Week 31: Instruments of the Baroque Era III: Opera and Oratorio

1. Stuff done these weeks

• Preparing for our show in Paradiso, supporting Parker Millsap.


• Reading up on opera and oratorio.

2. Listening done these weeks

Marlon Williams - When I was a young girl
A friend of mine pointed me towards this rendition of this traditional. I think it is beautifully sung.

"When I was a young girl I used to seek pleasure
When I was a young girl I used to drink ale
Straight out of the ale house, down to the jail house"

The Mountain Goats - Cotton
One comment I read about this song, which I think sums it all up: "Sometimes things only really make sense once you've been there". A rather uplifting melody, and melancholy lyrics that do hint at a sense of reconciliation and new purpose.

"This song is for the people
Who tell their families that they're sorry
For things they can't
And won't feel sorry for"

Morphine - In Spite of Me 
Beautiful whispery song sung by Mark Sandman, accompanied by Jimmy Ryan from country band The Blood Oranges on mandolin.

3. What I have learned

Opera

Opera means "work" in Italian and it is a form of theatrical drama, staged with scenery, costumes and action, in which (nearly) continuous music is essential and predominant. The several acts, usually preceded by instrumental introductions, consist of vocal scenes, recitatives, songs arias, duets, trios, choir singing etc. accompanied by an orchestra (Hartong, 2006; Burkholder et al., 2014: A13; Randel, 2003: p. 584).

Randel (2003) states that ouvertures, choruses, ballets and ensembles may be present in opera, hoewever they do not define the genre. An opera may be accompanied by an orchestra or by a small group of instruments; it may be sung throughout or it may be interspersed with spoken dialogue. The text of an opera - the libretto -  may be newly cerated or derived from literature and poetry. Opera is, by its theatrical nature, meant to be performed for audiences, contrary to for instance madrigals or chamber music. It therefore very much a social art (Randel, 2003: p. 584).

Opera has had a history of almost 400 years, and has exhibited different forms and styles. It probably originated from liturgical music drama and mystery plays and such pastoral plays as Le Jeu de Robin et de Marion by Adam de la Halle, which I discussed in this blog entry. 

But it is is particularly a music form from the Renaissance. It was the result of a debate between humanist intellectuals from Florence (the "Camerata de' Bardi") who attempted to revive the art of ancient Greece. They had no understandable music resources from that period, but they came to the following conclusion that Greek drama was sung and the words were emotionally heightened but always clearly audible. This led to the development of a type of singing where words were sung syllabically in a recitative style.

In an earlier blog I discussed how Monteverdi can be regarded as the composer of the first great opera Orfeo, which was produced at Mantua in 1607.

Oratorio

An oratorio is a musical composition for chorus, orchestra and vocal soloists based on a religious, spiritual or philosophical text (Hartong, 2006). It emerged as a new genre in 17th century Rome. They are rather similar to opera's in that they feature recitatives, arias, duets and instrumental preludes and ritornellos. But, contrary to opera, the subject of oratorios was religious and they were seldom staged, as action was mostly not acted out. There was often a narrator and a chorus, where each voice would have a part. The singers could each take on various roles, ether dramatic or narrative.

Oratorios were both sung in Latin or vernacular Italian; the latter was functional to spread the Roman Catholic faith under the common people.The Latin oratorio was, expectedly, more cherished amongst the church elites. Stylistic differences between oratorio and opera became rather blurred, even though the more mundane operas were often deemed sinful by the church. However opera singers were employed for oratorios and vice versa. Stylistic purity was in fact not so much the aim; many styles of secular and religious origin were used to cenvey the church's message to the listeners. The liturgy was central and its dramatic decalamatrion was valued most in oratorios (Burkholder et al., 2014: p. 336-337).

A leading composer of oratorios in Latin, was Giacomo Carissimi (1605 - 1674). The composition "Jephte" (ca. 1648) exemplifies the midcentury oratorio, according to Burkholder et al. (2014: p. 336). It tells the story of an Israelite general who prays to the Lord to grant him a victory in battle against the Ammonites. In return he will sacrify the first creature to greet him on his return from battle.Tragically, this is to be his daughter.
The composition contains arias, duets and ensembles celebrating victory in battle. The oratorio contains a recitative between father and daughter, in which he relates to her what he has promised God. Afterwards, the chorus narrates how she goes to the mountain to bewail her approaching death. In the final scene, she sings a lament supported by the chorus. The chorus consists of six voices that employ polychoral and madrigalistic effects (Burkholder et al., 2014: page 336).

4. Sources

BURKHOLDER, J, GROUT, D. and PALISCA, C. (2014) A History of Western Music, 9th edition, New York: W.W. Norton (Glossary: A5, A10, A13, A18, A19).

civilesco (2008) Carissimi: Jephte (1/3) Le Parlement de Musique , Youtube, viewed 28th of August 2017,<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TN9VI1vNKM&list=PL4B0EC369E794CEF0>.

HARTONG, J.L. (2006) Musical Terms Worldwide, 1st edition. The Hague: Semar Publishers, srl.

LATHAM, A. (2003) The Oxford Companion to Music, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

RANDEL, D. (ed.) (2003) The Harvard Dictionary of Music, 4th edition. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.