Opera

Listen to Baroque Opera

Listen to Classical Opera, (Recitative)

Listen to Romantic Opera

Drama presented in music, with the characters singing instead of speaking. The concept of drama presented in music came in the Baroque era when musical interludes (intermezzi) where placed between acts of a play and sung to the events of the previous or forthcoming act. Opera grew out of madrigal. Florentine composers felt that the many voices of a madrigal ensemble could only dilute strong emotions, not concentrate them. The Florentines developed a new style of solo singing that was half music, half recitation. This led to opera invented in 1600 and it became one of the most important and characteristic products of Baroque imagination.

During the Baroque period opera had strong divisions between aria and recitative. The subjects and story lines were drawn from serious, heroic and legendary themes. The inspiration for Baroque opera came from ancient Greece (Opera Seria). During the Classical period the divisions between aria and recitative were still strong but the subject matter turned to comedy (Opera Buffa). Here the subject matter and story lines dealt with everyday events, people and common life. During the Romantic period opera no longer had strict divisions between aria and recitative. The composers tried to make the music continuously beautiful.  The orchestra always played even during accompaniment (no longer harpsichord accompaniment for recitative). The new style became known as Bel Canto. In Bel Canto, beautiful song or beautiful sung song; the beauty of the human voice was emphasized with its great range, natural vibrato and smooth legato.