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Overview 1. Rossini & What Came Before
The Journey to Reims 2. Mid-‐Century Roman:cism
La traviata 3. Toward the End of an Era
Falstaff
SESSION 2 Fach
Lyric soprano Lyric tenor Verdi baritone
Romanticism & Verdi’s Traviata Opera People
Conductor Coaches Orchestra
The Opera Business
Music Publishing Season Building & Repertoire Audience Culture
The Business of Opera ca. 1825 (or Why Viaggio Disappeared)
Unauthorized versions Re-packaged editions: piano reductions, song arrangements, instrumental fantasies
Music Publishing
Repertory: New vs. “Old”
1700-1850: ~ 50 new operas a year in Italian houses Revivals not anticipated: composers recycled material
Opera House Resources
Viaggio – 18 singers (3X the typical complement)
Producing Bel Canto Operas
Versions & Critical Editions Public domain materials: free but messy Critical editions: result of extensive scholarly research
Performance Traditions Case-by-case decisions
Cuts
19th Century Operagoing: A Social Experience!
Performances were long; dinner was eaten in the boxes. Lights stayed up in the house. Gossip, business deals, fashion… High noise level: the recitative-ending coups d’archet were an important signal.
FACH: Determining Factors The Highs and the Lows
Timbre color Weight loudness, thickness
Agility coloratura Flexibility variety in dynamic and color
Range singable notes Tessitura common range Registra:on strongest area Passaggio register transi:on (“break”)
Loudness and Projec:on
Fluidity
Fach Overview – Soprano Until the late 18th century, all female singers were sopranos.)
Soubrette (French soubrette = shre wd) Bell-like silvery quality; “ina/etta” maids, servants Susanna, Despina, Zerlina, Adina, Norina, Marzelline, Adele, Nannetta, Sophie
Coloratura (Koloratur: add to an idea using main thought as point of departure) Great agility, decorative (Subtypes: lyric coloratura, dramatic coloratura) Lucia, Queen, Gilda, Zerbinetta, Fiordiligi, Konstanze, Manon, Juliette
Lyric (“of a lyre”) Communicate beauty, romance , pathos (JB Steane: “the world’s girlfriend”) Mimi, Violetta , Marguerite, Micaëla, Liù, Countess, Marschallin, Lauretta
Spinto (spingere: to push) / Lyric Dramatic Tonal beauty of the lyric and power of the dramatic Butterfly, Tosca, Aida, Leonoras, Lady Macbeth, Sieglinde, Ariadne
Dramatic (“horn-and-helmet”) Cut thru large orchestra; warm and metallic; powerful; flexibility compromised Salome, Elektra, Brünnhilde, Isolde, Marie,Turandot
Koloratur (German): adding to an idea using the main thought as point of departure
Coloratura Soprano
Characteristics: Great agility Decorative potential
Subtypes Lyric coloratura Dramatic coloratura
Examples: Lucia, Queen, Gilda, Zerbinetta, Manon
Rossini Il viaggio a Reims
“of a lyre” Lyric Soprano
Primarily capable of communicating beauty and pathos Some lyric sopranos are also coloraturas
J.B. Steane: “the world’s girlfriend”
COLORATURA LYRIC COLORATURA
LYRIC
Mimi (Puccini) Countess (Mozart)
Marschallin (Strauss) Micaëla (Bizet)
Violetta (Verdi) Juliette (Gounod) Lucia (Donizetti)
All Handel sopranos All Rossini sopranos
Norina (Donizetti) Adele (J. Strauss)
Gilda (Verdi)
La traviata Violetta: Addio del passato
FACH Overview – Tenor (From tenere (to hold): the important line in polyphonic music)
Tenore di grazia / Leggiero Flexible, tessitura high (Ottavio, Nemorino, Des Grieux)
Coloratura Agility, extremely high range; bel canto specialist (Almaviva, Ernesto, Arturo)
Comic (Spieltenor) Character type (Beppe, Goro, Pedrillo, Tanzmeister, Monostatos)
Lyric Beauty of tone; “squillo” to project over large orchestra (Lensky, Faust, Rodolfo) (Before1830’s, no full voice above passaggio)
Lirico-Spinto to Tenore Robusto Heroic; stamina and volume (Cavaradossi, José, Otello, Radames, Calaf)
Heldentenor / Tenore di forza Baritonal hue; powerful midvoice (Florestan, Lohengrin, Siegmund, Tannhäuser)
