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.
Romanticism in music followed two divergent paths: (1) toward the miniature forms of Lied and character piece for piano as established by Schubert and represented by Schumann, Mendelssohn and Chopin, and (2) toward the spectacular and grandiose in opera and symphony as established by Beethoven and represented by Meyerbeer, Berlioz, Liszt and Wagner.
Grand Opera
Grand opera began with Daniel Auber's (1782-1871) Le Muette de Portici (1828) in which a dumb girl leaped into the erupting Vesuvius. Rossini's last opera, William Tell (1929), was an attempt to imitate this popular new style characterized by
(a) obligatory spectacular scenes,
(b) death, not happy endings, in librettos by Scribe,
(c) potpourri overture,
(d) extended ornate arias,
(e) chorus and ballet, and
(f) a new heavier type of dramatic tenor as the featured hero.
Gilbert
Duprez, a famous French tenor, changed the history of opera forever. by
singing a high C in chest in the premier performance of Rossini's
Guglielmo Tell in Italy in 1831. This style of singing became hugely popular and is generally the style of singing for tenors in opera today.
Other opera were Giacomo Meyerbeer's (1791-1864) Robert le Diable (1831), Les Huguenots (1836) and Le Prophète (1849), and Jacques Halévy's (1799-1862) La Juive (1835).
Italian Opera
This period is called bel canto. Orchestral accompaniment used throughout the opera broke down the distinction between recitative and aria, resulting in long formally flexible sections in Vincenzo Bellini's (1801-35) Norma (1831), La Sonnambula (1831) and I Puritani (1835) and Gaetano Donizetti's (1797-1848) Lucia di Lammermore(1835).
German opera
Sentimental light operas were Hans Heiling (1833) by Heinrich Marschner (1795-1861), Zar und Zimmerman (1837) by Albert Lortzing (1801-51) and Martha (1847) by Friedrich von Flotow (1812-83). Richard Wagner's (1813-83) Rienzi (1840) was a grand opera, and Der fliegende Holländer (1842) was in the Weber tradition.
Russian Opera
Russian opera was established by Michael Glinka (1804-57) in A Life for the Tsar (1836) and Russlan and Lyudmilla (1842), the first realization of nationalism in music.
Oratorio
Influenced by Bach and Handel, Felix Mendelssohn (1809-47) composed the sentimental oratorios St. Paul (1836) and Elijah (1846). Also considered a secular oratorio is The Damnation of Faust (1846) by Hector Berlioz (1803-69).
Choral Music
Secular cantatas were Mendelssohn's Erste Walpurgisnacht (1832) and Robert Schumann's (1803-56) Paradise and the Peri (1843) and Scenes from Goethe's "Faust" (1844-53). Important liturgical music were Rossini's Stabat Mater (1832) and the huge Requiem (1837) of Berlioz.
Lied
Though Mendelssohn was also important, Schumann was the outstanding Lieder composer, especially in the song cycles Dichterliebe (1840) and Frauenliebe und Leben (1840).
French Song
The first French song cycle was Berlioz Les Nuits d'Été (1841). It became the first orchestral song cycle when he orchestrated it in 1856.
Overture
While Beethoven's overtures and Mendelssohn's Overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream (1826) were written to precede theatrical performances, Mendelssohn's Hebrides (1832) and Berlioz' Roman Carnival (1844) were character pieces in modified sonata-allegro form composed for concert use.
This is the generation of Verdi and Brahms, not just Liszt and Wagner. Liszt introduces the symphonic poem and Wagner the music drama.
Music Drama
The logical extreme of the program symphony, traits of Wagner's late operas were
(a) his own librettos on medieval German myths (first used in Dutchman),
(b) continuous music through continual modulation and avoidance of perfect cadences,
(c) no clear-cut arias and expanded recitative (first in Rheingold),
(d) thick romantic orchestration,
(e) a system of themes, called leitmotifs, connected to persons, objects or ideas in the drama (also first in Dutchman), and
(f) equal importance of visual and dramatic arts in the Gesamtkunstwerk.
Tannhäuser (1845) and Lohengrin (1850) were still number operas. Though he began composing the Ring in 1853, Tristan und Isolde (1865) was the first music drama to be produced, followed by Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (1868). The four operas of Der Ring des Nibelungen, 1. Das Rheingold (1869), 2. Die Walküre (1870), 3. Siegfried, and 4. Die Götterdämmerung were produced together in Bayreuth in 1876.
Italian Opera
Italian opera was dominated by Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901) who capitalized on the strengths of Grand Opera in melodramatic plots, popular melodies and effective vocal display pieces. His mature operas began with Rigoletto (1851) and included Il Trovatore (1853), La Traviata (1853), Un Ballo in Maschera (1859), Don Carlos (1867) and Aida (1871).
