The Dramatic Text of Opera, Oratorio, and Cantata

A libretto is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or musical.

The Birth of Opera

It was in Florence in the late 1500s that a new form of drama first emerged. This new form of drama was called opera. The word opera is Italian for work. This new art form was a combination of music and drama. The first operas were written in the vernacular, which was the everyday language of the people.

The Florentine Camerata

The Florentine Camerata was a group of humanists, musicians, and poets in late Renaissance Florence who gathered under the patronage of Count Giovanni de’ Bardi to discuss and guide musical development. They are generally credited with being the first to conceive the idea of opera—a drama set to music—and their activities set the stage for the birth of opera as a distinct genre.

The Camerata was founded in 1573 by a group of wealthy Florentine nobles who were passionate about music. Giovanni de’ Bardi, a member of one of Florence’s most prominent families, was the group’s leader and primary patron. Other members included Jacopo Corsi, Giulio Caccini, Ottaviano Rinuccini, Vincenzo Galilei (father of Galileo), Giovanni Battista Strozzi, and Benedetto Pallavicino. The group gathered at de’ Bardi’s home to discuss all aspects of music, from theory to composition to performance.

One of the Camerata’s primary goals was to revive the musical traditions of ancient Greece. They believed that contemporary music had lost its emotional power and sincerity, and that by looking to antiquity they could recapture these elements. To this end, they studied Greek tragedy and philosophy, as well as ancient musical treatises. They also shared ideas and songs with one another in an intimate setting, something that was very rare in the formal world of professional music-making.

Out of these discussions came the idea for opera. The Camerata conceived opera as a way to combine all aspects of musical theater—singing, acting, poetry, spectacle—into a single art form. This new type of drama would tell a story using both words and music; it would be emotional and accessible to everyone, not just educated elites; and it would be realistically portrayed, with characters that audiences could sympathize with.

The Camerata began work on their first opera in 1589. Titled Dafne after the character from Greek mythology who turns into a laurel tree to escape the advances of Apollo, it was never completed due to political unrest in Florence at the time. However, its libretto (text) survives, and it is clear that this early version of opera would have been very different from anything that had come before. It is also clear that the Camerata’s experiment laid the groundwork for future developments in opera; indeed, many subsequent operas would borrow liberally from Dafne’s libretto.

The First Opera

It is generally agreed that the first opera was Jacopo Peri’s Dafne, produced in 1597 in Florence. Dafne was based on a libretto by Ottavio Rinuccini, which in turn was based on the ancient Greek myth of Daphne and Apollo. This work, which was intended to be performed during the Carnival season, consisted of simple monodies accompanied by a small orchestra of violins, lutes, flutes, and low-register winds. Unfortunately, no music from this work has survived.

While Dafne is generally considered to be the first opera, there were a number of earlier works that were important in the development of this new art form. These include:

· Intermedio by Giulio Caccini (1597)

· Il ballo delle ingrate by Pietro Andrea Ziani (1608)

· Orfeo ed Euridice by Giulio Romanino (1607)

· L’Euridice by Jacopo Peri (1600)

Opera in the Baroque Era

Did you know that the first operas were actually written in the late 16th century? Opera is a genre of music that combines singing and instrumental music. The first operas were written in Florence, Italy. Opera quickly spread to other parts of Europe, and the first public opera house was opened in Venice in 1637.

Opera Seria

Opera seria (‘serious opera’) is an Italian musical term which refers to the noble, heroic and religious genres of Italian opera that predominated in Europe from the 1710s to c. 1770. The term itself was used at the time and is still used today to refer to beautifully articulated and decorated solo arias sung by prima donnas and castrati interspersed with recitative and accompanied by basso continuo. Over time, the structures of these works became increasingly complex, especially so in the works of Alessandro Scarlatti (1660–1725) and George Frideric Handel (1685–1759).

The typical opera seria plot centered on a heroic male character (often a mythical or historical figure) who experienced love affairs with one or more heroines; these in turn would often obstacles placed in their path by villains before being ultimately united with their beloved. Many describe opera seria as an allegory of virtue triumphing over vice; however, given the plethora of operatic storylines spanning three centuries, it would be inaccurate to make such a blanket statement about all works belonging to this genre.

Opera Buffa

Comic opera, also called opera buffa, plural operas buffi, singspiel, operetta, and bourgeois opera, is the comic, often satiric genre of opera that originated in Italy at the end of the 17th century and became popular throughout Europe in the 18th century. It is characterized by lighthearted tunes and harmonies, storielle (short comic narratives), and stock characters such as young lovers, strutting soldiers, aging spinsters, jealous husbands, and crafty servants. Although some works in the genre were serious in theme—for example, Giovanni Paisiello’s Nina (1789), which deals with a young woman’s rejection of an arranged marriage—most are comedies that poke fun at contemporary society.

