/kloc-Italy's political inaction and commercial depression in the 0/7th century did not annihilate its artistic enthusiasm and creative vitality, nor did it weaken its long-standing position as a "music power".

There are several main reasons for this: first, Italy has always been a country with rich melody; Second, Italy is an experimental garden of novel and diverse music varieties in Europe; Third, Italy has always maintained a group of talented composers and singers, whose primary responsibility is to cultivate new music varieties; Last but not least, there are a group of aristocratic patrons and investors who objectively support the music industry for various reasons.

Therefore, compared with other European countries, Italy has the conditions and even the responsibility to dedicate opera as a century gift to the whole of Europe and make it excited.

Italian opera can be divided into Florence opera, Rome opera, Venice opera and Naples opera.

These operas in different regions, different periods and different styles have different influences.

First of all, Florence opera

/kloc-In the second half of the 6th century, an unofficial music research group named "Florence Camerata (Salon) Club" (also known as Florence Art Group) appeared in Florence, and its members were mainly young poets and composers with aristocratic status.

This is the first time they have knocked on the door of the opera house.

This art group is chaired by Count Buddy, and the central content of the discussion is how to better integrate music and drama to produce greater artistic appeal.

After studying Greek music carefully, they come to the conclusion that Greek music can produce great appeal and strong performance effect because it is a single-part melody, which develops the natural expressive force of sound, such as range, pitch fluctuation and rhythm change, and can decisively influence and dominate the feelings of the audience.

On the contrary, in the past, it was difficult for the audience to understand the lyrics clearly and understand the characters by singing different melodies and lyrics in different parts. This kind of music can only be an instrumental ensemble at best.

Therefore, they chose the correct composition method for the lyrics: a singing way of "talking" with music, that is, using solo melody to strengthen and express the cadence of the actor's language.

Ulio Caccini (caccini Giulio1551-1638) and Giacopo Perry (Perija Copo1561-1. Emilio de Cavoli (cavalieri Emilio de 155O- 1602), etc. They are pioneers in the virgin land of opera.

Caccini is a professional singer, composer and even a performer. His multiple identities have played a special and beneficial role in his opera career.

Based on the syllables of the lyrics, Caccini created a new singing style, striving to articulate clearly and flexibly with digital bass, thus becoming one of the founders of recitation.

He also added decorative notes to the appropriate position of the melody line, forming a dazzling singing method of16th century.

In this collection of songs (new music), Caccini arranged a large number of songs with novel styles, which were accompanied by digital bass.

In this regard, he elaborated: "In order to better create and sing operas, the most important thing is to understand concepts and languages, to understand the ideological theme it expresses with interest and emotion, and to understand the counterpoint method of polyphonic music."

These songs and the author's new ideas show an imitative model for the formation of traditional Chinese opera, which inspires the creative vitality and inspiration of later generations.

Caccini has great attainments in vocal music, and he is also the first generation of influential vocal music educator in Bel Canto period.

About his achievements in vocal music education, we will also introduce them below.

Perry, like Caccini, is also a singer and composer. He once successfully played the legendary singer Ariane in an episode drama.

However, his achievements in opera creation are even greater.

Perry is famous for defining the recitation style in the practice of opera creation.

He succeeded in creating a recitative between singing and speaking, in which the digital bass remained unchanged in harmony intervals and dissonance intervals to imitate continuous speech.

This narrative tone sounds like a free recitation with constantly changing pitches.

Whether it is a recital, an aria or another solo song, Perry has created a collection of dramatic music according to the needs of opera.

The research results of Florence Art Group are not only small-scale salon-style talks, but also put into practice.

In a sense, Italian opera was born in their living room.

The original intention of Florence art groups was to restore Greek music, but in fact they created a brand-new art school, which not only conforms to their own ideals and pursuits, but also has the characteristics of the times.

This great contribution may be unexpected.

Daphne is regarded as the first opera in Italy and Europe, which was staged in Florence from 65438 to 0597.

It was created by ottavio Rinuccini (lyricist) and Perry (composer), both of whom are members of the Florentine Art Group.

Daphne is based on the love story of ancient Greece, and its content shines with humanism. The songs in the play are all single-part vocal music, mostly with free and soothing rhythm, and some songs with strong singing. The music style is novel and the ideas of the lyrics are well expressed.

/kloc-in 0/600, they continued to cooperate and staged Eurydice for the royal wedding in Florence.