French Opera
Grand Opera continued in Meyerbeer's L'Africaine (1865). Popular sentimental operas were Mignon (1866) by Ambroise Thomas (1811-96) and Faust (1859) and Roméo et Juliette (1867) by Charles Gounod (1818-93). Berlioz' Béatrice et Bénédict (1862) and Les Troyens (Part II 1863, Part I 1890) failed to establish him as an opera composer.
Opéra Bouffe
Jacques Offenbach (1819-80) created the prototype for the operetta in his Orpheus in the Underworld (1858) and La Belle Hélène (1864).
Czech Opera
The Bartered Bride (1866) by Bedrich Smetana (1824-84) began the second nationalist school in Czechoslovakia.
Oratorio
The most important oratorios were Berlioz' L'Enfance du Christ (1854) and Franz Liszt's (1811-86) Christus (1856) and Legend of St. Elizabeth (1857-62). Ein deutsches Requiem (1868) by Johannes Brahms (1833-97) can also be considered an oratorio.
Lied
Lieder were by Liszt, Peter Cornelius (1824-74), Adolf Jensen (1837-79), Robert Franz (1815-92) and Brahms, especially his Magelone (1861) cycle. Wagner's cycle, Wesendonck Lieder (1857-8), was composed in both piano and orchestral versions.
Orchestra
Wagner's orchestra benefited from the newly improved woodwinds with the Böhm key system and the recently perfected valve horns and valve trumpets first used in Halévy's La Juive (1835). Wagner's standard orchestra was three of each woodwind (with the third player doubling on piccolo, English horn, bass clarinet or double bassoon), four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, harp and strings. For the Ring he added another flute, oboe, clarinet, trumpet and trombone along with four more horns which doubled on Wagner tubas, another pair of timpani and other percussion, six harps and augmented strings.
Richard Wagner's Tannhäuser was first performed in Dresden in 1845, and the
music is French grand opera in German.
The Minnisinger (German version of a troubadour) must choose between the sensuality of Venus and the simple love of home.
What is this opera about?
The Minnesingers Tannhäuser and Wolfram were real people, but Tannhäuser is the subject of a myth where he spends a year in the grotto of Venus. Everyone else in the story is horrified with this departure from the strictures of Christianity. The plot of the opera covers the end of his time with Venus through his return to normal life. I think it's probably all a myth. Wagner was particularly attracted to German mythology.
The Story
Act I
We are in the Venusberg. There is an extended ballet called The Venusberg Music, followed by a duet between Venus and Tannhäuser. After the dancing, Tannhäuser tells Venus that he has dreamed of the
sound of bells and wishes to return to the surface where he will be able
to see the sun and the seasons. He has tired of constant love making.
He tells her he is leaving to follow the virgin Mary.
In the next scene he is found lying on the ground with his harp next to a
roadside shrine to Mary. Pilgrims pass by on their way to Rome. Then a
group of minstrels pass by and recognize him. Wolfram convinces
Tannhäuser to return with him to bring comfort to Elisabeth who loves
him.
Act II
Hit Tune
We are in the hall where the singing contest is to take place. Elisabeth enters the hall of the singing competitions and knowing that
Tannhäuser has returned, joyfully sings "Dich teure Halle" (treasured
hall), the place where she fell in love with a singer.
This scene includes a singing competition where each contestant is to
describe the true meaning of love. Wolfram begins and describes an
abstract and idealistic kind of love. Everyone praises this except
Tannhäuser who leaps up to sing that no one can know about love who has
not been with Venus. Everyone is shocked, especially Elisabeth. Since
this whole scene was arranged for the sake of Elisabeth, he realises he
has messed up. She pleads for them not to kill him, and he agrees to go
to Rome with the pilgrims to seek forgiveness from the Pope.
Act III
Finally we return to the road seen in the second scene. Elisabeth is
there waiting for the pilgrims to return from Rome. We hear the famous
pilgrim's chorus while she searches for Tannhäuser.
Hit Tune
If he is there, it
means the Pope has forgiven him. He is not, and she goes off and dies.
Hit Tune
Wolfram sings the very beautiful "O du mein holder Abendstern" to the
evening star, which curiously is Venus. "Oh evening star, greet her as her soul passes
by."
Tannhäuser returns complaining bitterly and wanting to return to
Venusberg. The Pope has refused him. We see Venus pleading in the
distance, but when Elisabeth's body is brought in, he dies, too. Too
late they realize that the staff has bloomed, indicating that he is
forgiven.
All of these operas are in the 100 most performed. It is interesting, at least to me, that his most popular opera is the one most like a Grand Opera. There is no listing for librettists because Wagner wrote his own librettos.
I decided that I needed to know more about Faust. We are hitting only the highlights. To get an idea of how big the influence of the Faust legend is see this list.
I
I called the original Faust a German myth. Apparently others call it a legend. One reliable source (EB) says that the original Johann Georg Faust (c. 1480–1540) lived in the time of Martin Luther and practiced the dark arts of wizardry, magic and astrology. This is rather a different idea than Goethe’s Faust. The Faust legend became the subject of extensive theological discussion. Martin Luther was concerned that Protestantism would become associated with the practices of Faust and fought hard against him.
