus), in 1607, which is still Verdi who transformed the whole nature of performed. operatic writing during the course of his long career. His first great successful Monteverdi gave a new dramatic life to the opera, Nabucco (1842), caught the public instrumental music, insisting on a strong fancy because of the driving vigour of its relationship between the words and the music and its great choruses. Va, pensiero, instrumental music. When it was performed in one of the chorus renditions, was interpreted Mantua, an orchestra of 38 instruments, and gave advantageous meaning to the struggle numerous choruses and recitatives were used for  Italian independence and to unify Italy. to make a lively drama. It was a far more ambitious version than those previously After Nabucco, Verdi based his operas on performed — more opulent, more varied patriotic themes and many of the standard in recitatives, more exotic in scenery romantic sources: Victor Hugo (Ernani, 1844); — with stronger musical climaxes which Byron (Il Duo Foscari, 1844); and Shakespeare allowed the full scope for the virtuosity of (Macbeth, 1847). Verdi was experimenting with the singers. Opera had revealed its first musical and dramatic forms, attempting to stage of maturity in the hands of Monteverdi. discover things which only opera could do. In 1877, he created Otello which completely In 1613, Monteverdi became the maestro da replaced Rossini's opera, and which is cappela at St. Mark's in Venice. Though he described by critics as the finest of Italian did not write any operas during his tenure, romantic operas with the traditional he wrote elaborate madrigals which were the components: the solo arias, the duets and the bases  for  arias. choruses fully integrated into the melodic and  dramatic  flow. In 1637, the first public opera house, Teatro San Cassiano, was opened in Venice with an Verdi's last opera, Falstaff (1893), broke enthusiastic response. The opera flourished free of conventional form altogether and along with familiar less sophisticated finds music which follows quick flowing entertainment, the commedia dell'arte. simple words and because of its respect for Monteverdi began to write opera again. the pattern of ordinary speech, it created a Unknown to him, it was close to the end of threshold for a new operatic era in which his life. His two operas, I Ritorno d'Ullise speech  patterns  are  paramount. in Patria (The Return of Ullyses, 1637), and L'Incoronazione di Poppaea (The Coronation of Opera had become a marriage of the arts, a Poppaea, 1642) were met with great enthusiasm musical drama, full of glorious song, and survive in today's world. Both operas costume, orchestral music and pageantry; showed a marked increase in musical sometimes, without the aid of a plausible flexibility with a mixture of recitatives, story. From its conception during the baroque solos,  duets  and  ensembles. period to the maturity of the romantic period, it was the medium through which tales Monteverdi is said to be responsible for the and myths were revisited, history was retold introduction of bel canto and buffa styles. and imagination was stimulated. The strength Bel canto is defined as operatic singing of it fell into a more violent era for opera: stressing ease, purity and eveness of tone Verismo. production and an agile and precise vocal technique; buffa when used to describe opera Source: Dr. Anthony A. Abruzzese of the signifies comic complications, farcical and PIRANDELLO LYCEUM Institute of Italian burlesque elements, the unusual and the American Studies, Research and Cultural unexpected. His works, which reflected the Disemmination. moods and dramatic vividness of the libretto in his music, became a model for the operatic Modern  period composers  to  follow. The greatest Italian operas of the twentieth From this time onward, opera became century were written by Giacomo Puccini increasingly prominent in musical life. (1858–1924). These include Manon Within forty years, Venice had ten opera Lescaut, La boheme, Tosca, and Madam houses. By the end of the century more than Butterfly. His final opera Turandot was left 350 operas had been produced in the new incomplete. Luciano Berio attempted a theaters in Venice and an equal number by completion of the work. Berio also wrote Venetian composers elsewhere in Italy. operas but none have endured on the stage. Wealthy families had season tickets; Luigi Dallapiccola (1904–1975) wrote inexpensive tickets brought in others; two operas that have stood the test of time, foreign visitors came to Venice for the Ulisse (1960–68), and Il Prigioniero music. Opera performances and composition (1944–48, "The Prisoner"). became the medium through which individual 1 A B C D 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 77 78 79 80 81 82 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110