In the modern world there is unprecedented access to the international world of opera. Opera is exciting and fun, and newcomers can take advantage of this to learn about what is happening in opera today. I am gathering together material from all my writings.
In the second half of the century opera began to spread to other countries. The French would never be content with merely imitating the Italians and created their own unique genre. For one thing they hated the use of castrati. The English were more in tune with the French and followed them.
The first opera in French was Pastorale (1659) by Robert Cambert (c.1628-77) on a text by Abbé Perrin. A vogue was established with Pomone (1671) by Cambert, and quickly adopted by Lully with Cadmus et Hermione (1673). His operas were characterized by
(a) large ballets and choruses,
(b) a new recitative style with frequent meter changes,
(c) a thick, five-voice texture,
(d) French Overture, and
(e) short simple arias in aabb form.
His librettist was Jean-Philippe Quinault. Other Lully operas were Alceste (1674), Persée (1682), Amadis (1684), Roland (1685) and Armide (1686).
This is Lully's opera period and the period of Purcell, Corelli, Buxtehude, Pachelbel, Biber and the next generation of Venetian opera composers. It is the first generation of equal importance of instrumental music, the concerto grosso and tonality.
Venetian opera
Venetian opera had become international in scope, as in La Forza dell'Amor paterno (1678) by Alessandro Stradella (c.1645-82), Giustino (1683) by Lagrenzi, La Gerusalem liberata (1687) by Carlo Pallavicino (1630-88) and Enrico ditto il Leone (1689) by Agostino Steffani (1654-1728).
Cantata
Composed by all of the above plus M.A. Sartorio (c.1620-85) and Domenico Gabrielli (c.1650-90) and in France by Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1624-1704), cantatas were the experimental form of the period.
Tragedie lyrique
The first opera in French was Pastorale (1659) by Robert Cambert (c.1628-77) on a text by Abbé Perrin. A vogue was established with Pomone (1671) by Cambert, and quickly adopted by Lully with Cadmus et Hermione (1673). His operas were characterized by
(a) large ballets and choruses,
(b) a new recitative style with frequent meter changes,
(c) a thick, five-voice texture,
(d) French Overture, and
(e) short simple arias in aabb form.
His librettist was Jean-Philippe Quinault. Other Lully operas were Alceste (1674), Persée (1682), Amadis (1684), Roland (1685) and Armide (1686).
Oratorio
A pupil of Carissimi, Charpentier brought the oratorio to France. An example was Le Reniement de St. Pierre.
English dramatic music
Though operas in English were composed, Venus and Adonis (1684-85) by John Blow (1647-1708) and Dido and Aeneas (1689) by Henry Purcell (1658-96), more important from the English view was incidental music written for plays: Purcell's Dioclesian (1690), King Arthur (1691), The Fairy Queen (1692), The Tempest (1695) and Indian Queen (1695).
English songs, odes, anthems
Purcell also composed
(1) songs on ostinato basses, rondo forms and da capo arias which were collected in Orpheus Britannicus (1698),
(2) odes in several movements for chorus, soloists and orchestra, composed for large celebrations, and
(3) anthems. The distinction between full and verse anthem persisted, with the more popular verse anthem, in a distinctly baroque multi-movement form.
German opera
In 1678 Johann Theile's (1646-1724) Adam und Eva opened the Hamburg opera house.
