MUSIC261 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Opera Experiment, Aria, Blank Verse
Document Summary
Dramma per musica = italia(cid:374): (cid:862)a pla(cid:455) through (cid:373)usi(cid:272)(cid:863: a play that is sung throughout drama with continuous or nearly continuous music, staged with scenery, costumes & action. Libretto: (cid:894)(cid:862)little (cid:271)ook(cid:863)(cid:895): dra(cid:373)ati(cid:272) te(cid:454)t + s(cid:272)e(cid:374)e i(cid:374)stru(cid:272)tio(cid:374)s for a(cid:374) opera. E(cid:454)pressio(cid:374) of (cid:272)hara(cid:272)ter"s e(cid:373)otio(cid:374)s/rea(cid:272)tio(cid:374)s to plot: (cid:373)o(cid:374)ologue i(cid:374) poeti(cid:272) sta(cid:374)za for(cid:373, repetitio(cid:374) of te(cid:454)t & (cid:373)usi(cid:272) Sung declamation: fits (cid:374)atural a(cid:272)(cid:272)e(cid:374)ts, rh(cid:455)th(cid:373), pa(cid:272)e & i(cid:374)fle(cid:272)tio(cid:374)s of (cid:449)ords, s(cid:455)llabic, (cid:373)o(cid:448)es plot for(cid:449)ard: dialogue. Orchestra: i(cid:373)porta(cid:374)t dra(cid:373)ati(cid:272) role, i(cid:374)stru(cid:373)e(cid:374)tal nu(cid:373)(cid:271)ers, o(cid:448)erture: orchestral introduction to an opera. Chorus: group of singers representing group (vs individual) identity. Aria: a solo operatic speech accompanied and framed by the orchestra. The character"s text is usually in stanza form. Textual and musical repetitions and returns shape the speech into a musical number embodying some form of strophic progression. Style of operatic speech in which the text is declaimed as in recitative, while the accompaniment has constant rhythms and independent melodies of an aria.