This is a famous fairy tale praising the love between Flo and Eurydice. For festive occasions, the ending was changed to a happy ending.

In the book The Music of Eurydice, Perry explained a song with different styles in the play, such as the typical new recitation in Daphne, which began to be emotional and harmonious. When Eurydice was bitten by a snake, the melody became excited, the dissonance interval increased and the harmony suddenly changed. The aria "Song of Tilsey" has been adapted into a symphony with distinct rhythm, beautiful melody and strong harmony termination.

Caccini also wrote some music for Eurydice. Compared with Perry's drama music, the music of Caccini's You Drama is more melodic and lyrical.

Florence's opera has the general characteristics of the original Italian opera, forming an idyllic and elegant artistic style with Florence characteristics.

In the nearly 30 years after Da Yu, there are only a handful of operas staged in Florence.

The center of the opera began to shift to Rome.

Second, Roman opera.

The theme of Roman opera is based on myths and fables, with strong religious color, and the stage art pursues luxurious and rich effects.

The main author of early Roman opera was cavalli Elie of Florence Art Group.

He is a nobleman in Florence and is in charge of artistic affairs in the duke's court. He is both a cultural official and a professional.

As a member of the Florentine art group, he performed several short plays in Florence.

As early as 1600, he created a play (the expression of spirit and flesh) and staged it in Rome.

This is a moral drama, which preaches religious thoughts in a fable way.

In cavalli Elie's works, we can see that the composer consciously expresses and caters to the rulers' thoughts because of his official status, but the music creation of (spiritual) drama still reflects cavalli Elie's pursuit in the Florence art group.

1623, Pope urban VIII, who loved and advocated the art of opera, ascended the throne in Rome, and his coming to power had a great influence on establishing the leading position of Roman opera in Italy.

Urban families have done a lot of practical things to support the development of opera, including hosting the construction of an opera house with a capacity of 3,000 spectators and developing a set of organ for the opera stage.

Because Rome is the seat of the Holy See and the royal family, Roman opera advocates extravagant and flashy scenes, which can better cater to the tastes of nobles and satisfy their vanity, which is quite different from the style of Florence opera.

The operas in this period are mostly based on the epic dramas of gods and saints.

1634, Julio Rosspiriosi, who later became Pope Clemente IX, created a template, and Stefano Wen Lan created Saint alessio, which was performed at the opening ceremony of the newly-built Rome Opera House.

The play describes the story of a Roman "saint" in the Middle Ages, and its theme is still the preaching of religious morality.

1662, The Chain of Adone by domenico Mazzocchi was staged in Rome. This opera is generally regarded as a typical "Romanesque" style, which caters to both the church and the nobility, and the stage effect is very luxurious and rich.

The main composer of late Roman opera is Luigi Rossi, who wrote Flo, which was widely used as the theme of opera at that time, in 1647.

In the drama Olympic Games, the ancient theme is just an empty basket, but it is full of fashionable, grotesque and other popular materials, which is expected to cause a sensation.

Roman opera has some commendable advantages in music creation.

For example, the difference between recitation and aria is more obvious, recitation is more linguistic, and aria is more melodic; The chains of Adong not only abandoned the boring elements in recitation, but also its opera prelude became the early form of opera prelude which was widely used later.

However, due to the limitation and aristocratic tendency of Roman opera themes, it gradually cut off contact with the general public, squeezed its own vitality in extravagance and waste, and finally faded out of the opera stage without further development.

The direct cause of the decline of Roman opera was the death of urban VIII in 1644, and his political opponents expelled the urban family from Rome together with the opera.

Third, Monteverdi.

At this time, a great composer appeared in Italy, and he played an important role in the promotion of opera. This is Monteverdi, who is quite famous in pastoral creation.

Monteverdi was mainly engaged in pastoral writing in his early days, so he enjoyed a high reputation.

From 1990 to 16 12, he became a musician and musician of the Duke of mantua. During this period, he composed and staged the operas Flo (1607) and arianna (1608).

16 12 went to Venice and served as the music director of St. Kyle's Cathedral the following year.

He lived in Venice for 30 years until he died at the age of 76.

During this period, he composed about 65,438+00 operas for churches and opera houses, including The Battle between Tancredi and Cleinda (65,438+0,624) and The Return of Ulysses (65,438+0,646,5438+0). At the age of 75, he wrote the postscript of Pope Ya Feng, which is a classic.

