2 11. What is the term for serious opera? Who is its reformer?

What are the characteristics?

Chapter 21 Opera seria; Pietro Metastasio; heroic operas with conflicts of
Opera and Vocal Music in the Early Classic Period human passions (love vs. duty), ancient Greek or latin
stories, promote morality, models of merciful rulers, two
1. [477] In what year did serious and comic opera separate? pairs of lovers, various scenes, happy or at least not
1700 tragic endings

2. (478) What are the terms for comic opera? Which one is 12. (483) Describe the serious opera.
the generic term? 3 acts, recitative develops the action, arias express feelings or
Opera buffa, dramma giocoso (jesting drama), dramma comment on what has just happened, occasional duets, a
comico, commedia per musica (comedy in music); opera few larger ensembles, rare simple choruses, orchestra
buffa only accompanies but later becomes increasingly
important
3. What are the traits of arias in comic operas? TQ: What
does "unlike comic operas in other countries" mean? 13. What is a dal segno aria?
6+ characters, sung throughout; made fun of odd types; based An abbreviated da capo aria
on commedia dell'arte; had serious characters, secco
recitative 14. You should still be able to diagram the five-part da capo
aria. (383)
4. What are the arias like? 15. Who was the leading composer? Who was his wife?
Galant style with simple harmonies and figuration. Why was he called "il caro Sassone"? How many
operas?
5. Who is the pioneer in this area? What are the arias like in Johann Adolf Hasse; Faustina Bordoni; adopted the Italian
the example cited? style though in Dresden; 80
Leonardo Vinci; da capo accompanied by 4-part strings or just
a continuo aria 16. (483) Singers often embellished the return of the A
section in a da capo aria, and the top line of Example
6. (480) How did the intermezzo come about? 21.3 shows the embellishments that were preserved.
Comic scenes between the acts of serious opera Know Lombard rhythm and Scotch snap.
17. Characters for comic operas were drawn from the
7. What are the traits of arias in comic operas? ____________ class. Whereas opera seria was
2-3 characters, contrasted sharply the serious opera with which performed in Italian throughout Europe, the language of
it was paired; alternation between recitative and aria comic opera was ___________.
Middle class; nationalistic
8. What is the example cited? Who are the characters?
Know the story. 18. What are the two facts significant about comic opera
Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, La serva padrona, 1733; Uberto after 1750?
(bass), rich bachelor; Serpina (soprano), maid; Vespone, Need for simple, clear, natural singing; encouraged growth of
mute valet; Serpina tries to trick Uberto into marrying separate national idioms
her.
19. What was the war of the buffoons?
9. (481) What are the features that demonstrate the comic? Pamphlet war Querelle des bouffons (comic actors), 1752-54,
Accompanied recitative while in a state of confusion rather Paris, argument about the relative merits of French and
than it being reserved for the highest point of drama; no Italian opera
distinct melody because of confusion
20. (485) Who championed the opera buffa? What were two
10. (482) Who is the reformer of comic opera? What are the reasons?
traits and the examples? Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Le dévin du village, 1752; emphasis
Carlo Goldoni; serious, sentimental, woeful plots appear on melody and ability to express any emotion through
alongside traditional comic ones, Niccolo Piccinni, La melody (SR)
buona figluola 1760 (the good girl from Samuel
Richardson's novel Pamela); ensemble finale (Nicola 21. (486) IP. Who was Faustina's rival? Who sange the
Logroscino, Baldassare Galuppi), a gradual addition of embellished aria?
single characters until there is an ensemble at the end Francesca Cuzzoni; Proporino (Antonio Uberti)

22. (487) What is the name of French comic opera? When?

Opéra comique; 1710

Burkholder/Grout/Palisca, Ninth Edition, Chapter 21

23. What is a vaudeville? 39. How about the action?
Song based on popular tunes Alternated aria and recitative to move the action forward
rapidly and with more realism
24. What is an ariette? When?
Original song that mixed Italian and French styles after 1750 40. (491) What did they do to increase the drama?
More accompanied recitative and the use of ensembles
25. (488) What happened to vaudevilles after 1760?
They disappeared. All the music was new. 41. How did the orchestra help?
Was more important (depicting scenes, evoking moods,
26. What type of recitative was preferred for opéra comique? addition color/depth)
Spoken dialogue
42. What did they reinstitute?
27. What was the plot of later opéra comique? Choruses
Serious, sometimes social
43. What was the overall goal?
28. Who was the leading composer? Cite an example. What Focus attention on the drama and music and lessen the
is it's classification? What's another example of this importance of the solo singer
type?
André Ernest Modeste Grétry, Richard the Lion-Hearted, 44. Who was the first proponent? TQ: What are you
1784); rescue; Beethoven's Fidelio thinking?
Francesco Algarotti, An Essay on the Opera (1755); another
29. What is the English form of comic opera? What were the Italian taking up residence in England
traits? When did it peak? What change did it undergo?
Ballad opera; spoken dialogue, folk songs and dances, popular 45. Who were two composers who exemplified the change?
songs, airs, arias) songs with new words, 1730; gradually What nationality influenced their writing? How many
to original music did each contribute?
Niccolò Jommelli (Stuttgart) and Tommaso Traetta (Parma);
30. (489) What famous example is cited? French; 100, it doesn't say
The Beggar's Opera, John Gay (libretto) and Johann Christoph
Pepusch (composer) 46. Christoph Willibald Gluck. What were the two cities
where he was a composer?
31. Germany and Austria. What was serious German opera Vienna, Paris
like?
Mixture of Italian, French, and native styles 47. (492) Who was his librettist?
Raniero de Calzabigi
32. What was comic opera called and what was it like?
Singspiel ("singing play"); spoken dialogue, musical numbers, 48. Make a list of Gluck's operas. (See the next page too.)
comic plot Orfeo ed Euridice, Alceste, Iphigénie en Aulide, Armide,
Iphigénie en Tauride
33. (490) How did they come about?
Adaptations of English ballad opera 49. What were his reforms. See SR (493)
Music to serve the poetry and advance the plot; overture to be
34. Who was the leading composer? an integral part of the opera, adapt orchestra to dramatic
Johann Adam Hiller role, lessen the contrast between aria and recitative.
SR says not to repeat the A section of the da capo aria to allow
35. What increased the music's popularity. the vocalist to ornament the passage at the expense of
Included in song collections drama