One of the most successful early operas buffi was Pergolesi’s La serva padrona (1733; “The Maid turned Mistress”). The work helped to spread the popularity of opera buffa beyond Italy; it was performed all over Europe and was one of Mozart’s favourite works. Other well-known examples include Niccolò Piccinni’s La buona figliuola (1760; “The Good Girl”); Domenico Cimarosa’s Il matrimonio segreto (1792; “The Secret Marriage”); and Gaetano Donizetti’s La zingara (1822; “The Gypsy Girl”) and L’elisir d’amore (1832; The Elixir of Love). By the early 19th century the popularity of serious opera had eclipsed that of opera buffa outside Italy.

The Oratorio

Oratorio is a musical composition, usually performed by a solo singer with an orchestra or chorus, on a sacred or secular subject. An oratorio is similar to an opera, but there are key differences. First, an oratorio does not have any acting or scenery. Second, an oratorio is usually longer than an opera and has more complex musical numbers.

The Oratorio in the Baroque Era

The oratorio began life in the early 17th century as a sacred genre, but by the mid-17th century, it had begun to be used for secular subjects as well. Although the oratorio became popular in both Italy and Germany, it was in England that the form really came into its own. The English oratorio reached its zenith in the works of George Frideric Handel, who composed some of his greatest works in the genre, including such classics as Messiah and Judas Maccabaeus.

While the oratorio has its roots in the Baroque era, it continues to be an important part of classical music repertoire today. Many of the greatest composers of the past two centuries have written works in the genre, including Johann Sebastian Bach, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Felix Mendelssohn, Giuseppe Verdi, and Benjamin Britten.

The Oratorio in the Classical Era

Oratorios developed in the early Baroque period out of a combination of elements taken from opera, sacred music drama, and concertato motets. The first oratorios were dramatic musical settings of sacred texts intended for performance in churches during Lent (the six-week period of fasting and abstinence preceding Easter). As the genre evolved, oratorios became less dependent on specific religious subjects and more concerned with humanist themes such as the struggle between good and evil. By the middle of the eighteenth century, oratorios were performed in secular venues such as public concert halls.

One of the earliest and most important works in the oratorio genre is Alessandro Scarlatti’s La Maddalena (1699), which tells the story of Mary Magdalene’s conversion. George Frideric Handel’s Messiah (1742) remains one of the best-known and most popular works in the genre. Other notable eighteenth-century oratorios include Johann Sebastian Bach’s Christmas Oratorio (1734) and Ludwig van Beethoven’s Fidelio (1814).

The Cantata

The Cantata, a musical composition for voices and instruments, usually in several movements, at least one of which is invariably in vocal form, is one of the three main types of dramatic text, the other two being the Opera and the Oratorio. The word “cantata” is derived from the Italian verb cantare, meaning “to sing”.

The Cantata in the Baroque Era

The cantata as a musical form began in the early 17th century, probably in Italy, and quickly spread throughout Europe. The first composer known to have written a cantata was Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1526-1594), who wrote a set of sacred pieces, possibly for four solo voices and continuo, titled Cantate Domino. By the early decades of the 17th century, the cantata had become a common genre for both sacred and secular music.

The Italian cantata of the early baroque era was generally a simple piece for one or two voices with basso continuo accompaniment. The texts were usually devotional or moralizing in nature and often set to popular tunes of the day. The German cantata of this period was generally more complex, with multiple vocal parts and instruments, and was often based on sacred texts.

As the baroque era progressed, composers began to experiment with new forms of cantata. Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) wrote a type of cantata called the dramma per musica, which included spoken dialogue as well as sung passages. Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767) wrote what he called Kantaten für die Feste des Herrn (Cantatas for the Feasts of the Lord), which were larger works intended for public performance on major religious holidays.

By the end of the baroque era, the cantata had evolved into a form that would be recognizable to modern audiences. It continued to be popular throughout the classical and romantic eras, and remains an important part of classical music today.

The Cantata in the Classical Era

The cantata became increasingly popular in the classical era. This was partly due to the works of Johann Sebastian Bach, who composed over 200 cantatas, many of which are still performed today. Many other composers of the time wrote cantatas, including George Frideric Handel, Antonio Vivaldi, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Cantatas were often written for special occasions, such as a religious holiday or a nobleman’s birthday. They were also used as entertainment at musical gatherings and as interludes during longer works such as operas.

The cantata began to lose popularity in the early 19th century with the rise of Romantic opera. However, some composers continued to write them, including Felix Mendelssohn, Robert Schumann, and Johannes Brahms. Today, the cantata is enjoying a revival, with many contemporary composers writing works in this genre.