Claudio Monteverdi (1567–1643), who used recitative as well as lyrical solos, madrigals, and instrumental color in operas on a variety of classical themes, is considered the first genius of operatic composition, and his “favola in musica” Orfeo (1607) is often seen as the first true opera. Arias for solo voice might express a sentiment both musically and verbally ensembles, choruses, and orchestral interludes likewise produced effective color. It was early noticed that music could express mood, define character, and enliven dramatic situations, sometimes more eloquently than verbal expression alone. Today the word libretto denotes the text of the opera, the drama that is set to music, but in the days of court opera, librettos were attractively illustrated and therefore involved the talents of draftsmen and engravers, who were also engaged to commemorate the festivities.Īlthough the spectacular emphasis of court performances continued as opera evolved, musical considerations guided its evolution. Magnificently garbed and seated in orderly ranks, the spectators followed the action of the opera, which might last several hours, in a printed libretto, literally “a little book” produced for the occasion. The audiences for court performances were part of the spectacle, since the convention of darkening the theater did not yet exist.
Early operas, largely based on mythological themes and peopled with noble characters, promoted aristocratic ideals.Īlthough music and drama were the essential features of opera, visual effects often dominated the court productions of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and the designers of sets and theatrical machinery sometimes received greater acclaim than the composers who wrote the music. Toward this end, they developed recitative, a type of sung speech featuring the solo voice and an unadorned vocal line expressive of the text. The Florentine Camerata, a group of composers and dramatists active in Florence around 1600, set out to revive the great traditions of the classical Greek stage, in which music and drama reinforced each other.
Although not operas in the modern sense, these integrated entertainments fostered collaboration among the arts and prompted the theoretical justifications upon which true opera-and ballet, whose early development runs parallel-was built. In seventeenth-century Italy, the birthplace of the form, lavish entertainments featuring fireworks and sensational effects as well as instrumental music, singing, dances, and speeches were staged to celebrate princely weddings or to welcome regal guests. In its origins, opera, like every other type of spectacle, expressed noble prerogatives and was staged in courtly settings. A feature unique to opera, however, is the power of music, particularly that written for the several registers of the human singing voice, which is arguably the artistic means best suited to the expression of emotion and the portrayal of character. Developments in architecture and painting have manifested themselves on the operatic stage in the design of sets and costumes for specific performances, and opera has also affected the visual arts beyond the stage in such domains as the design and decoration of opera houses and the portraiture of singers and composers. Throughout its history, opera has reflected trends current in the several arts of which it is composed. Music and drama are the fundamental ingredients, as are the arts of staging and costume design opera is therefore a visual as well as an audible art. Opera, whose name comes from the Italian word for a work, realizes the Baroque ambition of integrating all the arts.
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