The Height of Italian Dominance

Opera Seria and the Italian Concerto Style

Opera Seria and Its Makers

• Neapolitan Opera– Teatro di San Bartolomeo, opened in 1654

• Opera seria (serious opera)

Opera Seria and Its Makers

• Alessandro Scarlatti (1660–1725)– serenatas (miniature operas)

Opera Seria and Its Makers

• Alessandro Scarlatti (1660–1725)– cantatas• Andate, o miei sospiri (1712) [Anthology 1-79]–siciliana–da capo aria–tonic, dominant–sinfonia, episode–binary form

Opera and Its Many Reforms:Neoclassicism

• Arcadian Academy (Arcadians)– wanted to restore opera to its original purity

• Apostolo Zeno (1668–1750)– scholar and librettist

Metastasio

• Pietro Antonio Trapassi (1698–1782)• 60 librettos– set to music more than 800 times by more than

300 composers

Metastasio

• Metastasian libretto– 6 main roles• primo uomo (castrato role) and prima donna– sang half the arias

• second couple– 3–4 arias each

• “remainders”

• Artaserse – 90 known settings

Metastasio’s Musicians

• Carlo Broschi (Farinelli) (1705–1782)– castrato– cadenza, passaggi

Corelli and New Tonal Practices

• Arcangelo Corelli (1653–1713)• Virtuoso violinist• The birth of harmonically controlled and

elaborated form

Corelli and New Tonal Practices

• Worked almost exclusively in Rome• Sonata da camera (Chamber Sonata)– dance suite

• Sonata da chiesa (Church Sonata)– sacred venues– solo violin and continuo– “trio sonata”– concerto grosso

Corelli and New Tonal Practices

• Corelli, Op. 3 (1689)– 12 Church Trio Sonatas• No. 11 [Anthology 1-80]– “circle of fifths”– harmonic rhythm

Vivaldi’s Five Hundred

• Antonio Vivaldi (1678–1741)• Pio Ospedale della Pietà• Approximately 500 surviving Concertos

The Vivaldi Concerto

• Ritornellos• Solos, episodes• Ripieno, full ensemble

Music Imitating Nature:Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons

• Il cimento dell’ armonia e dell’ inventione, Op. 8 (1725)– set of 12 concertos– first four, Le quattro stagioni (The Four Seasons)• La primavera (Spring) [Anthology 1-81]