II
Between 1589 and 1592 Christopher Marlowe wrote a play usually referred to as Doctor Faustus. Calling Faust Doctor Faustus means pretty much the same thing it does now. He has advanced to the top of academia. This is an interesting work where Faust gives up his soul in order to gain magical powers for a specified time period. He accomplishes nothing useful but uses his gifts to perform tricks for the nobility. He goes to hell when his time runs out.
I don’t have to go into all the details. Clearly in this early period the subject matter of Faust’s knowledge and studies is significant. Marlowe’s play represents the Calvinist position where salvation is preordained. He is condemned for his magical practices and cannot be saved.
Mephistopheles was a folklore figure in the Faust legend. He becomes a stock character. It's best seen as a play for special effects. Marlowe establishes the idea that Faust gets his magic powers from the Devil.
III
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s play Faust part 1 and part 2 (1806-1832) was the next landmark in the life of this legend. Only part 1 is regularly staged. It is regarded as a great monument of German literature. For our purposes we will concern ourselves only with part 1.
It is Goethe who transforms the legend into something else. Originally it is Faust himself who leads himself into darkness, perhaps with the devil's help, but not entirely. In Goethe it is rather like the tale of Job where God challenges the Devil to lead his exemplary man to hell. The Devil gives it his best shot. Faust is a learned man but his studies are here regarded as good. Mephistopheles enters into Faust's life as a dog who follows him home.
It is also Goethe who introduces Marguerite into the story. We are to presume that Faust, the saintly scholar, is sexually inexperienced. Here it becomes a transaction. Faust may have anything he wants on earth, while the Devil alone has power in hell. It is a witch who turns Faust into a young man. Valentine, Marguerite's brother, first appears here.
Goethe's Marguerite donates Mephistopheles' jewels to the church, but is led to ruin anyway. The Devil thinks Faust would be tempted by a Walpurgis Nacht. Perhaps this links us back to the original legend where Faust is attracted to the dark arts. Here he isn't.
The Marguerite story is extended through several scenes where she kills her mother, gives birth Faust's child, kills her child and is sent to prison. At the very end she prays for salvation and is saved. This does not sound like a Calvinist perspective. The story of Faust continues into part 2. Faust has only to say to the Devil, "this is beautiful, stop here," and Faust's soul is his.
IV
It's after this that musicians become interested. The first piece that has remained in the repertoire is Hector Berlioz' La damnation de Faust (1846). This is intended to be a concert piece, but is often fully staged. The prologue in heaven where God makes a bargain with the Devil does not appear. Instead Faust is an old man who has become tired of life and wants to kill himself. Méphistophélès appears and offers him something to live for. They travel together to several locations, but Faust doesn't become interested until Marguerite enters the picture.
Berlioz focuses on Marguerite much like Goethe, but shows Faust's continuing interest in science in this aria. The presence of a love story makes it more suitable as an opera plot. At the end Marguerite is saved but Faust goes to hell. The musical style is fully romantic.
V
The most famous of all the Faust operas is Charles Gounod's Faust
(1859). For about 50 years it was the most popular opera just about
everywhere, but then it faded considerably. Gounod's Faust summons the Devil to his study when after a long life in science, he finds that he has accomplished nothing and wants to kill himself. Mephistopheles makes a bargain with Faust that he will show him something he cannot resist. God's complicity in this bargain is not shown. After changing him into a young man, the Devil takes Faust out to get drunk in a bar. Faust is uninterested. Marguerite is next. The above aria is Faust's reaction to her.
This is my favorite aria from Gounod's Faust, sung here by my favorite baritone, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, in the role of Marguerite's brother Valentin. This is just before he leaves her to go off to war. He gives responsibility for her to Siebel who appears only in this opera.
Here Above we have the original
version of "Diamonds are a girl's best friend."
The Walpurgis Nacht comes in the form of a ballet which is usually omitted. Faust returns to Marguerite in her prison cell. She is saved by an angel, but Faust continues on with Mephistopheles. In the recent production from London he turns back into an old man.
We have wandered far from the original legend which concerned itself with Faust's interests as a scholar to the mere boredom of an old man who has accomplished nothing with his life. The Met's attempt to drag it back by casting Faust as a nuclear scientist who regrets what he has spent his time doing. We have the fully romantic music of one Faust and the story of another.
It is good to stop for a moment and point out the difference between Gounod and Goethe. Goethe is clear that Faust the academic is a good man favored by God. Gounod's Faust is just a bored old man. The worst thing about this opera is the fact that both Faust and Valentin praise Marguerite for her chastity and purity. Then Faust leads her into darkness with hardly a backward look. Valentin abandons her. She is saved in the end through God's grace. This is seen as a Christian message because God can forgive anything. Someone has pointed out to me that Gounod was a Catholic, and that we have here more of a Catholic perspective.