36. Opera and the Public. Who determined the direction of 50. What did Gluck expect of his singers concerning their
comic opera? What did they want? operatic roles? TQ: How was it before Gluck?
The paying public; music that was simple, clear, direct, and Singers were supposed to be actors. Singers, apparently, were
had wide appeal just singers.

37. Opera Reform. What was "more natural"? 51. Who were Gluck's "Parisian descendants"?
More flexible structure, more expressive, less ornamented, Piccinni, Luigi Cherubini, Gasparo Spontini, Hector Berlioz
more varied musical resources

38. What about the da capo aria?

It continued but they added other forms

© 2014, 2009, 2006, 2001, 2000 Ted A. DuBois

3 64. (496) What's happening in England? Who is the
composers?
52. (494) Secular songs were written for amateurs. What Retained Baroque style longer; Anglican church music
instruments accompanied these songs? What were the (service and anthems) and hymns for private devotions.
characteristics? William Boyce. Maruice Greene, John Stanley, Charles
Piano or (guitar); simple, syllabic, diatonic, strophic, easy Avison
accompaniments that could be played by the singer.
65. What was religious music in America like?
53. Some songs were religious in a hymnlike style. What Like Europe
was the French romance?
Strophic song on a sentimental text (simple, expressive 66. What two groups were "especially notable" in America?
melody, w/o ornamentation but w/plain accompaniment Puritans of New England and the Moravians of Pennsylvania
and North Carolina
54. What was the English ballad?
Printed on large sheets (broadsides) and collected; text only 67. What religion were the Puritans? What did they sing?
about a recent events or sentimental theme to be sung to Calvinists; metrical psalms
a familiar tune; 16th-19th centuries; new songs written
for pleasure gardens 68. What was their hymn book? (1640, 1698)
Bay Psalm Book; first published; 13 melodies
55. What are some other "English" songs?
Scottish and Irish 69. What is a singing school?
A short period of music instruction
56. What did Germany produce? How many collections
between 1750 and 1800? What was the hypocrisy? What 70. Who is the composer? What did he write?
are the traits of lieder? What was the aesthetic goal? William Billings; New-England Psalm-Singer (1770; 108
Who were the representative composers? Who is a late psalm and hymn settings and 15 anthems and canons);
composer? The Continental Harmony (1794)
Lied; 750; instrumental music should emulate the singing
voice but lieder were to be simple; strophic, syllabic, 71. Define a plain tune. Example?
easy to sing (best type of song); to please the singer and 4-part homophony; Chester
listener and not to impress/astound; CPE Bach, Carl
Heinrich Graun; Johann Friedrich Reichardt 72. What is a fuging tune?
Syllabic, homophonic section followed by free imitation
57. What about the affections in songs? Word painting? closing in homophony
No. no.
73. What were the problems with Billings' music?
58. (495) What's the situation with church music about Parallel fifths and octaves; chords without a third
1750?
Valued for its tradition than its innovations. Adopts styles of Who were the other composers?
secular music. Daniel Reed, Andrew Law

59. What were the style options for Catholic composers? 74. (497) How were the Moravians different?
Stile antico (Palestrina), polychoral (Benevoli), opera (da capo They were well versed in European music
arias, accompanied recitative
75. Who were their composers?
60. What is the featured work of Catholic music for this Johann Friedrich Peter, John Antes (Johannes Herbst deleted)
period?
Pergolesi, Stabat mater (1736) 76. Opera and the New Language. Write summary
statements.
61. If church music, what types would they write? 1. Vocal music (opera and vernacular song) important
Masses, motets, oratorios 2. Music to entertain and reach diverse audience led to
simplification
62. (503) What replaced the cantata and chorale-based 3. Vocal music inspired instrumental music
music? 4. Some vocal music survived but a lot of it didn't
Congregational hymns 5. Mid-century is not transitional; composers were working.
We should not compare their works to Bach/Handel or
63. What was the nonliturgical composition? Haydn/Mozart but should weigh them by their own goals
Oratorio; Carl Heinrich Graun, Der Tod Jesu (1755)

Burkholder/Grout/Palisca, Ninth Edition, Chapter 21

© 2014, 2009, 2006, 2001, 2000 Ted A. DuBois