OPERA

From Agepedia

OPERA. The opera is a musical drama. The music makes an essentialpart of it; and in this it is distinguished from other dramas accompanied by music. Song and music may be said to be the poetry of the opera, and, though the opera remains a drama, and never ought to lose this character, yet, as music is lyrical, the opera must be principally directed to the expression of feelings and passions. Comparatively little display of character and action can be expected from it. An opera, like every work of art, must bear the stamp of unity ; one character must prevail through the whole, as the solemn and grave in Mozart's Magic Flute (though there are naif passages interspersed in it), or the glowing, vivid coloring of Figaro, or the heroic elevation of Ghick's Alceste. It is further necessary to give individuality of character by means of the music, and the lyrical monologues (airs, cavatine, ariosos) and dialogues (duettos} terzette, &c.) must alternate in pleasing variety. But our limits do not allow us to give a description of the various parts requisite to these exquisite productions. According as the serious or the comic character prevails in the opera, it is termed opera seria or opera buffa. There is also a stylemezzo stilobetween both, the limits of whicn itis, of course, impossible to define. Grand opera is the name given to that kind which is confined to music and song. The recitativo is an essential part of this. By operetta is unJerstood a short musical drama of a light character. The Italians have a kind of musical dramas called intermezzo. (See Interlude.) The French vaudeville (q. v.) belongs to this species of compositions, but not the German melodrama, in which music, indeed, is introduced either by itself or in connexion with the dialogue, but no singing takes place. Origin of the Italian Opera.About the year 1594, three young noblemen of Florence, who were attached to each other by a similarity of tastes and pursuits, and a love of poetry and music, conceived the idea of reviving the chanted declamation of the Greek tragedy : they procured the poet Rinuccini to write a drama on the story of Daphne, which was set to music by Peri, the most celebrated musician of the age, assisted by count Giacomo Corsi, who, though only an amateur, was also, for the period, a good musician: the piece, like the Mask of Comus, was privately represented, and in the palace of Corsi. The interlocutors, or singers, were the author and his friends; and the orchestra of his first opera consisted but of four instruments, viz. a harpsichord, a harp, a viol di gamba, and lute. There was no attempt at airs ; and the recitative if such it could be calledwas merely a kind of measured intonation, which would appear to us insufferably languid and monotonous ; yet it caused, at the time, an extraordinary sensation, and was frequently repeated. Four years afterwards, the first public opera, entitled Euridice, written by the same poet, and set by the same musician, was represented at the theatre of Florence, in honor of the marriage of Mary de' Medici with Henry the Fourth of France. On this occasion, the introduction of Anacreontic stanzas, set to music, and a chorus at the end of each act, were the first imperfect indications of the airs and. choruses of the modern opera. Monteverde, a Milanese musician, improved the recitative, by giving it more flow and expression; he set the opera of Ariadne, by Rinuccini, for the court of Mantua; and in the opera of Glasone, set by Cavili and Cicoguini, for the Venetians (1649), occur the first airs connected in sentiment and spirit with the dialogue. According to another story of the origin of the opera, John Sulpitius, about 1486, exhibited little dramas, accomnanied with music, in the marketplace at Rome, and also before the pope and some cardinals. The commencement of the opera seria at Rome reminds us of the wagon of Thespis and his leesbesmeared company of strollers. The first performance of this kind, consisting of scenes in recitative and airs, was exhibited in a cart during the carnival of 1606, by the musician Quagliata and four or five of hia friends. The first regular serious opera performed at Naples was in 1615: it was entitled Amor non ha Legge. During the next half century, the opera not only did not improve, but it degenerated : it became in Italy what it was in France during the last centurya grand spectacle addressed to the eye, in which the poetry and music were the last things considered, while the scenery, mechanical illusions, and pantomime, were on the most splendid scale. As Goldoni said long afterwards of the grand opera at Paris, C'etait le paradis des yeux et Venfer des oreilles. The first opgra buffa is said to have been represented at Venice in 1624, where also the first stage for operas was erected (in 1637). In 1646, the opera was transplanted to France by cardinal Mazarin. (See Fi°ance, division Dramatic Poetry, and Art.) In Germany, carnival plays, in which the performance consisted of singing, existed even in the times of Hans Sachs (died 1567). Opitz and others imitated the Italian pieces; but the first German original opera is said to have been Adam and Eve, played in 1678, in Hamburg. Some consider The Devil let loose the first comic opera in Germany. In Sweden, the first Swedish original opera was performed in 1774. The Italian opera was introduced into England in the seventeenth century. Handel effected a revolution there, which, however, did not exert a permanent influence on the English opera. The Italian opera did not penetrate into Spain until the second half of the eighteenth century. The Italians draw the line between the opera seria and opera buffa much more distinctly than the Germans, so that the Italian opera seria appears almost insipid to a German; the buffa, on the contrary, is quite grotesque and quite national, and produces a lively effect when played by Italians. Among the most distinguished Italian writers of operas are Apostolo Zeno, and particularly Metastasio, who, in the eighteenth century, carried the Italian opera to so great a height. Among the writers of comic operas we must mention Goldoni. Among their composers, Sacchini, Piccini, Jomelli, Cimarosa, Salieri, Paisiello, Zingarelli, Martini, Rossini, Generali, &c, are distinguished. (See Arteaga?s History of the Italian Opera.) Among the French writers of operas are Quinault, La Fontaine, La Motte, Marmontel, Favart, Sedaine, Etienne, Jouy, Scribe. Theaulon. Among the French composers are Gretry, Monsigny, Rousseau, Dalayrac, Isouard, Boyeldieu, Catel, Mehul, and the nationalized Spontini and Cherubini. Among the English writers of operas are Addison, Gay, Fielding, Kenrick, &c. The English have no distinguished composers of operas. The German opera, as it now exists, originated from the operetta, chiefly cultivated in the latter half of the eighteenth century by Weisse and Hiller. The pieces which are sung became longer and longer, so that at last they took the form of the opera seria; and when the finale, invented by the Italians, was introduced, general preference was given to that kind of opera. Spoken dialogue and song alternate in it; but in recent times, the great German composers have changed the prose dialogue also into recitative. The romantic opera is a German production, and compounded of the Italian opera seria and opera huffa. Among the most perfect of the German romantic operas are the Magic Flute, Don Juan, Der Freischiitz, Oberon, &c. Some of the poets who have written for the German opera are Gothe, J. G. Jacobi, Herklots, Huber, Kotzebue, Schikaneder, Kind, Gehe, &c. Among the German composers are Gluck, Hasse, Mozart, Winter, Weigl, Reichardt, Kunzen, Vogler, Beethoven, C. M. v. Weber, Sj ohr, Kreutzer, &c.