Why am I bothering to write this series of posts? Don’t ask. Any enthusiast can find what they want on the web, but my personal library goes way back. So why not? In advance I would like to note there is a certain level of referencing done since who can remember everything they’ve read over 35 years? There will be no bibliography offered, but I thank all of the authors profusely for their enlightening efforts. As an art form, opera has existed for over 400 years. Proof of its enduring popularity are the many thousands of scores and libretto’s which have been produced during this time, first in Italy, then in other European countries and finally in America. Many have achieved fame as masterpieces in their time, and subsequently in some cases immortality, while others falling in the first hurdle or at best, failing to win posterity’s favour. It seems to me that in some cases the opera interpretation of a ‘straight theater’ piece completely overshadowed the original work. Take Shakespeare’s Macbeth or Euripides’s Medea. Give me the Verdi of the former and the Cherubini of the latter any day. For neophytes, I have specifically written this four part post as an overview noting key events, people and places. In total. these points represent excellent starting points to surf the web for further detailed intelligence. The post on castrati is also required reading.
It is commonly believed the first presentation of an Opera was Monteverdi’s L`Orfeo in Mantua on February 24 1607. Here is a modern production of L’Orfeo with Mr. Zanasi in the title role.
Perhaps however it really took place in Florence at Jacopo Corsi’s Palazzo during the 1597 Carnival in a performance of La Dafne by Peri, a dramatic fable withprologue and six scenes based on Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Back in the day it was very common the nobility to hold musical performances during the period of Carnival which was the most important festival of the year. However to incorporate such musical events all together as a dramatic work with a beginning and an end was something quite new, and it caught on… BIG time. By the late 1630`s, opera has left the palazzo and we begin to see the emergence of theaters designed and co devoted to this vocal art form. The Teatro Tron di S Cassiano in Venice marks the first dedicated house, but other rival nobility’s in Venice moved quickly; next up within months was the Teatro di SS Giovani etPaolo. Soon theaters were everywhere, London, Oxford, Paris, Belfast (if you can believe), Florence, Vienna, and on and on withsome of these theaters exemplifying spectacular period architecture. This was entertainment for the masses. They brought dinner with them, conducted business, gossiped, socialised, and occasionally listened to the music. The houses of this period were lighted with oil lamps and candles, which unquestionably made for a very scenic evening, but one should not forget there simply was no air conditioning/flow of any kind. Figure out the aromatics on your own. It was common for any opera of the period to incorporate a ballet for the amusement of the audience. Composers were cranking out new works predominately based on mythological themes, or ancient historical events. It seems every composer had an Euridice, Orfeo, Eracole, Dafne, in performance somewhere or other. Stagecraft and set design had also become an integral aspect of any production, witheach theater attempting to outdo each other in dramatic effects. The more well known composers of the period would have included; Monteverdi, Purcell, Lully, Cavalli. An interesting aspect of the singing during this period was the feature of an elaborate a cappella style, which began to flourish around the middle of the 15thcentury withregards to choral works. This style necessitated a much wider range of voices and a higher degree of virtuosity than anything that had gone on before. To deal with the higher registers the Spanish evidently found some method to develop the voice even higher into a male falsetto, although this technique is now lost to us. There are those (Italian historians) who believe that secret castration was involved, and thus the first castrati.
Opera History…. From the beginning
PREFACE
Why am I bothering to write this series of posts? Don’t ask. Any enthusiast can find what they want on the web, but my personal library goes way back. So why not? In advance I would like to note there is a certain level of referencing done since who can remember everything they’ve read over 35 years? There will be no bibliography offered, but I thank all of the authors profusely for their enlightening efforts. As an art form, opera has existed for over 400 years. Proof of its enduring popularity are the many thousands of scores and libretto’s which have been produced during this time, first in Italy, then in other European countries and finally in America. Many have achieved fame as masterpieces in their time, and subsequently in some cases immortality, while others falling in the first hurdle or at best, failing to win posterity’s favour. It seems to me that in some cases the opera interpretation of a ‘straight theater’ piece completely overshadowed the original work. Take Shakespeare’s Macbeth or Euripides’s Medea. Give me the Verdi of the former and the Cherubini of the latter any day. For neophytes, I have specifically written this four part post as an overview noting key events, people and places. In total. these points represent excellent starting points to surf the web for further detailed intelligence. The post on castrati is also required reading.
It is commonly believed the first presentation of an Opera was Monteverdi’s L`Orfeo in Mantua on February 24 1607. Here is a modern production of L’Orfeo with Mr. Zanasi in the title role.
Perhaps however it really took place in Florence at Jacopo Corsi’s Palazzo during the 1597 Carnival in a performance of La Dafne by Peri, a dramatic fable withprologue and six scenes based on Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Back in the day it was very common the nobility to hold musical performances during the period of Carnival which was the most important festival of the year. However to incorporate such musical events all together as a dramatic work with a beginning and an end was something quite new, and it caught on… BIG time. By the late 1630`s, opera has left the palazzo and we begin to see the emergence of theaters designed and co devoted to this vocal art form. The Teatro Tron di S Cassiano in Venice marks the first dedicated house, but other rival nobility’s in Venice moved quickly; next up within months was the Teatro di SS Giovani etPaolo. Soon theaters were everywhere, London, Oxford, Paris, Belfast (if you can believe), Florence, Vienna, and on and on withsome of these theaters exemplifying spectacular period architecture. This was entertainment for the masses. They brought dinner with them, conducted business, gossiped, socialised, and occasionally listened to the music. The houses of this period were lighted with oil lamps and candles, which unquestionably made for a very scenic evening, but one should not forget there simply was no air conditioning/flow of any kind. Figure out the aromatics on your own. It was common for any opera of the period to incorporate a ballet for the amusement of the audience. Composers were cranking out new works predominately based on mythological themes, or ancient historical events. It seems every composer had an Euridice, Orfeo, Eracole, Dafne, in performance somewhere or other. Stagecraft and set design had also become an integral aspect of any production, witheach theater attempting to outdo each other in dramatic effects. The more well known composers of the period would have included; Monteverdi, Purcell, Lully, Cavalli. An interesting aspect of the singing during this period was the feature of an elaborate a cappella style, which began to flourish around the middle of the 15thcentury withregards to choral works. This style necessitated a much wider range of voices and a higher degree of virtuosity than anything that had gone on before. To deal with the higher registers the Spanish evidently found some method to develop the voice even higher into a male falsetto, although this technique is now lost to us. There are those (Italian historians) who believe that secret castration was involved, and thus the first castrati.