Compared with other Italian opera composers in this period, Monteverdi has two characteristics:

First, Monteverdi is a composer of * * * type. He has rich feelings and puts his feelings into opera creation.

Monteverdi believes that music is not an art with technical structure, it should not only give people a sense of pleasure, but also fully express people's hearts and emotions.

Music in the past is far from enough to express people's feelings such as melancholy, sadness, hope and tranquility.

Music, especially opera music, should also express people's fierce and complicated inner world such as anger, fear, disappointment and hatred, and form "excited" opera music.

According to this, Monteverdi thinks: "Music is not only used to point out the original intention of lyrics, but also should be more profound".

This "profundity" is reflected in the detailed description of the thoughts and feelings of the characters' activities, and in the organic connection of the past, present and future thoughts and feelings of the characters.

In the practice of opera creation, Monteverdi applied these principles to various artistic images, making them colorful and touching.

Especially before and after his wife died of serious illness, he completely integrated his grief-stricken and heartbreaking feelings into his works, and the artistic conception of Where Are You Going coincides with the plot and characters in the play.

When his Oflo and arianna.

After coming out one after another, those vivid and touching artistic images made thousands of viewers cry.

This artistic feature of Monteverdi was fully reflected in the recitation of Oflo (You passed away).

Oflo is an ancient poet and singer whose music touched rocks, trees and beasts.

When he learned of the death of his wife Eurydice, he decided to go with her:

You passed away, my dear wife,

I'm still here, but you left me forever.

You will never come back, and I am still alive.

No, no, if this poem touches people's hearts,

I will bravely walk into the deepest hell,

Make the guardian change his mind, and I'll take you to God.

If cruel fate refuses me,

I will stay with you in the underworld!

In this recitation, Monteverdi composed the lyrics into a very sad recitation, mobilized many musical creation techniques, expressed the power of emotion, and brought into play the specialty of human voice, which made the song full of strong feelings and dignified tragic atmosphere and became a typical "Monteverdi-style feelings" opera music.

Secondly, Monteverdi's outstanding contribution is that he is the first composer to finalize the opera music.

In Monteverdi's opera music, all forms of expression serve and depend on the needs of drama.

These dramatic performances include: for the first time, similar "dominant motives" (such as OFLO) were attracted in opera music; Use dramatic lyrics, insist on analyzing the characters' hearts through musical images, and reflect their personality characteristics; Highlight the high-pitched voice, expand and enrich the solo voice; Emphasize the expressive force of narrative tone.

In particular, Monteverdi used an orchestra composed of about 40 musical instruments for the first time in his opera, and the compilation of the orchestra was also based on the needs of the plot and the role.

Before that, operas like Perry and others used only a few instruments, such as the lute and harpsichord.

These creative characteristics of Monteverdi's opera music have become the principles to be imitated by later generations for a long time, making him not only an outstanding composer of Italian opera, but also a great composer of Europe in the17th century.

Four. Venice Opera House

Venice, as the center of European opera activities, was formed in the 1930s and 1940s of17th century.

There are obvious differences between Venice opera and Roman opera, and even between Venice opera and Florence opera.

These differences are first related to the traditional business atmosphere in Venice.

Although the commercial activities in Venice shrank in the17th century, the city's commercial consciousness did not die out.

This traditional business atmosphere has played a vital role in the city's opera activities.

In other cities in Italy, the performance place of opera is generally located in the small theater of the palace or aristocratic residence, and watching opera performances has always been the patent of the upper class.

In Venice, a more democratic form was adopted, and the opera house was open to the public.

Under normal circumstances, the opera house no longer accepts aristocratic sponsorship, but adopts a self-financing business model.

1637, the first opera house named "San Casino" was built in Venice. In the following three years, three large public theaters were built. This city with a population of only140,000 has 8 theaters at most.

The Opera House is a "community" for all lovers: the nobles occupy the box, the middle class buy tickets, the seats are 4 lira, and the private seats pay 2 lira more. The general public can enjoy the seats for free, but most of them are "standing tickets".

Since its completion, the Opera House in Venice has the economic nature that matches this commercial city.

This determines that Venice opera must be open to the general public, and its content and form must adapt to the aesthetic taste of the citizens, otherwise it will not survive.

From the commercial point of view, the construction of opera houses in a relatively short period of time is due to the large market demand and good market prospects.

That's what happened.

