The rise of opera was first in Italy.

Italy's political inaction and commercial depression in the 17th century did not annihilate its artistic enthusiasm and creative vitality, nor did it weaken its long-standing status as a "great music country".

There are several reasons for this: First, Italy has always been a country rich in 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 first duty is to cultivate new varieties of music; Last but not least, there are a group of aristocratic patrons and investors who have objectively supported 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 operas can be divided into Florence opera, Rome opera, Venice opera and Naples opera.

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

I. Florence Opera

In the second half of the 16th century, an unofficial music research group called "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.

It was the first time that they knocked on the door of opera.

This art group is presided over by Count Buddy. 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 one-part melody, which develops the natural expressive force of the voice, such as range, pitch fluctuation and rhythm change, which can decisively influence and dominate the feelings of the audience.

On the contrary, in the past, in the way of singing different melodies and lyrics with different voices, it was difficult for the audience to hear the lyrics clearly and understand the characters. At best, this kind of music can only be an instrumental ensemble.

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

Ulio Caccini (1551-1618), Giacopo Perry (Peri Ja copo1561-1633) and Emilio de cavalli Elie (Cavalieri Emilio De155O-162) made great contributions to opera in Florence Art Group. They were pioneers in this 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.

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

He also added decorative notes to the melody lines in proper places, which formed a dazzling technique in singing in the 16th century.

In this collection of songs (New Music), Caccini has compiled a large number of one-part songs with new styles accompanied by digital bass.

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

These songs and the author's new ideas show a model that can be imitated for the formation of opera, and inspire 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 in the following.

Perry, like Caccini, is also a singer and composer. He once successfully played the legendary singer Alion in an interlude play.

However, his achievements in opera creation are even greater.

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

He has successfully created a kind of narrative tone between singing and speaking, in which the digital bass remains constant during the harmony interval and dissonance interval to imitate the continuous speech.

This kind of recitation sounds like a free recitation in which the pitch is constantly changing.

Whether it is recitations, arias or other one-part solo songs, Perry has created dramatic music collections according to the needs of opera.

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

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

The original intention of Florence Art Group is to restore Greek music, but in fact, they have created a brand-new artistic genre that not only conforms to their own ideals and pursuits, but also has the characteristics of the times.

This great contribution may be unexpected.

In 1597, Daphne, staged in Florence, was regarded as the first opera in Italy and Europe.

It was created by ottavio Rinuccini (lyricist) and Perry (composer), both members of Florence Art Group.

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

in 16, they continued to cooperate and staged Eurydice for the royal wedding in Florence.

This is a well-known fairy tale praising the love between O 'Flo and Eurydice. For the sake of festive occasions, the ending is changed to a happy ending.

In the book The Music of Eurydice, Perry explained that the one-part songs with various styles in the play, such as a typical new recitation in Daphne, began to have a stable feeling and a soothing and harmonious melody. 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" is arranged in a symphonic piece of music, with distinct rhythm, beautiful melody and strong terminating harmony.

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

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

In the nearly 3 years after Da and You, only a few operas were staged in Florence.

The center of opera began to shift to Rome.

second, Roman opera

the theme of Roman opera is biased towards myths and fables, with a strong religious color, and the stage art pursues luxurious and rich effects.

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

He is an aristocrat in Florence, and he is in charge of artistic affairs in the Duke's court. He is both a cultural official and a professional.

As a member of Florence Art Group, he has performed several short operas in Florence.

As early as 16, he created a play (Expression of Soul and Body) and staged it in Rome.

This is a moral drama, which promotes religious ideas by means of fables.

In cavalli Elie's works, it can be seen 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 Florence Art Group.

In 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's family did a lot of practical things to support the development of opera, including hosting the construction of an opera house with a capacity of 3, spectators, and developing an organ set for the opera stage.

As Rome is the seat of the Holy See and the royal family, Roman operas advocate 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 operas.

Most operas in this period were dramas of gods and saints based on epics.

In 1634, Julio Rosspiriosi, who later became Pope Clement IX, created a template, and Stefano Landy composed 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.

In 1662, The Chains of Adone, written by domenico Mazzocchi, was staged in Rome. It is generally regarded as a typical "Romanesque" opera, which not only catered to the church but also pleased the nobles, and the stage effect was very luxurious and rich.

The main composer of late Roman opera is Luigi Rossi. In 1647, he wrote O 'Flo, which was widely used as an opera theme at that time.

In the drama "Olympic Games", the ancient theme is just an empty basket, but it is filled with fashionable, grotesque and other popular materials that are expected to cause a sensation.

Roman opera has some commendable advantages in music creation.

If the difference between recitation and aria is more obvious, recitation is more linguistic, while aria is more melodic; Adone's Chains not only abandoned the too boring elements in the recitation, but also its opera prelude became the early form of opera prelude which was widely adopted later.

However, due to the limitation of the theme and aristocratic tendency of Roman opera, it gradually cut off its contact with the general public, squeezed its vitality in its extravagance, 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, there appeared a great composer who played an important role in promoting the cause of opera in Italy, and this was Monteverdi, who was well-known in pastoral creation.

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

From 169 to 1612, Qiao became a musician and musician of the Duke of mantua. During this period, he wrote and staged the operas O 'Flo (167) and Arianna (168).

He went to Venice in 1612 and became the music director of St. Kyle Cathedral the following year.

He lived in Venice for 3 years until he died at the age of 76.

During this period, he wrote about 1 operas for churches and opera houses, including The Battle between Tancredi and Cleinda (1624) and The Return of Ulysses (1641). The Postscript of Pope Ya Feng, which he wrote at the age of 75, is a classic, which is superior to any of his previous works in depicting characters and shaping musical images.

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

First, Monteverdi is a composer of * * * type with rich feelings and devoted his feelings to opera creation.

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

It's not enough for previous music to express people's 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 kind of "profundity" is reflected in the meticulous depiction of the thoughts and feelings of the characters' activities and the organic connection between 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's serious illness and death, he fully integrated the grief-stricken and heartbreaking feelings he experienced personally into his works, and this kind of where will you go's mood coincides with the plot and characters in the play.

When he wrote O 'Flo and Arianna.

After they came out one after another, those vivid and touching artistic images made thousands of viewers cry for them.

This artistic feature of Monteverdi is fully reflected in the narrative tone of O 'Flo (You passed away).

O 'Flo is an ancient poet and singer, whose music moved rocks, trees and beasts.

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

You passed away, my beloved wife,

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

you'll never come back, and I'm alive.

No, no, if the poem can move people's hearts,

I will boldly go into the deepest hell,

make the keeper change his mind, and I will take you to the light of day.

If cruel fate refuses me,

I will stay with you in the underworld!

In this recitative, Monteverdi composed the lyrics into extremely sad recitations, mobilized many musical creation techniques, expressed the strength of emotion, and brought into play the specialty of human voice, so that the song was 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 was the first composer to stereotype dramatic opera music.

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

These dramatic expressions include: for the first time, the technique similar to "dominant motivation" was introduced in opera music (such as O 'Flo); Use dramatic lyrics, and insist on analyzing the characters' hearts through musical images to reflect their personality characteristics; Highlight high notes