Opera
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Opera as a musical genre began 400 years ago. The genre originated from Florence in Italy during the 16th century (Abbate & Parker, 2015). Opera can be defined as a theatrical piece of work that follows a dramatic text called a libretto. Its use in setting music characterizes the libretto, and the opera is made whole through staged scenery, costumes, and movements. The musical part of an opera includes solo performances, ensemble, and choral singers. It can also include a group of instrumentalists mostly playing off the stage and dancers. There is a lot of preparation that goes into an opera, considering the different types of performances that have to be merged together into one. Opera has always struggled to bring a balance between music, poetry, and text but falls more onto favoring the text. The rise of the opera began with a piece called Daphne produced in the late 16th century by Jacopo Peri. Daphne became the first work in history to be named an opera. The work that made opera popular was composed by Claudio Monteverdi. His opera was named Orfeo and was performed between 1567-1643. At the beginning of opera history, it was only performed on special occasions. Operas were performed to display the wealth and status of the patrons. The purpose thereby made it a politically important segment. Because of the increased importance and attention, composers and producers of operas became more innovative.
The Florentine Camerata was an Italian group that consisted of artists, writers, musicians, and statesmen. The group’s purpose was to revive ancient Greek music, and these efforts began between 1573 and 1587 under the patronage of Giovanni Bardi (Fawcett-Lothson, 2009). In their efforts to reproduce ancient Greek music they landed on the idea of operas. Therefore, opera is thought to have occurred as an effort to recreate ancient Greek music characterized by its storytelling and dramatization. It was this concept that influenced the composition of the first opera Daphne. After the opera became a major success, Claudio Monteverdi composed his masterpiece Orfeo in 1607. In this opera, he emphasized more on music which became a defining factor in the characteristics of opera throughout its history. The Florentine Camerata’s intention in beginning the opera was to improve the quality of music as art by borrowing from ancient tradition. The group was influenced by Girolamo Mei on this idea mainly because he was the best scholar in ancient Greek at the time (Fawcette-Lothson, 2009). He was thereby believed to be credible and have meaningful insight into the matter. The Florentine Camerata also made criticisms regarding art. In their criticism of modern art, the group complained about the overuse of polyphony. They argued that contemporary music at the time failed to give importance to the sung text instead of relying on polyphony which made the music lame. From the evaluation of ancient Greek music, the group determined that it had emotional and moral effects. These elements were intriguing to them, and they believed they would help create better standards for the music. In fact, they also hoped that the moral concept of the opera would influence morality in society as well.
Monteverdi’s famous opera Orfeo features the musical composition named ‘tu se morte.’ The song is an emotional aria that Orfeo sings when his wife dies from a snakebite. In this song, he laments about the unfairness of the situation because they had only been married shortly. In a short background, the news of his wife’s death is delivered by Sylvia. She is also a character in Orfeo and passes the message through an equally emotional song. The only difference between these two songs is that Sylvia’s song describes emotions of devastation while Orfeo’s song is more about lamentation. The song can be described as a recitative. We realize that Orfeo is distraught about his situation but tells a story about how he hoped to change fate. Orfeo declares that he will set out on a journey to bring back his wife from the dead. He also explains that he would win over the king of the underworld in his plan using his songs. Another characteristic of the story is that it is very expressive. Orfeo is able to achieve this level of expressiveness through his choice of words and how well he expresses his emotions through his body movement and facial expressions. The song also follows a homophonic performance and setting. In this part of the opera, the only person who is singing is Orfeo. The types of instruments used in this song are the cello and the harpsichord, which accompany Orfeo’s singing. The setting also supports this homophonic performance. Orfeo is standing alone on the center stage as the rest of the performers stand at the sides and in the shadows (Just, 2014). He also sings ho
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