VI
Not too long after Gounod's opera came Arrigo Boito's Mefistofele (1868). I know this opera from glorious performances in San Francisco starring Samuel Ramey. Boito restores Goethe's prologue in heaven where Mefistofele challenges God for the soul of his servant Faust. It was a failure at its initial performance at La Scala, Milan.
Faust agrees to give up his soul in return for bliss on earth. The Marguerite part of the story is similar to Gounod, except in addition to killing her child, she poisons her mother. She repents of her sins, and the angels save her.
At the end Mefistofele and Faust return to heaven for the final judgment. Faust is saved.
I think it is the music which speaks against this opera, Boito's only composed opera. Boito is almost modern in his style. The contrast to Gounod's music is enormous. The version with Samuel Ramey is highly recommended. Without Ramey does it work at all?
VII
Ferruccio Busoni in his Doktor Faust (1916–25) writes his own libretto in German. This opera was presented at the San Francisco Opera in June, 2004. I attended one of these performances and was completely confused. Now that I see the plot description, I can understand why. It was done as a regie production in modern dress in what appears to be a modern factory of some kind. To add to the confusion Faust is a baritone and Mephistopheles is a tenor.
God is not involved. Faust the academic is visited by mysterious figures who give him a book. He follows the instructions in the book, draws a circle on the floor and summons the Devil. Marguerite's brother is a character whom Faust kills, but she herself does not appear. Clearly we have wandered far from Goethe but closer to Marlowe.
Faust appears as a magician at the court of the Duke of Parma where he seduces and elopes with the Duchess of Parma. I can't imagine how this fits in with a factory. At the end he performs some kind of magic trick where he falls dead and gives his life to another. I think it would be necessary to study this extensively to have any hope of understanding what was going on.
VIII
It might be possible to regard Igor Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress (1951) as a Faust opera. It's a bit of a stretch. The Devil makes an appearance.
It has also been pointed out to me that Damn Yankees is also a Faust story.
Verdi's Don Carlos had its premier in Paris in 1867, and was originally in French. It comes in various versions, but is almost always performed in Italian. There was a period of about 50 years when no one performed Don Carlo at all, but now it is considered one of Verdi's greatest operas.
The Story
Act I
Scene 1. The Forest of Fontainebleau, France in winter
The scene begins with a chorus of
complaining peasants. Sometimes the whole scene is cut. The plot has to do with Spain and Flanders, so
complaining French peasants never come up again. Perhaps they are
included to show how they love Elisabetta. Carlo and Elisabetta meet and fall in love. The scene ends with
the announcement that Elisabetta will marry Philip II, king of Spain,
and not Carlo, as part of a peace treaty between Spain and France. She
takes it better than he does.
Act II
Scene 2: The monastery of Saint-Just
in Spain
Sometimes the opera starts here. Don
Carlo meets with his friend Posa, sung by Thomas Hampson. Carlo wants
to talk about Elisabetta, and Posa wants to talk about conditions in
Flanders where the Catholic Philip II is persecuting the Lutherans of
Flanders. They sing the gorgeous friends duet.
Hit Tune
Scene 3: A garden near Saint-Just
Elisabetta
is with her ladies in waiting. Eboli, sung by Ekaterina Semenchuk, is
introduced with a song. Posa and Eboli help to arrange for Carlo to be
alone with Elisabetta, and a rather torrid love scene ensues. They are
rolling around on the floor and Elisabetta says, "so you want to kill
your father and marry your mother." This cools him off, and he leaves.
The king enters and is furious because the queen has been left alone.
He sends one of her women back to France.
Act III
Scene 4: Evening in the Queen's garden in Madrid
The celebration of the
anniversary of the ascension of Philip II to the throne of Spain has
begun. We hear celebratory music and see costumes and decorations that
resemble carnival, including masks. The queen and Eboli appear, the
queen complains that she is tired and wants to go pray, and asks Eboli
to take her place at the celebration. She removes her outer garments,
including a head piece, and Eboli puts them on. Elisabetta leaves.
Eboli
writes a note for Carlo, and he enters thinking Eboli is Elisabetta.
This is much clearer if we have just seen them exchange clothing. Carlo
is passionate until he realizes it is actually Eboli. Eboli is not
happy with this, as she is in love with Carlo. Posa enters, Eboli
threatens to rat on Carlo, and Posa tries to stab her. Carlo prevents
this, but Eboli is still angry. There is an extended trio with a lot of
intensity.
Scene 5: In front of the Cathedral of Valladolid
This
is called the "Auto-da-fé" or "act of faith" scene and features the
burning of heretics condemned by the Inquisition. The events go:
heretics are dragged in; Flemish ambassadors appear and plead their case
to the king with Posa and Carlo arguing on their side (shown above);
the king refuses their plea and has them arrested and taken away; Carlo
gets angry, pulls his sword and threatens the king; no one will confront
Carlo until Posa steps forward and orders Carlo to give him his sword;
Carlo obeys and the king immediately makes Posa a Duke and has Carlo
arrested. Finally the king and queen take their places and the heretics
are burned.
