In 1597, opera was born in Florence. Jacob Peri (Peri, 1561-1633) created the first opera in the history of music, "Daphne", but unfortunately this opera Now lost, Perry's "Euridice", composed in 1600, has become the earliest opera handed down. In ancient Greek mythology, Eurydice was the bride of Orpheus, the son of the sun god and the goddess of art. She was bitten by a poisonous snake and died. Orfeo broke into hell to find his beloved wife, and Pluto and Queen were killed by him. Moved by his true feelings, he resurrected Eurydice. The opera consists of a prologue and three scenes. The prologue is entitled "The Tragedy" and is accompanied by brass instruments to the song "Io, che d'alti sospir...", some versions of which are Before and after, Marenzio's "Five-Part Ancient Overture" and Malvez (C. Malvezzi, 1547-1599)'s "Six-Part Ancient Overture" were added; the arias in the opera have formed solo, duet and chorus mode, but there are no arias yet, all are singing recitatives, which sound like a strong pastoral flavor.
At the beginning of opera, there were two other important works closely related to the development of this new art form: Giulio Caccini (ca. 1548-1618) published in 1602 The madrigals of 2006 and Canzona's collection "Art Nouveau", and the opera "Daphne" created in 1607 by Marco da Galliano (Gagliano, 1575-1642). In Art Nouveau, Caccini developed a monomelody music style (also known as monophony) that is opposed to the polyphonic style. The madrigals included in the collection are all solos with instrumental accompaniment. To be precise, Recitative accompanied by digital bass is also the main feature of single-melody music, and operas at that time were actually similar to single-melody music. Galliano's "Daphne" is a small opera that was highly praised by Perry; Daphne is the daughter of the river god in ancient Greek mythology, the beautiful girl who was the first love of the sun god Apollo, and was mentioned by the ancient Roman poet In Ovid's (43-17 BC) Metamorphoses, she turns into a laurel tree to escape her suitor; the opera begins with a ballet, with a prologue and six scenes. Galliano's creative ideas were quite advanced. He strongly advocated that the authenticity of the drama was more important than the singers showing off their singing skills. This understanding was very close to that of Gluck (1714-1787) later.
Monteverdi was the first great Italian opera composer in the history of music. He was a figure who spanned two eras, the Renaissance and the Baroque. He combined Gesualdo’s pastoral style with the Venetian school of music. Combining different musical styles into one, he used these traditions as a starting point, used his rich imagination to innovate every genre he used to create, and developed a new style that is completely his own and has a distinctive personality. Moreover, because he has been engaged in the creation of madrigals for a long time, he has mastered the superb skills of expressing the characteristics of the lyrics through musical means, which has become an indispensable and solid foundation for his opera creation. In his creative thinking, Monteverdi particularly emphasized that music should be based on reality, express the whole person, describe the human spiritual world, and express the strong emotions rooted in human nature. "Orfeo", which he completed in 1607, is a masterpiece that puts his creative ideas into practice and is also the first mature opera in history. Although it is still the same form as when the opera was born, the music is richer and the dramatic effect is improved. Further strengthening, a larger orchestra was used, and dissonance and string instrument tremolo were boldly used to enhance the expressiveness of the music. Different instruments were used to express the characters' personalities, and some short phrases were used to foreshadow or express the characters in the opera. some important scenes and dramatic atmosphere. ——These characteristics were more fully developed in his later operas. Monteverdi's "Orfeo" is also based on the story of Orfeo and Euridice, but it has a completely different tragic ending from Perry's "Euridice". In Monteverdi's "Orfeo", Pluto asked Orfeo not to look at Eurydice before crossing the River Styx, but Orfeo was driven by emotion to look back at his bride, and therefore lost her forever. Eurydice, he sang a sad song: "The mountains are sad, the rocks are sad," and the echoes of the song echoed everywhere. The sun god Apollo connected him to heaven, and Orfeo asked his father in pain: "Am I never going to be able to see the sweet eyes of my beloved Eurydice again?" Apollo replied soothingly: "In the sun and starlight, you will feel her beautiful presence." The opera begins with a toccata, and the prologue is the Muse telling the story of Orfeo. The whole play has five scenes, and ends with It ends with a festive chorus and dance of the shepherds.
In this way, opera born in Florence flourished in Venice. Monteverde composed more than a dozen operas during his lifetime, the most famous of which are "Arianna", "The Return of Ulysses" and "The Coronation of Poppea".
