ITALIAN OPERA

There was always argument about who composed the first opera. Some of his contemporaries regarded the Roman composer Cavalieri's La rappresentatione di Anima e di Corpo (1600) (The Representation of Soul and Body) as the first true example. Written for the Oratorian movement of St Philip Neri and with a dramatic content recalling that of medieval morality plays, in its combination of drama with the new music, it had some claim to priority. Allegorical figures dispute in a work that seeks to show the superiority of the spiritual. The composer himself claimed to have been the first to unite music and drama in this way, although rivals claimed to have done the same things some years before.

While Cavalieri's work entertained and edified the entire College of Cardinals in Rome, other early operas were designed as court entertainments of a more secular kind. Works of this kind were staged, notably, for the Medici rulers in Florence and, most memorably of all, at Mantua. It was there that Monteverdi had his Orfeo staged in 1607, followed the next year by Arianna , now lost. The subject of Orfeo (Orpheus) had already been treated in Florence by the composers Peri and by Caccini. The story had an obvious relevance. The legendary musician Orpheus, grieving at the loss of his beloved Eurydice, attempts to save her from the Underworld by the power of his music and is almost successful, thwarted only at the last minute by his own doubts. Orpheus not only demonstrates the importance of music. He is also represented as a shepherd among shepherds, making it possible for the poet and composer to draw on an existing literary and musical tradition. Pastoral poems and romances were set in a conventional Arcadia, where the only troubles that arose came from the thwarted love of amorous shepherds, whose heart- ache often proved fatal. The Italian madrigal, the part- songs of the 16 th century, often set pastoral verses, drawing on another tradition of the ancient world. Here the life of the shepherd was idealised in an urban or court view of the country, a convention that could present the ageing Queen Elizabeth of England as Oriana, Queen of the Shepherds, shortly before her death. Monteverdi and his librettist were drawing on existing literary and musical conventions.

Opera as court entertainment continued, often under enlightened patronage. It was in Venice, in 1637, that the first public opera- house was opened. Venice was a commercial republic, ruled by an oligarchy, but without a royal court. The commercial aspect of opera could here be exploited, so that by the end of the century there were seven Venetian opera- houses, dominated, after the death of Monteverdi in 1643, by the composer Cavalli, followed by Legrenzi. Venetian opera, not uninfluenced at first by the opera of Rome, spread throughout Italy and to other parts of Europe. As a more popular form than early courtly opera, it offered a mixture of the serious and the comic. Monteverdi's Orfeo had no comic relief, but his two later surviving operas, written for Venice in the early 1640s, include elements of comedy. They also followed a convention now established, that of the happy ending. There was still, as before, a strong element of spectacle, with elaborate stage machinery that allowed transformation scenes and grandiose effects, with a complementary extravagance of costume and décor. Leading composers of the later years of the 17th century and early years of the 18 th also include Alessandro Scarlatti in Naples and Rome, father of the keyboard composer Domenico Scarlatti.

Before Italy's unification, particulary during the 17th and 18th centuries, each major city had its own traditions of music making. Rome, as the papal city, had musical traditions less hedonistic than elsewhere, and avoided opera. Florence had its day at the turn of the 16th century, wit5h its celebrated camerata (groups set on reviving the traditions of Ancient (Greek spectacle). Venice fosterd church music on a grand scale, and Naples, during the 18th century, was renowed for comic opera. In the 19th century, Milan became the undisputed centre of Italian opera, centred on La Scala...To see more about Music & Opera in Italy (The Medieval and renaissance Period, The Baroque era, The Emergence of Opera and The 20th Century Music in Italy) or to make reservations and see info about most important Music events in Italy CL.

