Early operas were basically of two types: serious operas written primarily to entertain the upper classes, and commercial operas written for the general public, seen first at Venice. When one attends a concert in the Pitti Palace in Florence, one might well remember that one of the earliest operas ever composed was presented in this same courtyard as entertainment for a Medici wedding.
Commercial opera developed in a chaotic way, as one probably would have expected. Whatever might interest the paying customer appeared on the stages of Venice. These operas were characterized by small casts and no chorus. It was like Shakespeare where comic scenes and characters would appear in a serious story.
Then arrived Neapolitan Opera in the city of Naples.
Said to have begun with Francesco Provenzale (d.1704), the style was brought to international attention by Alessandro Scarlatti (1660-1725). Trained in Venetian style, he gradually adopted the fashion of Naples, characterized by:
(a) Italian Overture,
(b) secco (with continuo only) and accompagnato (with orchestra, for tense dramatic situations) recitative,
(c)
aria forms: arioso (between aria and recitative accompagnato),
siciliana (melancholy 6/8 or 12/8) and the grand da capo aria,
(d) clearly established tonality in recitative and aria,
(e) frequent use of the Neapolitan sixth chord,
(f) downward fourth cadence in recitative, and
(g) vocal virtuosity in the singing of improvised ornaments, especially by castrati.
Operas by Scarlatti were Eraclea (1700), Mitridate (1707), Tigrane (1715) and Telemaco (1718).
Da capo Aria
"From
the top," the da capo aria consisted of a large A section, usually with
Motto beginning, a contrasting B section in a related key and a
complete repeat of A, altered by extemporized ornaments.
The most obvious features were the strictly theatrical ones. Comedy and drama became strictly separated. A drama, called opera seria, would feature castrati as the featured performers plus natural voices. A comedy, called opera buffa, would have only natural voices, and usually feature a buffo bass. Both styles used secco recitative, recitative with only chords accompanying on the harpsichord, and not any spoken dialogue.
This is not written for professional musicians. Otherwise one would go on and on about extemporizing to a figured bass, one of the defining features of the Baroque. Composers of opera seria used the same libretti over and over.
In Paris opera also developed contrasting styles, but this had to do with which building it was to be performed in. Perhaps this was true in Naples as well. Comedies in Paris appeared at the Opera Comique and had spoken dialog, while serious operas played at the Opera. Something originally from the Opera Comique had to have recitative composed before it could appear at the Opera.
From our modern perspective we notice that in instrumental music it is considered admirable when music develops a strict formal structure, but this isn't the case for opera. We leap into the argument against an opera with endless strings of very formal da capo arias. It is important to be aware that it is Neapolitan Opera that swept the world and became a prominent art form in many European cities.
