History of opera

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The history of opera has a relatively short duration within the context of the history of music in general: it appeared in 1597, when the first opera, Dafne, by Jacopo Peri, was created. Since then it has developed parallel to the various musical currents that have followed one another over time up to the present day, generally linked to the current concept of classical music.

Opera (from the Latin opera, plural of opus, "work") is a musical genre that combines symphonic music, usually performed by an orchestra, and a written dramatic text—expressed in the form of a libretto—interpreted vocally by singers of different tessitura: tenor, baritone, and bass for the male register, and soprano, mezzo-soprano, and contralto for the female, in addition to the so-called white voices (those of children) or in falsetto (castrato, countertenor). Generally, the musical work contains overtures, interludes and musical accompaniments, while the sung part can be in choir or solo, duet, trio, or various combinations, in different structures such as recitative or aria. There are various genres, such as classical opera, chamber opera, operetta, musical, singspiel, and zarzuela.^[1] On the other hand, as in theater, there is dramatic opera (opera seria) and comic opera (opera buffa), as well as a hybrid between the two: the dramma giocoso.^[2]

As a multidisciplinary genre, opera brings together music, singing, dance, theater, scenography, performance, costumes, makeup, hairdressing, and other artistic disciplines. It is therefore a work of collective creation, which essentially starts from a librettist and a composer, and where the vocal performers have a primordial role, but where the musicians and the conductor, the dancers, the creators of the sets and costumes, and many other figures are equally essential. On the other hand, it is a social event, so it has no reason to exist without an audience to witness the show. For this very reason, it has been over time a reflection of the various currents of thought, political and philosophical, religious and moral, aesthetic and cultural, peculiar to the society where the plays were produced.^[3]

Opera was born at the end of the 16th century, as an initiative of a circle of scholars (the Florentine Camerata) who, discovering that Ancient Greek theater was sung, had the idea of setting dramatic texts to music. Thus, Jacopo Peri created Dafne (1597), followed by Euridice (1600), by the same author. In 1607, Claudio Monteverdi composed La favola d'Orfeo, where he added a musical introduction that he called sinfonia, and divided the sung parts into arias, giving structure to the modern opera.

The subsequent evolution of opera has run parallel to the various musical currents that have followed one another over time: between the 17th century and the first half of the 18th it was framed by the Baroque, a period in which cultured music was reserved for the social elites, but which produced new and rich musical forms, and which saw the establishment of a language of its own for opera, which was gaining richness and complexity not only in compositional and vocal methods but also in theatrical and scenographic production. The second half of the 18th century saw the Classicism, a period of great creativity marked by the serenity and harmony of its compositions, with great figures such as Mozart and Beethoven. The 19th century was marked by the Romanticism, characterized by the individuality of the composer, already considered an enlightened genius and increasingly revered, as were the greatest vocal figures of singing, who became stars in a society where the bourgeoisie relegated the aristocracy in social preeminence. This century saw the emergence of the musical variants of numerous nations with hardly any musical tradition until then, in what came to be called musical nationalism. The century closed with currents such as French impressionism and Italian verismo. In the 20th century opera, like the rest of music and the arts in general, entered the avant-garde, a new way of conceiving artistic creation in which new compositional methods and techniques emerged, which were expressed in a great variety of styles, at a time of greater diffusion of the media that allowed reaching a wider audience through various channels, not only in person (radio, television), and in which the wide musical repertoire of previous periods was still valued, which remained in force in the main opera houses of the world.

During the course of history, within opera there have been differences of opinion as to which of its components was more important, the music or the text, or even whether the importance lay in the singing and virtuosity of the performers, a phenomenon that gave rise to bel canto and to the appearance of figures such as the diva or prima donna. From its beginnings until the consolidation of classicism, the text enjoyed greater importance, always linked to the visual spectacle, the lavish decorations and the complex baroque scenographies; Claudio Monteverdi said in this respect: "the word must be decisive, it must direct the harmony, not serve it." However, since the reform carried out by Gluck and the appearance of great geniuses such as Mozart, music as the main component of opera became more and more important. Mozart himself once commented: "poetry must be the obedient servant of music". Other authors, such as Richard Wagner, sought to bring together all the arts in a single creation, which he called "total work of art" (Gesamtkunstwerk).^[4]