An Outline of The History of Western Music Grout ... - The Reel Score

ii) Milton's "Comus" in 1634 with music by Henry Lawes (1596-1662) is the
best known
(2) English opera had a modest beginning under the Commonwealth (1649
-1660) - though both English composers & the public did not especially like it
i) stage plays were prohibited during this period
ii) but a play set to music could be called a concert and so avoid the ban
iii) with the Restoration (1660-1685) the pretext around the prohibition of stage
plays was no longer necessary
(3) nearly all the English "semi-operas" of the 17th century were really plays with
a large proportion of vocal solos, ensembles, choruses, & instrumental music
b) Unfortunately for English music, no composer during the next two centuries would
develop and maintain a national tradition in the face of Italian Opera's popularity.
Instead, English audiences lavished their enthusiasm on the productions of Italian,
French, or German composers
8. Germany
a) Most important center for opera in Germany was the northern free city of Hamburg
(1) first public opera house outside Venice opened in 1678
(2) here a national opera emerged - the Hamburg opera existed until 1738 when
German opera lost favor
b) Orgins
(1) School dramas - performed by students, were plays of pious, moral, or
didactic character with inserted musical numbers
i) fairly numerous during the 16th & early 17th centuries
ii) died out during the Thirty Years' War
(2) Singspiel - sing-play, a play that interspersed songs with spoken dialogue,
when German composers replaced the spoken dialogue with recitative, they
adopted wholesale the recitative style of Italian Opera
B. Vocal Chamber Music
1. Italy
a) Cantata - evolved from the early 17th century monodic strophic variations and
developed into a genre consisting of many short, contrasting sections - by the
second half of the century it had settled into more clearly defined pattern of
alternating recitatives and arias, normally two or three of each, for solo voice with
continuo
(1) the text usually love poetry took the form of a dramatic narrative or soliloquy
(2) performance usually about 15 min in length
(3) in both literary and musical aspects, resembled a scene detached from an
opera - though on a more intimate scale
(4) because of smaller scale than the opera it offered composers an opportunity
to experiment
(5) imitated or adapted across Europe
b) Vocal Chamber Duet - two equal high voices over a figured bass
(1) a popular medium
(2) corresponded to the instrumental trio sonata
c) Serenata - a semi dramatic piece usually written for some special occasion
performed by a small orchestra and several singers