Opera Whats that

1
Opera? Whats that?

• The new Baroque phenomenon

2
The new art form

• Opera is a drama sung to orchestral accompaniment
  .
• Has all elements the elements of drama- scenery,
  costumes, acting
• Adds music and occasionally dancing
• Characters and plot are revealed through music,
  rather than speech
• The flow of the music drives the plot. The music
  is the drama.

3
No good Opera plot can be sensible

• Usually created as a joint effort by the composer
  and the librettist
• Librettist writes the text, or the libretto
• The music makes fantastic or melodramatic
  situations seem real
• A good composer is a master of musical timing,
  characterization, and a great sense of theater

4
People do not sing when they are feeling
sensible

• Two major types Serious and Comic
• Comic opera may have spoken dialogue due to needs
  of comedic timing
• Characters range from god and emperors to
  peasants and clowns.
• Characters are often overwhelmed by emotions,
  such as love, hatred, revenge, or lust

5
Singers in Opera

• Coloratura Soprano- Very high range can execute
  rapid scales and trills
• Lyric Soprano- Light voice. Roles call for grace
  and charm
• Dramatic- Full, powerful voice
• Lyric Tenor- Light, bright voice
• Dramatic Tenor- Powerful, heroic voice
• Basso Buffo- Takes comic roles
• Basso Profundo- Low range, powerful voice. Roles
  call for dignity.

6
Operatic terms

• Aria- A song for a solo voice
• Outpouring of Emotion from a single character
• Recitative- a vocal line that imitates speech
• Used for monologues and dialogues
• Ensemble- Any piece for more than three singers
• Chorus- The entire company
• Used to set mood and atmosphere

7
Operatic terms

• Prompter- Person hidden from the audience who
  gives cues and rminds singers of the words
• Recitative- a vocal line that imitates speech
• Used for monologues and dialogues
• Prelude/overture- Instrumental piece before the
  opera that uses elements of the opera music

8
Die Hölle Rache from Die Zauberflöte by Mozart

• This is a coloratura soprano singing
• Listen for the high fast notes
• Basic plot of the song-
• The singer, the Queen of the Night, is telling
  her daughter, Pamina, that if she does not kill
  her rival, the priest Sarastro, she will disown
  her daughter
• Sung in German
• From the Classical Era

9
La Donna e Mobile from Rigoletto by Verdi

• Dramatic tenor singing
• Lots of high notes and a big voice
• Basic Plot of the song
• The Duke of Mantua is singing about how women
  constantly change their minds and that they have
  no loyalty to men
• Sung in Italian
• From the Romantic Era