Rossini Tenor: Coloratura
Characteristics: Great agility Decorative potential Very high range
Examples: Almaviva, Ernesto, Arturo
Journey to Reims Il Conte di Libenskof
Lyric Tenor
Characteristics: Beauty of tone Squillo to project over large orchestra
Examples: Lensky, Faust, Rodolfo, Alfredo
La traviata Alfredo: De miei bollenti spiriti
Die Walküre Lauritz Melchior
FACH – BARITONE First male voice type introduced: in early Baroque Primarily choral designation from Baroque until late 18th C, Mozart Romantic school: baritone as foil/rival for tenor
Light Lyric Flexible, with versatile top: Mozart, bel canto repertoire (Almaviva, Guglielmo, Leporello, Dandini, Malatesta, Silvio)
Lyric Supple, with a bit more heft & maturity (Marcello, Mercutio, Valentin, Germont)
Dramatic (Verdi baritone ) Powerful, ringing top to Gb (Rigoletto, Scarpia, Tonio, Germont, Iago, Falstaff, Onegin)
Heldenbaritone (Helden=hero) Strong midvoice, heft and metal (Wotan, Dutchman, Macbeth, Boris)
Lyric Baritone Supple and with great lyricism More heft & maturity than earlier baritones Examples: Marcello, Valentin, Germont
Dramatic Baritone Still more vocal power and richness Powerful, ringing top to Gb
Examples: Rigoletto, Scarpia, Germont, Iago, Onegin
La traviata Germont: Di Provenza
The Pendulum Swings…
Reform/Classicism ~1750-‐1800
High Baroque ~1650-‐1750
Floren:ne Camerata 1590’s
From Simplicity Clarity Balance
To Complexity Passion Vocal Fireworks
Bel Canto & Roman:cism 19th century
19th-century Romanticism
Reaction against cool formality of classical tradition
Instincts and feelings instead of reason
Art for art’s sake… with an eye toward eternity
Emergence of nationalism in musical composition
Music more closely associated with art and literature Goethe (Faust, Mignon, Werther) Schiller (Luisa Miller, Don Carlos, William Tell) Hugo (Ernani, Rigoletto, La Gioconda) Shakespeare (Macbeth, Otello, Falstaff)
1839-1849: EARLY Oberto Un giorno di regno Nabucco I lombardi Ernani I due Foscari Giovanna d'Arco Alzira Attila Macbeth I masnadieri Il corsaro La battaglia di Legnano
Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901)
1887&1893: LATE Otello Falstaff
1849-1871: MIDDLE Luisa Miller Stiffelio Rigoletto Il trovatore La traviata Les vêpres siciliennes Simon Boccanegra Un ballo in maschera La forza del destino Don Carlos Aida
Reached maturity in 1840’s: Rossini in retirement, Bellini & Donizetti gone Wrote the most consistently popular body of operas between Mozart and Puccini; dominated the mid-late 19th century
Early Period: Verdi’s “Galley Years” 1839-1849
Oberto Un giorno di regno
Nabucco I lombardi
Ernani I due Foscari
Giovanna d'Arco Alzira Attila
Macbeth I masnadieri
Il corsaro La battaglia di Legnano
Un giorno di regno Failure at premiere Coincided with personal tragedy
Nabucco Beginning of success/fame
Macbeth No love story; break with convention
Captive of the bel canto style Heir to Donizetti & Rossini
Verdi’s Middle Period
1849-1871
Luisa Miller Stiffelio
Rigoletto Il trovatore La traviata
Les vêpres siciliennes Simon Boccanegra
Un ballo in maschera La forza del destino
Don Carlos Aida
Lavish emotionalism Distinctive mixture of comedy and tragedy
Identifiable musical essence of character
Vocally technically demanding, but requiring purity and elegance Integrated stagecraft
Experimented to produce his own operatic genre
Melody
Harmony
Rhythm
Texture Amplitude
Text
Form Subject
Bel Canto
straightforward, diatonic
secondary to vocal display
completely inconsequential
secco recitatives aria / tempo di mezza / cabaletta
proscribed ornamentation coloratura
increased use of rubato
still modest
little new ground
increasingly adventurous
orchestral color more exotic
returning to prominence
no secco recits hybrid: “numbers” and
through-composed
less filigreed, more expansive expanded use of leitmotifs
mixed meters, macro adjustments
exploiting entire range
