Da Capo Aria

8/10/2019 Da Capo Aria

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(i) The da capo aria.

The da capo form dominated the Italian aria by the beginning of the 18th century,

but there was then still some fluidity in its relationship to the words. There is

usually a binary construction of the setting of the first part of the text, although

arias from this date tend to be so short that this binary structure often consists only

of two periods with a half cadence, rather than a modulation, at the end of the first

(and the second often repeated); see !enso far ci" che brami# in

$carlatti#sEraclea(1%&&). The text of this, theApart of theABAda capo structure,

usually consists of two to four lines of 'erse. If a couplet, it was nearly always

repeated completely in the second part ofA(which was in binary form), but with

uatrains sometimes only the second couplet was repeated. The middle orBsection

of the aria was often treated exactly lie theAsection, e'en occasionally using the

motto# beginning, which remained popular in the early years of the century * an

example is $aper tu 'uoi# inEraclea. In many arias of this period

theAandBsections of the aria are eual in length and musical weight, but in others

(for example +hi lascia la sua bella#,Eraclea)Ais as much as twice as long asB,

and when the text ofBconsists of a uatrain it is seldom repeated in full. The

accompaniment of arias in this period also tended towards di'ersity. The continuo

aria continued into the 1%&s but became increasingly rare. In the wors of

conser'ati'e composers at the beginning of the century, independent ritornellos inse'eral parts following a continuo aria are still occasionally found; and arias in

which the 'oice is accompanied only by continuo, but with instruments playing

between the phrases, are uite common. -ore indi'idual textures, such as the

accompaniment of the 'oice in unison and octa'es or with se'eral instruments

wea'ing contrapuntal parts abo'e the 'oice as lowest sounding part, also had

periods of 'ogue. considerable 'ariety of instruments in combination or solo

were used.

/y the 1%&s longer arias were fa'oured, but not to such an extent as to destroy the

intimacy of the relationship between music and text. This might be called the

classic# moment in the de'elopment of the da capo aria, especially as it was

accompanied by the rise to prominence of a generation of composers * including

0inci, asse and !ergolesi * who were to be regarded as the originators of the

modern style of 18th2century music, as well as by the appearance of a poet,

-etastasio, who pro'ided a body of aria poetry that was to be the main source for

composers and the model for other poets until near the end of the century.


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-etastasio codified a number of emerging con'entions for the da capo aria,

including its role as some ind of emotional climax to a scene (usually followed by

the exit of the character deli'ering the aria) and the principle of presenting

contrasted affecti'e types in successi'e arias. ria texts are normally in two poetic

stan3as generally of eual length (uatrains are less common than often assumed)

and similar rhyme scheme; each stan3a normally ends with a cadential verso

tronco(with the accent on the final syllable). The standard musical setting,

although traditionally expressedABA(whereAandBha'e the first and second

stan3as respecti'ely), can more usefully be seen as a fi'e2part formAA4BAA4, with

each part delineated by ritornellos, henceRARA4R*B*RARA4R(seeTable 1, section

1.a). In its mature form, the aria begins with an instrumental introduction 'arying in

length but usually self2contained with a full close in the tonic, then a statement of

the first stan3a of the poem mo'ing from tonic to dominant (or, in a minor ey, to

the relati'e ma5or); the 'oice usually enters with the material heard at the beginning

of the ritornello. further ritornello in the secondary ey, usually shorter, leads to

the second setting (A4) of the first stan3a. s in instrumental binary forms, this

might begin with the opening 'ocal phrase transposed to the new ey, or a

transformation of it.A4 mo'es sooner or later bac to the tonic; in longer arias, A4

will be de'elopmental, and material pre'iously heard in the new ey inAwill tend

to reappear in the tonic inA4. third ritornello in the tonic brings the section to a

close (it will also close the aria after the da capo). The second stan3a (set in

theBsection) is usually stated only once, with or without internal repetitions, and it

is often in a contrasting ey and6or style. The music usually de'elops material from

theAsection but the accompaniment is often reduced, while particular dramatic

effects could be achie'ed by ha'ing theBsection in a different metre and tempo.

This section commonly mo'es through se'eral related eys, often ending in the

minor or on a !hrygian cadence preparing for a return to the tonic ey and the

introductory ritornello. The first section is then repeated.Fioritureoften appeared

in both statements of the final line of the first stan3a; caden3as could be inserted atthe ends of both sections, and the da capo pro'ided an opportunity for the singer to

add ornamentation.

