The Birth of Opera and the Early Baroque

1580-1700

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Introduction

Although many types of theatre involving music came before the late 1500s, the genre that we now know as ‘opera�� was only just beginning. In Florence, in the 1570s a group of intellectuals interested in music and theatre formed the Florentine Camerata, in order to discuss the merits of musical form and theatrical devices, and to guide the arts with their new creations. They came to the conclusion that Renaissance polyphony (the layering of many independent lines of music) had become too complex to really contain or express emotion. At the same time, theatre had moved away from the traditions of the Greek and Roman stages, where music was fundamental to the drama, and had instead focused on spoken verse.

The Camerata felt it was time for a revival of the old theatrical forms, and their members began to write dramas where the entire text was set to musical pitches. It was to be sung at the speed and pace of the spoken language, but with musical notes to carry the emotion and drama of the scene, the format that became known as ‘recitative��. This was then combined with a chorus who are both part of the action and able to comment on it, in the style of a Greek chorus. Little did the Camerata expect that their return to an old form would actually be the springboard for the development of an exciting new genre altogether. Thus, ‘opera�� as we know it today was born.

This guide will explore examples of early operas in the baroque era and influential composers of this period.

Terminology

Aria: A long accompanied song for a solo voice.
Baroque: Relating to or denoting a style of European music, art, and architecture of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
Buffo: A comic character role, usually sung by a bass or bass-baritone.
Commedia dell'arte: A form of popular theatre emerged in Italy during the fifteenth century. It is characterized by improvised dialogue and a cast of colorful stock characters.
Masque: A popular, lavish form of entertainment, favored by the Royal courts.
Opera Buffa: A style of comic opera developed in Italy.
Opera Comique: A style of comic opera developed in France and characterised by the use of spoken dialogue.
Opera Seria: A style of opera developed in Italy on a serious (usually classical or mythological) theme.
Recitative: An operatic conversation or musical dialogue. In many operas, the recitative is where the story happens.
Tragedie-lyrique: A genre of French opera of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries which makes use of tragic mythological or epic subjects.

Key Dates & Events

1567 - Italian composer Claudio Monteverdi was born
1581 - Vincenzo Galilei published Dialogo della musica antica e della moderna which called for a return to Ancient Greek styles of monody, or single-line music for the expression of text and drama. Under this advice The Florentine Camarata formed.
1597 - First performance of Peri’s Dafne in Florence. Considered by many to be the first true example of opera, unfortunately the score is now lost.
1600 - Peri’s Euridice performed for the marriage of Maria de’Medici and Henri IV of France. The same libretto would later be used for Giulio Caccini’s Euridice.
1607 - Monteverdi’s first opera La favola d’Orfeo premieres at the Accademia del’Invaghiti in Mantua.
1614 - First performance of an opera outside of Italy, in Salzburg at the Archbishop’s palace.
1615 - Francesca Caccini’s La liberazione di Ruggiero dall’isola d’Alcina premieres. The oldest known opera by a female composer, and the earliest opera to include a ballet (in this case a ballo al cavallo - a ballet on horseback!)
1627 - The first comic opera was written. Until this point, everything had been allegory, tragedy, and myth. Unfortunately Monteverdi’s La finta pazza Licori was never performed, and the manuscript was lost.
1632 - French composer Jean-Baptiste Lully was born.
1637 - Teatro San Cassiano, the first public opera house, was opened in Venice.
1637 - Maddalena Manelli sang the title role in ��’A�Ի��ǳ��岹, composed by her husband. She was one of the first women to appear on the opera stage.
1640 - Premiere of Il ritorno di Ulisse in patria by Monteverdi.
1642 - Premiere of L’incoronazione di Poppea by Monteverdi
1655 - Queen Christina of Sweden moved to Rome, where she would form the Accademia Reale, responsible for the formation of opera seria.
1647 - First performance of Italian opera in France, Rossi’s ��’O��ڱ�� was performed at the Palais-Royal, Paris.
1656 - The Siege of Rhodes, was performed at Rutland House in London. Although still mostly in the masque style, this piece represented a move into the more recitative style of baroque opera, and many consider it to be the first example of English opera.
1658 - English composer Henry Purcell was born.
1660 - The first Spanish opera, Celos aun del aire matan by Hidalgo, was produced at the Buen Retiro Palace, Madrid.
1669 - The Academie Royale was established and led to the opening of the first opera house in Paris.
1671 - First French opera, Pomone by Cambert, premiered in Paris.
1673 - Jean-Baptiste Lully’s first pastoral opera Les Fêtes de l’amour et de Bacchus premiered.
1678 - The first German opera house opens, the Theatre am Gänsemarkt in Hamburg. Its grand opening event was the premiere of Adam und Eva by Theile and Richter.
1686 - Papal ban on female singers on stage and in opera houses in Italy.
1689 - Henry Purcell’s first opera Dido and Aeneas had its premiere at a girl’s school in Chelsea.
1692 - Purcell’s The Fairy Queen was first performed.

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