Music Weblog

David Daniels in Handel's "Radamisto" **

The era of Baroque music is generally considered to include the period from 1600 to 1759; the latter date marks the death of G.F. Handel, considered by most experts to be the most important Baroque composer.  The operatic form existed prior to that period; however, Claudio Monteverdi is widely recognized to have made the transition from Renaissance to Baroque with the premiere of his first opera, L’Orfeo, in 1607.  Although he is credited with 18 operatic compositions, only three have survived intact.  Each of the three has continued to be performed on operatic stages worldwide.

The operatic genre began as a way to celebrate royal events, especially since the greatest patrons of the musical arts in those days were monarchs, but the form ultimately flourished on its own as a wealthier middle class arose that possessed some semblance of disposable income.  As form followed content, the broad appeal of Baroque operas created the need for public houses in which to showcase them, plus a cadre of professional singers and musicians to perform them.

The stories upon which Baroque operas were based were drawn largely from mythology.  Religious themes were frowned upon, much of that due to the influence of the Catholic Church in the countries where Baroque opera flourished, namely Italy and France.  The Italian “opera seria” style became dominant during the Baroque era—long arias (solo singing) with plenty of repeated phrases and full orchestra accompaniment were separated by stretches of nearly spoken recitative alongside harpsichord or piano accompaniment.  Opera seria was so popular that even a German composer like Handel wrote his operas to Italian librettos.  In many cases, the heroic roles were scored for the castrato voice.  These were male singers whose voices were the tonal equivalent of a female soprano, having either been castrated prior to the onset of puberty or else suffering some sort of endocrine imbalance to induce the same effect.  This practice remained legal in Italy until 1870.  However, the last starring role for a castrato singer was that of Armando in the opera Il Crociato in Egitto by Giacomo Meyerbeer, which debuted in Venice in 1824.

** Photo courtesy Santa Fe Opera / Ken Howard

Related posts:

1. Classical Music Primer—Bel Canto Opera
2. Classical Music Primer—Verismo Opera
3. Classical Music Primer—The Overture
4. Classical Music Primer—The Sonata
5. Classical Music Primer—Chamber Music

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 28th, 2010 at 15:43 and is filed under Classical Music Primer. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.