Act IV
Scene 6: Dawn in King Philip's study in Madrid
Hit Tune
Elisabetta
enters and the king confronts her about the portrait. She faints.
This is the female version of when in doubt punt. If things aren't
going well, faint. Eboli and Posa are also in this scene. When
Elisabetta wakens, Eboli admits that it was she who gave the jewelry box
to the king. Everyone else leaves, and Eboli sings her big aria "O don
fatale." She vows to try to save Carlo.
Hit Tune
Scene 7: A prison
Posa
visits Carlo in jail where a shadowy figure kills him. I don't seem to
have ever known what was going on here except that Posa dies. The
question is who killed Posa? We see two men, both in dark robes, one
with a soldier's helmet and one with a hood. The one in the helmet
shoots Posa. Did the king give in to the Grand Inquisitor or did the
Grand Inquisitor take care of matters on his own?
Hampson
struggles with the heavier parts of this scene but excels at the
sweeter parts. He dies in close-up, very nicely. Carlo cries. Philip
comes in bragging that he has killed him. Carlo curses him. Such
emotion. Kaufmann is magnificent in his anger; his intensity is the
secret of his fame.
Act V
Scene 8: The moonlit monastery of Yuste
Hit Tune
This
opera is a patchwork, a many times reworked patchwork. We put in some
stuff. We take some of it out. We put in some more. Etc. We love the
music, so we don't mind so much that the story is so disorganized. In
contrast La Forza del Destino is much easier to follow but is implausible.
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (1813 – 1901) was the most important of all Italian opera composers, and his operas still form the core of Italian repertoire. His most important operas are:
Nabucco#41(9 March 1842) libretto by Temistocle Solera
Ernani (9 March 1844) libretto by Francesco Maria Piave
I due Foscari
(3 November 1844) libretto by Francesco Maria Piave
Attila
(17 March 1846) libretto by Temistocle Solera, Francesco Maria Piave
Macbeth
#61 (14 March 1847) libretto by Francesco Maria Piave
Luisa Miller
(8 December 1849) libretto by Salvatore Cammarano
Rigoletto #10 (11 March 1851) libretto by Francesco Maria Piave
Il trovatore #31 (19 January 1853) libretto by
Salvatore Cammarano, Leone Emanuele Bardare
La traviata #6 (6 March 1853)
libretto by Francesco Maria Piave
Les vêpres siciliennes (13 June 1855)
libretto by Charles Duveyrier, Eugène Scribe
Simon Boccanegra #58 (12 March 1857)
libretto by Francesco Maria Piave
Un ballo in maschera #18 (17 February 1859 )
libretto by Antonio Somma
La forza del destino #57 (10 November 1862) libretto by
Francesco Maria Piave
Aida #15 (24 December 1871
)
libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni
Don Carlo #36 (November/December 1872)
libretto by Camille du Locle, Joseph Méry; Achille de Lauzières (Italian trans.)
Otello #28 (5 February 1887) libretto by
Arrigo Boito
Falstaff
#22 (9 February 1893) libretto by
Arrigo Boito
Several of these operas appeared in different versions, some in French. You may see these.
Operas of Verdi's old age, Otello (1887) and Falstaff (1892), had his best librettos, by Arrigo Boito (1842-1918) who also wrote the librettos for Amilcare Ponchielli's (1834-86) La Gioconda (1876) and his own Mefistofele (1868).
French Opera
The division into grand opera (recitative) and opèra-comique (spoken dialogue) eventually served only to identify the two main Paris opera houses. The first use of literary realism in opera was in Carmen (1875) by Georges Bizet (1828-75). Other sentimental operas were Samson and Delilah (1877) by Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921), The Tales of Hoffman (1881) by Offenbach, and Herodiade (1881), Manon (1884) and Werther (1892) by Jules Massenet (1842-1912).
German Opera and Operetta
Wagner's music dramas concluded with Parsifal (1882). The most successful Wagnerian imitation was the fairy tale opera Hänsel und Gretel (1893) by Engelbert Humperdinck (1854-1921).
The waltz and polka were featured in the operettas of Johann Strauss the Younger (1825-99), including Die Fledermaus (1874) and Der Zigeunerbaron (1885).
English Operetta
The operettas of Sir Arthur Sullivan (1842-1900) with librettos by Sir William Gilbert emphasized political satire, including Trial by Jury (1875), H.M.S. Pinafore (1878), The Pirates of Penzance (1880), The Mikado (1885) and The Gondoliers (1889).
Choral Music
Liturgical works with solos, chorus and orchestra were Bruckner's Te Deum (1884), Gounod's St. Cecilia Mass (1885) and the contrasting Requiem Masses of Verdi and Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924).