/kloc-In the middle of the 0/7th century, the opera performance in Venice was almost empty, and the grand occasion was unprecedented: the box was full of elegant and arty nobles and their wives and daughters, the pool seat was crowded with boatmen and vendors, and audiences of different identities were mixed together; Noisy laughter, warm applause, dissolute whistle, tut-tut blowing kisses one after another; Enthusiastic opera fans, including priests and nobles, sometimes shout the names of singers they admire, and sometimes jump on the stage to play the roles in the play.

In a positive sense, Venice's opera has indeed become the spiritual food for the general public.

With the increasing number and scale of opera houses, the development of opera is greatly hindered.

The value of opera composers, singers and bands has increased, resulting in a large number of opera works. From 65438 to the end of 1930s, more than 350 plays have been staged.

As a by-product of this phenomenon, successive performances have caused the outward diversion of actors and bands, and the number of characters in the play has been forced to decrease.

For the sake of economic benefits, ordinary theaters can no longer afford to hire bigger bands.

All these have formed their own characteristics: democratization, citizenization, commercialization and entertainment.

Judging from the artistic style of Venice opera, it has some characteristics: historical drama has become the most successful opera; Lyric aria has been greatly developed; Bel canto is widely used in singing; The plot development tends to be complicated; The script structure is gradually rigorous, generally three acts, and each act is divided into several scenes.

It is particularly worth mentioning that the stage scenery devices are basically mechanized, which can simulate naval battles, storms, gods, elephants and lions moving, and can also rise and fall.

Some outstanding achievements of Venice stage art have been used until19th century.

1637, Andromeda, an opera composed by Ferrari and Manelli, was staged at the newly-built St. cassiano Opera House, marking the beginning of Venetian opera.

The cost of this opera is not high. Ferrari also plays musical instruments, and the band has only 12 people. There are 6 actors, including Manelli and 3 eunuchs.

Like many subsequent Venetian operas (including Monteverdi's operas), (An) opera has fewer actors and bands, partly because the opera house has considered its economic benefits.

The main composers of Venetian opera are two Monteverdi students, Francesco Cavalli (Cavalli Pietro Francesco1602-1676) and antonio Cesti (Cesti Antonio1623-1669).

Cavalli composed 42 operas, which also reflected the Venetian demand for opera works.

Cavalli's representative works include The Marriage of Tetty and Pereo (1639), Queen Dido (164 1 year), Egez Toto (1643) and Lover Elcoty (/.

From 65438 to 0649, he composed the most famous opera Jason, in which aria and recitation began to form two completely different styles.

Cavalli's opera music pays attention to drama and is good at psychological description, especially the aria is full of melody, beautiful and wonderful. Although the recitation lacks the changes and details of Monteverdi, it is still natural and smooth.

Different from cavalli's style, Cesti's operas are more lyrical and decorative.

He tried to restore and develop Italy's inherent pure musical factors, paid attention to beautiful and smooth melody, and carefully carved his works.

Therefore, the aria in the opera has been developed, but the drama is slightly weakened, and the works lack momentum and strength.

Sesti's major work Olongtaiya (1649) has been performed in Venice, Rome, Florence, Milan and Naples for a long time. It is one of the most performed operas in17th century.

The Golden Apple, a court opera with a typical baroque style, which was composed in 1667, is Cesti's masterpiece.

When this opera, which was specially built for the royal wedding, was staged, a grand theater with a capacity of 5,000 people was even specially built.

The whole play consists of five acts and as many as 25 arias, which give full play to the singer's skills.

The performance lineup is huge, and the stage scenery and installations are very luxurious.

The main composers in the late period of Venetian opera are Petro Simon Agostini (about 1635- 1680) and Antonio Sartorio (1630- 1680).

They tried to create a new aria with a popular style and adopted coloratura paragraphs with expressive functions.

The representative work of the former is (The Humiliation of Sabine Women), and the latter is Adelaide.

By the middle of17th century, Italian opera had basically taken shape in Venice, and the form of opera had not changed fundamentally in the following 200 years.

The main characteristics of these schools are: solo has become the main singing form of opera; Aria and recitation are separated, and aria is paid more and more attention by the author and welcomed by the audience; The new bel canto has occupied an absolute dominant position in opera singing; The relationship between music and lyrics originally insisted by Florence art groups has gradually changed, and there is a tendency that music is above lyrics.

Verb (abbreviation for verb) Naples Opera House

1In the 1980s, the center of Italian opera moved to Naples.

