Rise of Two Operas Essay Example for Free

Rise of Two Operas Essay The Italians and the French have been two prominent figures in the world of opera music. Their music in the field of tragedy has been flourished by history and emerged from different social context and background. Opera traced its roots from Italy. Opera, in its earliest form can be traced from various types of Italian literature. The themes, moods, and subjects of opera can be associated with Italian poetry, drama, and allegory (Kimbell, 1991. p. 19-21). More importantly, opera particularly the opera seria, has originated at the height of the Renaissance period. The Renaissance art were centered on man. It revolved around man’s greatness, man as passionate, and as virtuous. The themes of opera described the life of the Italians as a whole, which is according to Luigi Barzini: The pleasure of Italy comes from living in a world made by man, for man and on man’s measurement (cited in p. 3). A theme deeply embedded in reality. Revolving around this theme, opera became for the sole purpose of entertainment. However as Renaissance became a period for the flow of rising ideologies, the face of opera changed into a moving art combined with philosophy and moral teaching. This aim served the purpose of educating its audience and not just by mere entertainment (Kimbell, 1991. p. 182). It was Apostolo Zeno and Silvio Stampiglia who created operas that were historical in nature. Stampiglia wrote a series of operas relating early Italian history and Zeno’s works have long been distinguished as a combination of moral and scholarship significance (p. 183). The Italian opera seria had not been completely tragic but became more serious. Metastasio offered ‘suspense’ or in Italian ‘sospensione’ in place of tragedy, in which the audience were presented the internal conflicts of the protagonist. Seeing this kind of progression, the French opera scene has its trend going on as well. However, as mentioned from the beginning, opera had its roots originating from Italy. There were no French composers at that time. It was an Italian national who moved to France, named Jean-Baptiste Lully who was said to have popularized opera to the French people (Edwards, 1862. . 14). Origins of French opera may have come from other form of arts such as ballet. Ballet has incorporated music with dramatic dance routines thus making as a basis into recreating a dance that has dramatic dialogues in the form of music (Grouts Williams, 2003. p. 22). Lully gained full monopoly when spreading his music due to his friendship with King Louis XIV. He collaborated with the likes of Quinault to create operas which they called tragedie en musique (Anderson, 2003. p. 3). It is important to note that though it was the time of Rennaisance in Italy, it had been a slow progress for France to grasp the music from other countries. Since Lully gained monopoly for production of operas, the monarchy controlled the flow of music from outside in accordance to Lully’s advice (p. 1). Basing it from here, the themes of the operas that were being played within King Louis XIV’s court still centered on mythical themes rather than on humanism. The plot of tragedy focused on mythical characters and fictional conflicts (Easterling, 1997. p. 136).