Opera, a passionate of art forms, started its roots from the Ancient Greek theatre to the Renaissance, the period that divided the Middle Ages from modern times and that led to great interest in the arts and learning.
The Ancient Greek Stage Plays
A feature of ancient Greek theatre was the chorus, with texts that served as teachers since they set moral tones on the action played out for the audience. Speeches by individual characters were possibly sung and instrumental music played during certain play passages. The Roman theatre drew on this model that laid the foundations for later Italian opera development.
The Middle Ages and Adam de la Halle
This period is known for its religious dramas with musical element in them, but it is within the secular music dramas that opera beginnings can be found. In this regard, one widely recognized as a significant forerunner of opera is a pastoral comedy Le Jeu de Robin et de Marion by Adam de la Halle, a composer in the court of Charles of Anjou, king of Naples. First performed in Naples, 1282, this pastoral comedy combines song, dance and speech.
The Renaissance Opera
In Italy, the Renaissance began particularly in Florence during the 14th century. It eventually spread throughout Europe during the following two hundred years. During this period the earlier influence of the Church over music began to wane as ruling families became aristocratic patrons to composers, who were lavished with money on musical entertainments to display their benefactors' wealth.
Two art forms that became forerunners of the opera:
- Decorative Mas Masquerade. Masque is a form of festive entertainment in which the participants hid their faces with masks. Said to be born in Italy, masque involved music and dancing, singing and acting. The stage design was elaborate, and often managed by a well-known architect. For speech and songs, professional actors and musicians were hired, and the other parts performed by courtiers.
- Intermedio. This was a play with musical interludes written for special occasions, performed at aristocratic weddings and celebrations of national importance. Some themes include a mythological story or pastorale, which presented an idealized view of nature.
The Camerata Fiorentina (or Florence Academy), simply referred to as Camerata, was a group of poets and musicians formed in late 16th century Florence. They rejected the music and drama of their day, and strongly believed that words and music should complement each other. And more, that vocal music should follow the inflections and rhythms of spoken texts rather than the regular beat of the dance music.
Camerata’s contribution to opera was their development of monody, a vocal music form (derived from the Greek for ‘solo song’) in which accompaniment consisted of a series of chords on a harpsichord, supported by a bass melody instrument we now refer to as basso continuo.
The First Opera – Dafne
Both members of the Camerata, Jacopo Peri and Giulio Caccini set out their dramatic creativity by applying the monody for dialogues and soliloquies. Peri wrote what is considered to be the first opera, Dafne. He also composed Eurydice in 1600, the first to survive with its music complete. Orpheus and Eurydice has been a subject for opera with various adaptations and versions through the years.
Peri’s version gives a tale of happy ending, quite unusual of the story, since he wrote it for the wedding of Maria de Medici to the French King Henri IV. Giulio Caccini, who also had his own version of Eurydice (published before Peri’s), provided additional elements to the score.
The opera beginnings are vital to its development and significant to what the opera has become. Until the early Renaissance, the operas were mainly themed and performed for historical interest. Therefore, it lacked the creation of characters and that stirring of emotions. That time it needed a composer who could breathe life into it. Italian opera composer Claudio Monteverdi was that genius, who stepped up the early Italian opera connections. From the Ancient Greek theatres to the renaissance music and dances, opera has greatly stood the test of time.
If you want to learn more about opera’s early history, read Italian Opera Beginnings, French Opera Beginnings and English Opera Beginnings.
Sources:
Batta, András, Editor-in-Chief. Opera. Cologne: Könemann, 1999
Griffin, Clive. Opera. London: Harper Collins, 2007
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