Naples opera was initially influenced by Venetian opera, and the works of cavalli, Cesti and others were popular in Naples and caused a sensation.

Since then, Naples opera has developed by leaps and bounds, gradually replacing Venice as the new opera activity center in Italy.

Naples opera has always maintained a strong vitality. Until the middle and late 8th century, many outstanding Naples composers traveled all over Europe, which played a positive role in the promotion and popularization of opera in Europe.

The overall style of Naples opera is: humorous, lively and full of vitality; Paying attention to the elegant external form, the dramatic intensity is relatively weakened, but beautiful music is enough to make up for all the shortcomings.

Scarlatti (Scarlati Alessandro1660-1725) is the founder and the most important representative composer of Neapolitan opera.

He came from a musical family, 1679, and he performed his first opera "The Mistake of Ignorance" in Rome, which was a success.

As a result, he became the conductor of Queen Christina's private theater in Sweden, who lived in Rome. During this period, he wrote True Love (1680) and General Pompeii (1683).

/kloc-arrived in Naples in 0/684 and served as the music director of the Governor's Office. He composed more than 40 operas, such as Pyrrhus and Demetrius (1694) and The Fall of Ten (1697).

1702, music director of St. Mary's Cathedral in Rome.

1709, he returned to Naples and served as the dean of a poor conservatory of music until his death. During this period, his important works include Tigrahne (1715) and Glorious Victory (17 18).

Scarlatti is a prolific composer. He composed 1 15 operas, ranking first among opera composers at that time. Most themes are taken from life comedies or historical legends.

In addition, there are more than 700 oratorios, oratorios and popular songs.

Scarlatti's contribution to opera, firstly, emphasizes that opera is a drama expressed by music, and emphasizes the core position of music in opera. The emotional development of characters can be embodied and summarized by music, forming a typical musical image.

Compared with music, the lyrics are just a hint and do not play a key role.

Therefore, vocal music has an absolute advantage in his opera; Secondly, the singing form of "Qing Recitation" (also known as "Vernacular Recitation") was created, which was mainly used for long monologues and dialogues, with only one or two musical instruments as accompaniment, so that it played a media role in the development of the plot; Thirdly, A-B back-to-back aria is used to express the contradictory emotions of the characters, forming a symmetrical procedure; Fourthly, he developed and fixed the form of opera overture, which consists of three parts: fast, slow and fast, and became the fixed form of opera overture in the future; Fifthly, a four-part orchestra was established, and music with different emotions was played according to the characteristics of each instrument. This method of band compilation and orchestration has been applied for a long time.

Scarlatti is a diligent, rigorous and wise composer, showing his persistent pursuit of serious drama ideals, so he is called "serious scarlatti".

His works were once unpopular with the public, but they were highly respected in the circle and had an important influence on a group of composers including Handel.

Although some operas created by scarlatti and later Neapolitan opera composers are "highlight operas", which belong to the nature of concerts to some extent, and the dramatic factors of operas have gradually faded, this does not hinder scarlatti's historical position and inheritance in the development of Italian operas.

/kloc-In the first half of the 8th century, like operas in other parts of Italy, Naples opera developed the lyrical aspect of opera music, relying more on the solo skills of singers and luxurious stage decorations.

Opera gradually deviated from the original intention of Florence artists to portray psychology and express individuality, and slipped to the low quality of pleasant senses.

/kloc-After the genre form of opera was basically fixed in the middle and late 7th century, it was further divided into recitation and aria in Naples.

The recitative can be divided into: 1. In the Qing Dynasty, the recitative tune, that is, the "vernacular recitative tune", was close to talking when singing, with only simple accompaniment; Second, recitation, also known as "recitation with accompaniment" and "instrumental recitation", is often used in tense drama scenes, and emotional changes during monologues or dialogues are played by bands.

The classification of arias is complicated. From the form of accompaniment, there are unaccompanied arias and accompanied arias. From the sense of color, there are * * * arias, plaintive arias and humorous arias. From the musical style, there are pastoral dance arias and oral arias.

In addition, in scarlatti's works, there is a kind of "intonation" between recitation and aria, that is, recitation like aria.

When this form reached Wagner, it developed into a free aria.

By the middle of18th century, these universally stereotyped forms had become the basic elements of opera creation in the future.

/kloc-Italian operas with the above characteristics and the theme of myth and the legend of heroes in the 7th and 8th centuries are called "orthodox operas" in the history of music.

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