How Did Monteverdi Influence The Development Of The Opera Orchestra
One of the greatest things about music its ability to inspire growth. Many times it can evolve into bigger and greater things and many times in can do the whole opposite. One of the few topics in music where developments continued in a consistent uphill way has been that in the development of the orchestra.
Claudio Monteverdi play an important role in the development of the opera orchestra. Firstly, Monteverdi puts an orchestra instrumental list at the beginning of his of Orfeo. This easily delineates his insistence on using a certain number of instruments for what probably a certain “sound”. Monteverdi also assigned instruments to certain characters/emotions. (81) Giving a more intimate connection of instrumentation to music. Monteverdi continues is orchestral …show more content…
developments in his 1624 opera Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda. Here Monteverdi only utilizing strings and continuo. This was done as to bring strong attention to the strings which at the moment was in fashion. (87)
The importance of the strings was also characteristics in operas in France.
During this time Jean-Baptiste was fully engaged in composing Ballet comique. He had very little interest in composing opera. However, when his king showed a keen interest in opera he wasted no time in shifting his compositional energies. Most interestingly Lully held a monopoly on Opera in Paris until his death in 1687. Like Monteverdi, Lully also specified his preference of instruments in his score. Lully’s specifications were predominately strings. (140) Jean-Philippe Rameau continued composing opera in the tradition of Lully. He was hailed by many as a “savior of French opera” and criticized by others as a “hopeless pedant” (198) How their compositional styles differ is in Rameau’s active use of including the chorus more repeatedly throughout his operas. Rameau also differed from Lully in how he connected his overtures to the opera. Prior to this, if Lully had little time he would use one of his previous overtures and attach them to the opera of the moment. Rameau instead connects the overture as part of the entire opera and even brings back the theme of his overtures modulated in different sections of his operas.
(200)
By the start of the 18 the century the orchestra the nucleus of the orchestra remained in the string family. Composers would support the strings instruments with keyboard instruments like that of the harpsichord and organ. Woodwind instruments like oboes and bassoons were later added. As the orchestra propels into the classical era we initially see very little growth. However more woodwinds and brass instruments are added. To aid in the balance more string instruments are added.
Alessandro Scarlatti later operas prove to push the envelope in growth and size of the orchestra. In his opera Tigrane horns are introduced for the first time. (168) Stefanni Landi, Reinhard Keiser and George Friderich Handel were instrumental in having the orchestra accompany the solo singer. Handel creates specials effect by including brass instruments (horns, trumpets, and trombones) along with the chorus. He also continues his special effects in the “V’adoro pupille” from his Giulio Cesare by adding a harp and a theorbo to the already existing instrumental parts. Christoph Willibaud Gluck pursuit of reform prove to propel the genre of opera into what is today. He took more risks in his opera Iphigénie en Tauride. This opera “has no formal overture but rather an introduction depicting first ‘the calm,’ then a ‘storm’” (268) He further develops the full engagement of the orchestra when he utilizes the orchestra to depict the innermost “truth of a situation, in distinction from, even in contradiction to, the words of the text.” (268).
Though the opera orchestra will see further growth in massive ways it’s clearly noted how the orchestra developed. The orchestra grows in size from about 25 musicians to nearly double. The orchestra also grows in responsibility. At first the orchestra was simply accompaniment for the singer. It then gets part of the plot by bringing to life the characters emotions through music displays.
Claudio Monteverdi play an important role in the development of the opera orchestra. Firstly, Monteverdi puts an orchestra instrumental list at the beginning of his of Orfeo. This easily delineates his insistence on using a certain number of instruments for what probably a certain “sound”. Monteverdi also assigned instruments to certain characters/emotions. (81) Giving a more intimate connection of instrumentation to music. Monteverdi continues is orchestral …show more content…
developments in his 1624 opera Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda. Here Monteverdi only utilizing strings and continuo. This was done as to bring strong attention to the strings which at the moment was in fashion. (87)
The importance of the strings was also characteristics in operas in France.
During this time Jean-Baptiste was fully engaged in composing Ballet comique. He had very little interest in composing opera. However, when his king showed a keen interest in opera he wasted no time in shifting his compositional energies. Most interestingly Lully held a monopoly on Opera in Paris until his death in 1687. Like Monteverdi, Lully also specified his preference of instruments in his score. Lully’s specifications were predominately strings. (140) Jean-Philippe Rameau continued composing opera in the tradition of Lully. He was hailed by many as a “savior of French opera” and criticized by others as a “hopeless pedant” (198) How their compositional styles differ is in Rameau’s active use of including the chorus more repeatedly throughout his operas. Rameau also differed from Lully in how he connected his overtures to the opera. Prior to this, if Lully had little time he would use one of his previous overtures and attach them to the opera of the moment. Rameau instead connects the overture as part of the entire opera and even brings back the theme of his overtures modulated in different sections of his operas.
(200)
By the start of the 18 the century the orchestra the nucleus of the orchestra remained in the string family. Composers would support the strings instruments with keyboard instruments like that of the harpsichord and organ. Woodwind instruments like oboes and bassoons were later added. As the orchestra propels into the classical era we initially see very little growth. However more woodwinds and brass instruments are added. To aid in the balance more string instruments are added.
Alessandro Scarlatti later operas prove to push the envelope in growth and size of the orchestra. In his opera Tigrane horns are introduced for the first time. (168) Stefanni Landi, Reinhard Keiser and George Friderich Handel were instrumental in having the orchestra accompany the solo singer. Handel creates specials effect by including brass instruments (horns, trumpets, and trombones) along with the chorus. He also continues his special effects in the “V’adoro pupille” from his Giulio Cesare by adding a harp and a theorbo to the already existing instrumental parts. Christoph Willibaud Gluck pursuit of reform prove to propel the genre of opera into what is today. He took more risks in his opera Iphigénie en Tauride. This opera “has no formal overture but rather an introduction depicting first ‘the calm,’ then a ‘storm’” (268) He further develops the full engagement of the orchestra when he utilizes the orchestra to depict the innermost “truth of a situation, in distinction from, even in contradiction to, the words of the text.” (268).
Though the opera orchestra will see further growth in massive ways it’s clearly noted how the orchestra developed. The orchestra grows in size from about 25 musicians to nearly double. The orchestra also grows in responsibility. At first the orchestra was simply accompaniment for the singer. It then gets part of the plot by bringing to life the characters emotions through music displays.