Verdi's Requiem (1874) was a choral opera with typically operatic arias and orchestration and a bombastic "Dies Irae". Fauré's Requiem (1887) omitted the "Dies Irae" entirely, added the graveside prayer at the end and generally emphasized quiet comfort.
Oratorios were César Franck's (1822-90) Beatitudes (1879) and Gounod's Redemption (1882). Brahms continued the romantic cantata in his Rhapsody (1870) for alto and male chorus, Schicksalslied (1871) and Nänie (1881).
Lied
Brahms composed Lieder throughout his career, beginning with "Liebestreu" (1853) and ending with Vier ernste Gesänge (1896) on texts from the Bible.
French Song
Henri Duparc (1848-1933) composed his sixteen songs, called mélodies, in 1868-77. Others were Gounod, Saint-Saëns, Fauré, Massenet and Ernest Chausson (1855-99).
Nationalism
Nationalism arose as a response to German dominance and consisted of emphasis on national elements such as
(a) folk melodies,
(b) ethnic dance rhythms, and
(c) scenes from national life or history.
The important early schools were Russia which began with Glinka [1830 generation] and followed with "The Five," Borodin, Cui, Rimsky-Korsakov, Balakirev and Mussorgsky; Czechoslovakia which began with Smetana [1850] and continued half-heartedly with Dvořák; and Norway with Grieg.
Russian Opera
The important nationalist operas were Boris Godunov (1874) by Modeste Mussorgsky (1839-81) and Prince Igor (1890) by Alexander Borodin (1833-87). Both operas were arranged by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908) and were composed on subjects from Russian history. More in the European mainstream were Eugen Onegin (1879) and Pique Dame (1890) by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-93).
Nationalist Songs
In Russia "The Five," including César Cui (1835-1918), Mily Balakirev (1837-1910) and especially Mussorgsky, composed songs in Russian style, including Mussorgsky's Nursery (1872) and Songs and Dances of Death (1875). The songs of Anton Rubinstein (1829-94) and Tchaikovsky were closer in style to German Lieder.
Norway Edvard Grieg (1843-1907) composed songs in German, Danish and Norwegian, including Haugtussa (1896-8), and
in Czechoslovakia were Antonin Dvořák's (1841-1904) Gypsy Songs (1880) and Biblical Songs (1894).
Ballet
Tchaikovsky's strengths in rhythm and melody made him perfectly suited to the ballet, which became once again an important medium in Swan Lake (1876), Sleeping Beauty (1890) and Nutcracker (1892).
Style polarized around Wagner (neo-romantics, including Strauss, Mahler, Wolf, Scriabin, and the nationalists: Sibelius in Finland, Elgar in England, Rachmaninov and Rimsky-Korsakov in Russia, et.al.) and Debussy (impressionists, including Ravel, Roussel, Delius, Loeffler and Dukas).
Impressionists
The first big break with German Romanticism came in the works of Claude Debussy (1862-1918) whose harmonic idiom included
(1) symphonic poems, Debussy's Prelude à l'apres-midi d'un faune (1894) and the more realistic Sorcerer's Apprentice (1897) of Paul Dukas (1865-1835),
(2) groups of symphonic poems, Debussy's La Mer (1905) and Images pour orchestre (1906), and
(3) suites, Maurice Ravel's (1875-1837) Rapsodie espagnol (1907).
French Opera
Pelléas et Mélisande (1902) by Debussy set a symbolist play by Maeterlinck to uniquely suitable impressionist music with extended orchestral interludes and recitative which imitated French speech patterns. Other operas were the realistic Louise (1900) by Gustave Charpentier (1860-1956), Thais (1894) by Massenet, and Revel's L'Heure espagnole (1910).
French Song
Impressionism was represented by Debussy's Fete galantes (1892, 1904), Chanson de Bilitis (1897), Ravel's Histoire Naturelles (1906) and his orchestral song cycle Shéhérazade (1903). Faure's important cycles in an older style were La Bonne Chanson (1892-3) and La Chanson d'Eve (1907).
Chamber Music
Both Debussy, (1893) and Ravel (1903) wrote string quartets.
Piano Music
Descriptive titles which set a mood were important in Debussy's Estampes (1903), Images I (1905), II (1907) and Preludes I (1910) and II (1913), and Ravel's Jeux d'eau (1901) and Miroirs (1905). Eric Satie's (1866-1925) Three Pieces in the Shape of a Pear (1903) and Dried-up Embryos (1913) ridiculed these impressionist titles.
Neo-Romantics
Expression through tonality and modulation, begun by Haydn, reached its final phase in works characterized by extremes of chromaticism and free modulation, enormous orchestras, emotional realism and the long surging line.
Symphonic Poem
Richard Strauss (1864-1949) used both philosophical programs, Tod und Verklärung (1889) and Also sprach Zarathustra (1896), and descriptive programs, Don Juan (1899), Till Eulenspiegel (1895), Don Quixote (1897), Ein Heldenleben (1898), Sinfonia Domestica (1903) and Alpensymphonie (1915). His strongest feature was the virtuosic use of the orchestra.
Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) also composed a number of symphonic poems based on the Finnish national epic, Finlandia (1899).
Symphony
Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) also excelled at virtuosic orchestration in his ten symphonies, including No. 2 "Resurrection" (1895), No. 4 (1901) and No. 8 "of a Thousand" (1910). He typically included orchestral songs (Nos. 2, 3, and 4), augmented his often huge orchestra with chorus (Nos. 2, 3, and 8), used folk-like melodies and varied the number of movements. Early programs were later suppressed. Sibelius' most important symphonies were No. 2 (1902) and No. 4 (1911).
Orchestral Variations
Unlike Brahms, orchestral variations in this generation did not retain the structure in each variation. These were Vincent D'Indy's (1851-1931) Istar Variations (1896) and Edward Elgar's (1857-1934) Enigma Variations (1899).
Piano music
The limits of romantic piano idiom were reached in the ten sonatas of Alexander Scriabin (1872-1915) and the preludes, Op. 3, No. 2 (1892), Op. 23 (1904) and Op. 32 (1910), and Piano Concertos No. 2 (1901) and No. 3 (1909) of Sergei Rachmaninov (1873-1943).
Orchestral Song Cycle
Closely related to his symphonies in style and structure were Mahler's Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen (1883-84), Kindertotenlieder (1902) and Das Lied von der Erde (1908) for tenor and contralto.
Lied
The new generation began composing songs in the 1880's and included Mahler, Strauss (composing 1882-1901), and Hugo Wolf (1860-1903) who published his songs in volumes by a single poet: Mörike (1888), Eichendorff (1888), Goethe (1889), Spanisches Liederbuch (1890), Italienische Liederbuch (1891, '96) and Michaelangelo (1897).
German Opera
Wagnerian principles of continuous music and use of leitmotives were found in the dissonant and dramatically violent Salome (1905) and Elektra (1909) by Strauss.
Italian Opera
Verismo was the operatic version of literary realism, shown in the use of naturalistic recitative, the disappearance of coloratura and commonplace, often violent subject matter. The operas were Cavalleria rusticana (1890) by Pietro Mascagni (1863-1945), I Pagliacci (1892) by Ruggiero Leoncavallo (1858-1919), and Manon Lescaut (1893), La Bohème (1896), Tosca (1900) and Madame Butterfly (1904) by Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924).
Russian Opera
Russian opera continued in Sadko (1897) and Le Coq d'or (1909) by Rimsky-Korsakov.
Choral Music
Important choral works were Elgar's oratorio Dream of Gerontius (1900) and Guerrelieder (1901), a cantata by Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951).
American Jazz
Ragtime for piano by Scott Joplin (1868-1917) flourished c. 1897-1910 with an upbeat tempo and syncopated right hand, including "Maple Leaf Rag" (1899) and his opera Treemonisha (one performance in 1915).
First performed in 1904, the music is in the broad category called
verismo, a style popular late in the 19th and early 20th centuries and characterized by stories about ordinary people set to deeply romantic music.
What is this opera about?
Pinkerton is part of the conquering army who are the same in any era. The women are considered part of the booty of war. She believes he loves her, and abandons her family and religion, indeed everything, for him. Part of the attraction of war is the abandonment of social morality.
Many people enter the world of opera through the door of Giacomo Puccini (1858 – 1924) who composed from the late nineteenth century until his death in 1924. He was insanely popular during his lifetime, and three of his operas--Tosca, La Bohème and Madama Butterfly--are still in the top 10 most popular operas.
Puccini is a representative of a style called verismo, a kind of reality check for opera. Instead of gods and kings, the heroes and heroines are ordinary people, living, falling in love, killing and dying in sordid ordinary ways. His music is characterized by beautiful melodies, lush romantic harmonies, rich orchestration and full voices. As with all composers, how full each character's voice is varies from one opera to another. The biggest voices for Puccini are in Turandot and La fanciulla del west.
His most popular operas are:
Manon Lescaut, #40, libretto by Luigi Illica, Marco Praga and Domenico Oliva (1 February 1893) [I recommend Met on Demand 29-Mar-80] [blog post], [blog post],
La bohème, #4, libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa (1 February 1896) [I recommend Met on Demand 15-Mar-77] [blog post],
Tosca, #6, libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa (14 January 1900) [I recommend Met on Demand 10-Oct-09] [blog post],
Madama Butterfly, #8, libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa (17 February 1904) [I recommend Met on Demand 7-Mar-09] [blog post],
La fanciulla del West, #100, libretto by Guelfo Civinini and Carlo Zangarini (10 December 1910) [I recommend Met on Demand 8-Apr-92] [blog post],
La rondine, libretto by Giuseppe Adami (27 March 1917) [I recommend Met on Demand 10-Jan-09] [blog post],
Suor Angelica, #74, libretto by Giovacchino Forzano
Gianni Schicchi, #43, libretto by Giovacchino Forzano
Turandot, #15, libretto by Renato Simoni and Giuseppe Adami (incomplete at the time of Puccini's death, completed by Franco Alfano: 25 April 1926) [I recommend Met on Demand 7-Nov-09] [blog post],
First performed in 1896, the music is in the broad category called verismo.
