The Height of Italian Dominance Opera Seria and the Italian Concerto Style
Feb 23, 2016
The Height of Italian Dominance
Opera Seria and the Italian Concerto Style
Opera Seria and Its Makers
• Neapolitan Opera– Teatro di San Bartolomeo, opened in 1654
• Opera seria (serious opera)
Opera Seria and Its Makers
• Alessandro Scarlatti (1660–1725)– serenatas (miniature operas)
Opera Seria and Its Makers
• Alessandro Scarlatti (1660–1725)– cantatas• Andate, o miei sospiri (1712) [Anthology 1-79]–siciliana–da capo aria–tonic, dominant–sinfonia, episode–binary form
Opera and Its Many Reforms:Neoclassicism
• Arcadian Academy (Arcadians)– wanted to restore opera to its original purity
• Apostolo Zeno (1668–1750)– scholar and librettist
Metastasio
• Pietro Antonio Trapassi (1698–1782)• 60 librettos– set to music more than 800 times by more than
300 composers
Metastasio
• Metastasian libretto– 6 main roles• primo uomo (castrato role) and prima donna– sang half the arias
• second couple– 3–4 arias each
• “remainders”
• Artaserse – 90 known settings
Metastasio’s Musicians
• Carlo Broschi (Farinelli) (1705–1782)– castrato– cadenza, passaggi
Corelli and New Tonal Practices
• Arcangelo Corelli (1653–1713)• Virtuoso violinist• The birth of harmonically controlled and
elaborated form
Corelli and New Tonal Practices
• Worked almost exclusively in Rome• Sonata da camera (Chamber Sonata)– dance suite
• Sonata da chiesa (Church Sonata)– sacred venues– solo violin and continuo– “trio sonata”– concerto grosso
Corelli and New Tonal Practices
• Corelli, Op. 3 (1689)– 12 Church Trio Sonatas• No. 11 [Anthology 1-80]– “circle of fifths”– harmonic rhythm
Vivaldi’s Five Hundred
• Antonio Vivaldi (1678–1741)• Pio Ospedale della Pietà• Approximately 500 surviving Concertos
The Vivaldi Concerto
• Ritornellos• Solos, episodes• Ripieno, full ensemble
Music Imitating Nature:Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons
• Il cimento dell’ armonia e dell’ inventione, Op. 8 (1725)– set of 12 concertos– first four, Le quattro stagioni (The Four Seasons)• La primavera (Spring) [Anthology 1-81]