The Medieval and Renaisance periods

Through Boccaccio, among others, it is known that singing, dancing and poetry often went hand in hand in medieval and Renaissance Italy. Italy concentrated on music as part of a spectacle rather than as apure art form. Important contributors to the music of these periods include Guido d'Arezzo (c. 995 - 1050), a monk who perfected musical notation, and Francesco Landini (1325 - 97), one of the most known composers whose songs displayed a distinct concern for lyricism. The next 150 years were to be characterized by the Ars Perfecta Style culminating with composers Giovanni Palestrina (1525 - 94). His vocal style subjected dissonance to strict control, and it was employed for most church music. Madrigals (vocal settings of poems by Petrarch and other poets) were are also popular. The early 17th century saw Italian composers such as Carlo Gesualdo ( c.1561 - 1613) and Claudio Monteverdi challenge these traditions by introducing more declamations and more of the unexpected.

The Baroque Era

Claudio Monteverdi's Music straddled the transition from the Renaissance period to the 17th century Baroque. The word "baroque" means highly ornamented, even bizarre, and embellishment was rife. Monteverdi's madrigals began as standard pieces for four voices but ended up as mini operas. This was due to the popularity of an individual instrumental style and the development of the basso continuo ( a supporting organ, harpsichord or lute that unleashed the possibility for solos and duets). At this point, the beginings of the string orchestra were in place. A new fashion for declamation meant thet various emotional states were being represented with sighs and sobs rather than just description. Monteverdi'ìs Vespers followed others' in exploiting the stereophonic possibilities of San Marco in Venice by contrasting different forces. In different parts of the building. In the 1680s, Arcangelo Corelli (1633 - 1713) turned to classicism. Corelli was famous for the Concerto Grosso, a style that contrasted the solo string group with the full ensemble. He was followed by Antonio Vivaldi ( 1678 - 1741), who concentrated his efforts on developing the solo from of the Concerto Grosso. He used wind and plucked instruments as well as violins.

The Emergence of Opera

Opera first emerged during the weddimg celebrations of Italy's 16th century wealthy families Monteverdi was the first composer to establish his work firmly in the opera repertoire. During the 17th century, Alessandro Scarlatti (1660 - 1725) formulated a model which consisted of an orchestral overture followed by a sequence of narrative, set as recitative, and interrupted by da capo ( three - part ) arias. Themes for the weightier opera seria were largely drawn from mythology, while the lighter opera buffa had stock scenes that sometimes owned a large debt to the traditions of Commedia dell'Arte. Famous for his comic operas, such as The Barber of Seville, was the composer Gioachino Rossini. Among other contributors, Vincenzo Bellini (1801 - 35) and Gaetano Donizetti (1797 - 1848) developed bel canto singing, a style stressing fine tone and ornamentation. The two most prominetnt opera composers of the later half of the 19th century were Giuseppe Verdi (1813 - 1901) and Giacomo Puccini (1858 - 1924). Verdi often turned to the works of Shakespeare as well as to more recent subjects in order to form a basis for his work, while many composers, like Puccini, turned to the new trend of verismo (slices of contemporary realism) - La Bohème is one of the most refined examples of this style.

Music Classical & Opera in Rome

After a decade of neglect, Rome's classical music scene is starting to find its feet again.Though local talent is a bit thin on the ground, Rome plays host to some of the world's top musical names, especially in the two world-class international chamber music seasons at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and the Accademia Filarmonica. Named after the patron saint of music, the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia is Rome's main musical establishment and most prestigious music academy. It has had many homes and functions since it was founded by the sixteenth-century composer Palestrina, but for the time being it's based at the Auditorio Pio. Bruno Cagli, the academy's current president, first raised the level of guest conductors to include names like Carlo Maria Giulini, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Valery Gergiev, Georges Pretre and Pierre Boulez, and then secured the appointment of Myung-Whung Chung as principal conductor. Famous for having revamped Paris's Bastille opera, Chung is expected to provide the orchestra with a much-needed overhaul and a longed-for recording contract with Deutsche Grammophon. Cagli has also brought the venerable old institution up to date, with world-class programmes, autumn festivals dedicated to single composers, and a pioneering commitment to classical/popular cross-overs with artists such as Keith Jarret and Michael Nyman. Programming of the summer season at the remarkable outdoor venue in Villa Giulia is always thoughtful and imaginative.