The plot is a tragic love affair among the artist colony of Paris.
Everyone loves Puccini's La Bohème, an Italian opera despite the French title. This is a good place to begin with opera because the
music is consistently beautiful throughout, the characters are well
drawn, they laugh, they fall in love, they quarrel and they die in great
style. It is a complete arc of emotion, and the plot is never confusing. In the spirit of verismo we see starving artists Rodolfo, the poet, and Marcello, the painter, Mimi, a girl who embroiders flowers and another girl, Musetta, who makes a living from men
with money, in short a professional mistress.
The Story
Act I
This act takes place in Paris in the garret of some starving artists on Christmas
Eve. Everyone but Rodolfo goes out to a restaurant to celebrate the holiday and the fact that one of them has a job. When
Rodolfo is alone, Mimi from upstairs stops by to complain that her
candle has gone out. By the end of the act they are telling each other
"te amo." [I love you.] You can decide for yourself if she is really there to get him to light her candle or just to meet him.
This was Luciano Pavarotti's favorite opera. He was one of the gods of opera.
This is the essential MeToo Opera, the one where a powerful figure uses his authority to try to extract sexual favors. He doesn't offer a job in return, but he offers the life of her lover. He chooses the wrong woman. Spoiler alert. Instead of sex he gets a knife in the gut.
The political background is war. All of the characters know that Rome, which is being ruled by Naples, will soon be invaded by the French army under Napoleon. Scarpia represents the current government, but Mario is for the Republican French. Tosca is a famous opera singer who seems only to care about love and art. The entire opera takes place in real places in Rome.
More Information
First performed in 1900, the music is in the broad category called verismo, a style popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The plot is a tragic love affair with political complications. Tosca and Mario truly love one another, but he cannot let go of his political involvement for her sake.
Giacomo Puccini's Tosca premiered in Rome and is based on a play by Sardou. The plot, set in Rome in June, 1800, is a traditional political opera with some more modern sordid elements. The characters are fictional, but the setting is historical and tied to a specific time and place. Floria Tosca
isn't an ordinary girl but instead is the most famous singer of her
time and place. Mario Cavaradossi is a famous painter. Scarpia is the
governor of Rome under the rule of Naples. Everything happens just as
the army of the French Republic are returning to Rome to throw out the Neapolitan government.
The Story
Act I
In
Act I Mario Cavaradossi is painting in the Chiesa di Sant'Andrea della
Valle in Rome. The woman in the painting is the sister of Consul Angelotti who
is hiding in the church. She comes every day to pray and look for her
brother.
Hit Tune
At the very beginning of the opera Mario is on his scaffold looking at the painting he is making. He cannot resist comparing his girlfriend Floria Tosca's beauty with the woman in the painting. "Recondita armonia," "Contrasting harmony in these diverse beauties." There is much discussion about how the woman in the painting
has blue eyes while Tosca's eyes are black.
Tosca is at this time
Cavaradossi's girlfriend, but Scarpia, the chief of police, wants her. Tosca enters with
flowers for the Virgin.
Here is the Act I love scene between Tosca and Mario..
Mario helps Angelotti find a place to hide from Scarpia. The scene ends with a church service, and Scarpia expresses how much he wants Tosca.
Act
II
This scene takes place in Scarpia's office in the Palazzo Farnese. He has arrested and is torturing Cavaradossi to get him to tell where Angelotti
is hiding.
Hit Tune
Tosca offers to give herself to Scarpia if he will free
Cavaradossi. Tosca sings "Vissi d'arte," "I lived for art, I lived for love. Why this, lord?"
As soon as Scarpia has signed the paper, Tosca kills him
and escapes. To start at the top see Maria Callas kill Scarpia with
Tito Gobbi as Scarpia. She says things like "the kiss of Tosca!" when she stabs him and
"die!" when he just lies there. It is probably the most famous of all opera films.
Act III
Cavaradossi is in the prison in the Castel Sant'Angelo waiting to be executed. His best arias are in this act.
Hit Tune
Mario sings about Tosca.
Mario goes bravely to stand before the firing squad. Tosca thinks they are only going to pretend to shoot him but soon sees
that he is really dead. When she hears them coming to get her for killing
Scarpia, she jumps off of the fortress.
Complete Film
This is a different movie than I previously posted but also looks like a movie and stars a young Placido Domingo. Floria Tosca is Raina Kabaivanska, and Barone Scarpia is Sherril Milnes.
If you hate this, you should possibly try some Donizetti comedy, or maybe Wagner.
If you love it, stick to Verismo for a while longer.