"Arianna" has only one "Ariana's Lament" that has been handed down. Ariadne is Ariadne in ancient Greek mythology. She was the princess of Crete. She helped Theseus kill the Minotaur. Taurus, and then the two fled to Naxos and spent a happy time. Later, the goddess of fate told Theseus that according to fate, Ariadne should become the wife of Dionysus, the god of wine. He was persuaded to give up his love for Ariadne, so Theseus left without saying goodbye, making Ariadne extremely sad (Note 3). "Arianna's Lament" sings:
Let me die,
Oh, let me die!
Faced with such a cruel fate,
In such great pain,
Who will comfort me?
Let me die.
......
When Monteverdi composed this opera, it was when his wife passed away, and this lament was a perfect portrayal of his state of mind at this time. According to legend, this opera was performed at a prince's wedding, and this lament made more than 6,000 people present shed tears. In 1608, Monteverdi adapted "Arianna's Lament" into a five-part pastoral. Later, he adapted it and included it in "The Forest of Spirits and Morals", which shows how much the author cherishes it. "Ulysses Returns Home" completed in 1641 is based on "Homer's Epic". Ulysses is Odysseus. The opera tells the story of Ulysses' twenty-year wandering around the world and his wife Penello. Po still faithfully waited for his return. Faced with many suitors, she held an archery competition and promised to marry whoever could open Ulysses's bow, but no one succeeded. Ulysses, who had returned quietly, disguised himself as a beggar and sneaked into the palace. He drew his bow and shot all the suitors to death. Penelope hesitated for a long time. When Ulysses told her a secret that only the two of them knew. , she finally recognized that it was the husband she had longed for standing in front of her. This is a large-scale opera, starting with an ancient overture and prologue, with a total of five acts and 35 scenes. It is richer in structure than "Orfeo", and the recitative has gradually moved away from the pastoral style. . "The Coronation of Poppea" is Monteverdi's last opera, created in 1642. It is also the first opera in history to be based on real historical events. It tells the story of the cruel and lewd Roman Emperor Nero who fell in love with his generals. Otto's voluptuous and beautiful wife Poppea was sentenced to death for trying to oppose his minister Seneca. Nero's wife Octavia conspired with Otto to assassinate Poppea, but unfortunately they were exposed and both were exiled. Nero Finally he got his wish and crowned Popea the Queen of Rome. This opera consists of the prologue of the Gagos Overture and 34 scenes in three acts. The performance lasts for more than three and a half hours. It successfully portrays historical figures such as Nero and Poppea. When we touch such a masterpiece, we will definitely be surprised. Since it was a great creation more than 350 years ago, some people say that Monteverdi's status in the history of music is completely comparable to that of Shakespeare (1564-1616) in the history of literature. This is really accurate. Rated.
In addition to opera, Monteverdi’s pastoral and sacred music works also have the characteristics of opera. The dramatic pastoral "The War of Tancredi and Clorinda" is like a small opera, There are three characters: hero and heroine and narrator. The pastoral story comes from the long poem "Jerusalem Liberated" by the Italian poet Tasso (1544-1594) in the late Renaissance. Tancredi is a Crusader knight who fought against the hostile Islamic army. The female warrior Clorinda fell in love with her at first sight and rescued her from the siege of the Crusaders in a battle. However, during a night battle under the walls of Jerusalem, Tancredi accidentally injured Clorinda. , Clorinda confided her love to Tancredi at her deathbed. "Vespers of the Virgin" is Monteverdi's most famous religious work, with a total of 13 pieces. Its scale is unprecedented. It is a further development of the Venetian school motets and is very operatic. change. ——At this point, Verdi's "Requiem" can be compared with it. This evening prayer includes a variety of singing forms such as solo singing, duet singing, and various types of choruses, and these forms sometimes appear one after another in the same piece of music. Echo effects are also used in some pieces, such as the ninth song "Heaven, "Listen to Me", a church concerto sung by a male voice, the echo effect is like a dialogue between heaven and earth; another example is the "Glory to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit" in the 13th "Carol" , on the background of the holy children's chorus and organ, as the tenor sings, echoes of this song come, as if coming from heaven, it is really wonderful; in this "Ode to the Virgin", "He spreads his power to himself" In the section "On Their Thrones", the solo violin accompanies the male solo in the form of echo, which reminds people of Vivaldi (1678-1741)'s "Echo Concerto in A major".
After Monteverdi, Italian opera continued to develop in Venice and Rome, but for about half a century, it never broke through the style established by Monteverdi.
