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

vi- dialogue was set in rapidly delivered recitative that was accompanied by the
keyboard only
3: Arias in comic opera
i- made up of short tuneful phrases often repeated accompanied by simple
harmonies and organized into tidy periods
ii- Leonardo Vinci (1690-1730) - his "Le zite 'ngalera" (The Spinsters in the
Gallery) with libretto in the Neapolitan dialect by Bernardo Saddumene of
1722 is one of the few early comic operas that survive complete
b) Intermezzo
1: type of comic opera orginated in the custom of presenting short comic musical
interludes between the acts of a serious opera or play
i- contrasted sharply with the grand & heroic manners of the principal drama
ii- plots were mostly situation comedies involving a few ordinary people who
sang recitatives and arias
2: Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (1710-1736) was an early master of the Intermezzo
i- one of the most important composers in the early Classic Style and wrote
some important "opera seria
ii- the performance of his "La serva padrona" in Paris in 1752 set off the
"Querelle des bouffons"
3. Mature Comic Opera
a) While opera seria maintained its character across national boundaries, comic
opera took different forms in different countries
1: represented every day people in familiar situations
2: comic opera librettos were always written in the national tongue
3: the music tended to accentuate the national musical idiom
b) Historical significance
1: responded to widespread demand for naturalness in the latter half of the 18th
century
2: represented the earliest passage toward musical nationalism which would
become prominent in the Romantic period
c) Italy
1: Italian dramatist Carlo Goldoni (1707-1793) introduced refinements in the
comic opera libretto
i- serious, sentimental, or woeful plots began to appear along side the
traditional comic ones
ii- reflecting this change, the older designation opera buffa was replaced by
dramma giocoso
2: Italian comic opera exploited the possibilities of the Bass voice
3: introduced the ensemble finale - unlike anything in opera seria
i- all characters were brought on stage while the action continued
ii- reaching a climax with all the singers taking part
4: composers
i- Nicolò Piccinni (1728-1800)
ii- Giovanni Paesiello (Paisiello) (1740-1816)
iii- Domenico Cimarosa (1749-1801)