-etastasio and many critics, particularly those who held that the opera belonged to

the tragic genre, compared the function of the aria with that of the chorus in 7ree

tragedy. This accounts for the large number of aria texts in his wors and those of

his imitators that might be said to trope the action sententiously or imagistically (as

in the so2called SIMILE ARIA) rather than forming a direct part of it. $uch a

function for the aria helped 5ustify it for critics of a primarily literary orientation,
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but it was seen as a gra'e defect by reformers later in the century, who began to

form a concept of the opera in which music was to tae a more central role in the

drama. ramatic arias, howe'er, are by no means lacing in -etastasio#s wor as a

whole.

The da capo form was so uni'ersal, and its affecti'e types so stereotyped, that arias

could be transplanted from opera to opera, whether by the impresario, librettist or

composer, or at the behest of singers (hence the suitcase aria#). owe'er, a

dramatic effect could be won by playing on its 'ery predictability. andel was a

master of this techniue. Thus the opening ritornello could be dropped if the

dramatic situation suggested that the singer should begin impetuously without one.

In some remarable, and much rarer, cases the dramatic situation might cause the

aria to be interrupted before its completion, as in pollo#s -ie piante correte# in

andel#s early cantataApollo e Dafne, where the second section has hardly begun

before it breas off into recitati'e, and there is no da capo; or $aul#s aria serpent

in my bosom warm#d# in Saul(1%9:), where the second section stops abruptly as

$aul hurls his 5a'elin. In -icah#s aria eturn, < 7od of osts# inSamson(1%=9)

the return to the first section includes the chorus, while the second section of >hy

do the nations# inMessiah(1%=) is followed not by a return to the first but by a

chorus, ?et us brea their bonds asunder#. recitati'e could be substituted for the

middle section (@l'ira#s Aotte cara#, in ct ofFloridante, 1%) or could beinterpolated between the second section and the return to the first, as in +leopatra#s

0#adoro, pupille# in Giulio Cesare(1%=) or $usanna#s If guiltless blood#

in Susanna(1%=:).

uring the 1%9&s and =&s the music of theAsection of the da capo ariacontinued

to expand in length. The text, howe'er, did not; and that led to a weaening of the

closeness of their pre'ious union. The text had now to be much more repeated, in

whole or in part, and this tended to dissol'e it into the music. !erhaps partly for this

reason, a chronological sur'ey of -etastasio#s arias re'eals that while in his earlier

wor he had used a considerable 'ariety of metres and stan3a lengths, in his later

ones arias in uatrains ofsettenario(se'en2syllable) 'erse increasingly

predominate. @'en by the 1%&s the first two solos each occasionally ha'e a second

statement of all or most of the text as a coda2lie appendage to the main statement,

with music that is an extension or reinforcement of the new ey in the first or the

return to the original one in the second. This became the standard format for the da

capo aria, as a result of which the first stan3a could be heard eight times in a

complete performance of an aria, the second usually only once; by mid2century


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composers often set the middle section in a contrasting tempo and metre (for

example a moderate 968 if the main section was an llegro in common time, as it

usually was) as if to emphasi3e it and relie'e the sameness. The aria and the opera

seriain general underwent increasing criticism after the middle of the century, both

from those who felt that musical expansion was now out of hand in the arias and

that the old balance should be restored, and from those, including 7luc and

+al3abigi, who wanted an altogether new relationship.

(ii) The dal segno aria.

/y the middle of the century, howe'er, a tendency to retrenchment had set in with

regard to aria form. t first this was entirely mechanical, replacing the da capo with

the dal segno, that is, the indication of a return not to the beginning of the piece butto a point mared by a sign within it. The dal segno (or da capo al segno#) had

been used earlier, with the sign placed at the first 'ocal entry, to eliminate the

repeat of the opening ritornello or part of it (see Table 1, section 1.b). /ut from

about 1%B& composers used the sign to shorten the repeat of theAsection

substantially (see Table 1, section 1.c). here the

second solo began in the dominant, howe'er, composers sometimes preferred to

write out the beginning of the first solo after the middle section (with or without aninter'ening orchestral passage), indicating by the sign a return to that point in the

second solo where the music had originally returned to the tonic in preparation for

closure, as in opo un tuo sguardo# (Adriano in Siria, C.+. /ach, 1%BD). If the

second solo had begun with new material, a similar procedure might be used to

create a rounded form by pro'iding a recapitulation of the first solo ad5usted to

remain in the tonic, as in isperato mar turbato# fromAdriano(AA4BA); but 5ust as

often only the second solo was retained (AA4BA4), as in +ara la dolce fiamma#

(Adriano).

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Da Capo Aria