increasingly contemporary
19th C Grand Opera
Melody less filigreed more expansive and emotional expanded use of leitmotifs development of character through melody
Mid-19th Century Grand Opera
Harmony
Rhythm
increasingly adventurous (within Italian idiom) mixed meters, macro adjustments
Texture Amplitude
orchestral color more exotic exploiting larger range
The Orchestra Baroque Classical
(double winds) Bel Canto Grand Opera
Woodwinds 2 flutes
2 flutes 2 oboes 2 clarinets 2 bassoons
2 flutes 2 oboes 2 clarinets 2 bassoons
3 flutes + picc 2 oboes + EH 2 clarinets + Bs 2 bsns + contra
Brass 1 trumpet 2 horns 2 trumpets
4 horns 2 trumpets 3 trombones
4 horns 2 trumpets 3 trombones 1 tuba
Percussion / Keyboard
Harpsichord Harpsichord Timpani Bass Drum
Harp Timpani Bass Drum
Harp Timpani Full array
Strings Viols 20-30 40 40-60
Strauss: Elektra – Orchestra Size Strings 62 players in 3 parts: Vl 1, 2, 3; Vla 1, 2, 3 ; Vc 1 & 2, Cb Woodwinds piccolo, 3 flutes, 2 oboes, English horn, heckelphone,
E-flat clarinet, 4 B-flat clarinets, A clarinet, bass clarinet, 2 basset horns, 3 bassoons, contrabassoon
Brass 8 horns (Nos. 5-8 dbl Wagner tubas), 6 trumpets,
3 trombones, contrabass trombone, contrabass tuba, 3 extra trumpets for the end
Percussion glockenspiel, triangle, tambourine, snare drum, cymbals,
bass drum, tam-tam, celesta , 6-8 timpani, 2 harps
Emergence of the Opera Conductor
17th & 18th Centuries Orchestra led by harpsichordist or concertmaster Time beating reserved mostly for choruses Conductor stood at edge of stage closest to singers
19th Century Concertmaster frequently stopped playing to beat time Separate conductor emerged by mid-century Position moved to downstage area of pit Wagner created the image of conductor we know today
The Conductor’s Job
Establish and communicate tempo, balance, articulation, other interpretive details
Collaborate with director on overall approach, details of timing/blocking
Collaborate with coaches and chorusmaster on preparation of singers
Determine cuts, transpositions, etc.
Melody
Harmony
Rhythm Texture Amplitude
Text
increasingly adventurous
orchestral color more exotic
librettist/composer collaboration: new creative force
less filigreed, more expansive, emotional expanded use of leitmotifs, dev of character thru melody
mixed meters, macro adjustments
exploiting entire range
Mid-19th Century Grand Opera
Subject increasingly contemporary
Rigoletto human deformity, rape
La traviata
the bourgeoisie and the demi-monde
Stiffelio religion and adultery
Un ballo in maschera
political intrigue
Verdi’s Controversial Subject Material
Melody
Harmony
Rhythm
Texture Amplitude
Text
Form Subject
increasingly adventurous
orchestral color more exotic
librettist/composer collaboration: new creative force
no secco recitative hybrid: “number” / through-composed
less filigreed, more expansive, emotional expanded use of leitmotifs, dev of character thru melody
mixed meters, macro adjustments
exploiting entire range
increasingly contemporary
Mid-19th Century Grand Opera
La traviata Accompanied recitative
La traviata Violetta: Ah, forse lui (Aria)
La traviata Violetta: Sempre libera (Cabaletta)
Listening to Voices Range
Can the voice be heard in all registers?
Does the voice move? How is the coloratura?
How does it handle the required range? Is the passaggio (“break”) technique solid?
Projec:on
Fluidity
Warm? Clear? Clarion? Dark? Color
Is it in tune? If not, where is the problem? Intona:on
Are the vowels clear and the consonants func:onal? Is the language idioma:c and expressive?
Language
Is the vibrato healthy? Speed? Amplitude? What is the propor:on of core to ac:vity?
Vibrato
Is there legato? An expressive dynamic range? Expressivity
La traviata Violetta: “Follie!”
Licia Albanese (1946)
Maria Callas (1958)
Renee Fleming (2003)
Joan Sutherland (1979)
La traviata Germont: “Di Provenza!”
Tito Gobbi (1955)
Sherill Milnes (1977)