Pietro Francesco Cavalli (1602-1676) is the most famous composer of this period. He is a disciple of Monteverdi. His historical role is to expand the potential of drama and freely The careful use of comedy elements is the bridge between Monteverdi and the Neapolitan school of music. He composed more than 40 operas in his life, the most famous of which is "Callisto". The structure of the opera inherited the characteristics of his teacher, consisting of a prologue and 34 scenes in three acts, ending with a chaconne. The script is based on the story in Ovid's "Metamorphoses". Callisto is a nymph under Diana, the goddess of hunting. One day when she was resting in the woods, Jupiter took the opportunity to possess her. Juno- - Jupiter's wife became jealous and turned Callisto into a big bear. Jupiter was afraid that Callisto would be harmed by hunters, so he raised her to the sky and turned her into a constellation.
At the end of the seventeenth century, a new opera genre, the Neapolitan School, was formed, and Italian opera underwent a fundamental change. Neapolitan composers clearly distinguished recitatives from arias, and focused more on arias, especially on bel canto singing techniques, using accompaniment recitatives, developing orchestral music to serve singing, and also fixed the style of opera overtures. The three components thus established the main characteristics of later Italian opera styles. It can be considered that it was the Neapolitan school that established the national character of Italian opera in the future in the nineteenth century. At the beginning of the 18th century, the unique opera style of the Neapolitan school reached a mature stage. Later, comic operas also began to develop from the "interludes" of serious operas. ——"Interlude" is also called "interlude", which is a short play performed during the break of a large-scale opera at that time. The famous composers of the Neapolitan school mainly include A.Scarlatti (1660-1725), Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (Pergolesi, 1710-1736), Domenico Cimarosa (1749-1801) and Nicola Piccinni (Piccinni, 1728-1800), etc. Among them, A. Scarlatti is one of the founders of the Neapolitan school of music, and the latter three represent The heyday of the Neapolitan music school. The Maid as Madame, which Pergolesi composed when he was 23, is an outstanding work of early Italian comic opera and the most representative work of the Neapolitan school. It is the sequel to the main opera "The Proud Prisoner" performed in 1733. "Interlude", but this opera did not arouse much response, and its "interlude" became very popular. This short play is less than fifty minutes long, with 13 songs in two acts. It tells the comedy story between a maid named Serpina and her master Umberto: Serpina often makes her master angry. Crazy, in order to win Uberto's love, she asked the valet Vespone to disguise herself as a captain and pretend to be her fiancé, which aroused Uberto's jealousy. In the end, Serpina's trick succeeded and she became the wife of her master. Pergolesi's life was very short, he only lived 26 years old. It needs special mention that the "La Maria" completed shortly before his death is a model of similar works. After "The Maid as Madame", two comic operas, "The Secret Marriage" created by Cimarosa in 1766 and "The Good Girl Tsekina" created by Piccinni in 1760, have already achieved great success in both scale and structure. Very mature; the influence of the Neapolitan opera style had spread throughout Europe at this time and lasted until more than 20 years after the mid-eighteenth century.
By the first half of the nineteenth century, the Italian opera tradition passed through Rossini (1792-1868), Donizetti (1797-1848) and Bellini (1810-1835). ) and other composers were passed down to the hands of Verdi. Verdi became the greatest Italian opera composer in the Romantic era and even in the entire music history. Puccini and realist opera then continued this tradition into the 20s. The beginning of the century. In the more than four hundred years from 1597 to today, Italian opera has always shown strong vitality. Its innate frank character and overflowing passion have won the favor of generation after generation.
Note 1: Helicon is the name of a mountain peak in Greece, the place where Apollo and the Muses live.
Note 2: All the lyrics of "Song of Songs" are copied from the "Bible" Translation, the words in parentheses are added for sentence coherence, such as "Batarabi of Heshbon" or "Batarabi of Heshbon"
Note 3: The following story is like this : Ariadne met Dionysus, the god of wine, and saw that he was kind and handsome, so she burst into tears and laughed, and the two were happily married. At the wedding, Dionysus gave his new wife a mosaic hat. A crown with seven crystal clear gems. But Ariadne was a mortal, and one day she left Dionysus forever. Dionysus was very sad. At this time, the crown suddenly rose slowly, getting higher and higher, and in the blink of an eye, it flew into the sky and turned into a group of bright stars. The bright star, this is the Corona Borealis in the winter starry sky.
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