Chapter 18: Late Baroque Opera … and “Opera” in England

by ccdmassmedia

Opera Seria

  • Opera Seria: A Form of more serious dramatic opera, based mainly on classical mythology, historical figures, and classic literature, that thrived during most of the 18th century.
  • When Handel arrived in England for the first time in 1711, he brought opera seria.
  • Opera seria was developed to elevate dramatic content. Plots become more coherent and credible, and comic episodes disappear.

The Da Capo Aria 

  • The most common type of aria is the da capo aira in the early 18th century.
  • da capo aria: An aria with three sections: an opening section (A), a contrasting section (B), and a reprise of the opening section (A) in which singers were expected to embellish the opening melody.
  • This would change the Baroque aesthetic of one emotion per movement. The singer would express one emotion in the first A section, perhaps change emotions in the middle, and then return to the initial emotion in the reprise of the A section.
  • De capo arias are a vehicle for vocal display. During the reprise of the A section, singers are expected to embellish the melody; the taste and virtuosity with which they did this was one measure of their art

George Frideric Handel 

  • The most cosmopolitan composer of the early 18th century. He was born in east-central Germany, went to Italy for three years, and made several trips to England before settling there.
  • Was the major composer for, and musical director of, two opera companies. Both enjoyed some success but failed after several years.
  • Handel composed in almost every current genre: operas, oratorios, smaller-scale vocal works, concertos, suites for orchestra, solo and trio sonatas, and keyboard works.

Giulio Cesare in Egitto

  • Giulio Cesare in Egitto was first staged in 1724, and it was revived again and again for the next eight years and performed in Europe during that same time.
  • The plot is about Caesar and Cleopatra, but Handel takes creative freedoms with the story.
  • Cleopatra and her brother Ptolemy were engaged in a power struggle for the throne of Egypt. Pompey and Caesar are Roman generals engaged in a civil war.
  • Log on to Cengage and listen to “E pur cosi” and “Piangero.” These are from Act III. Cleopatra has been imprisoned by Ptolemy. In the recitative, she despairs that Caesar is dead (which he actually isn’t). She bemoans that no one can help her and fears all is us. In the aria, she expresses her grief in the A section, swears to “torment the tyrant” in the B section, and then returns to her state of grief in the reprise of the A section.
  • Castrato: Male singer castrated prior to puberty to preserve the singer’s voice in the female range.

The Beggar’s Opera and the Beginnings of Popular Music 

      • In 1728, as the Royal Academy of Music was closing down, John Gay produced The Beggar’s Opera. 

As your text says, “If we compare Handel’s operas to the Star Wars series, then John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera is

Spaceballs. 

  • The Beggar’s Opera  depends on opera for much of its meaning, yet it is an anti-opera, as well as the first notable musical comedy.
  • John Gay was an English poet and dramatist, not a composer. His play The Beggar’s Opera presents a slice of life in London’s underworld.
  • The plot centers around the romantic misadventures of a robber named Macheath, who is married to at least two women.
  • Polly, one of the wives, is a daughter of a professional thief and prostitute. At the beginning of the opera her parents bemoan the fact that she married for love rather than money.
  • Lucy, another wife, is the daughter of a jailer and is several months’ pregnant.
  • The plot takes aim at English society.
  • Because so much of its dialogue is spoken rather than sung, The Beggar’s Opera isn’t really an opera at all. It’s more of a satire of opera

The Music of The Beggar’s Opera

  • Two unique aspects to Gay’s use of songs: 1) The sheer number of them and 2) their varied sources.
  • Log on to Cengage and listen to “I’m Bubbled,” “Cease Your Funning,” and “How Now, Madam Flirt.”
  • With “I’m Bubbled,” it’s an Irish jig. The brisk tempo of the dance is the ideal expression of the two women’s distress described in the lyrics.

The Success of The Beggar’s Opera and the Beginnings of Popular Music 

  • This opera was enormously popular when it was first produced.
  • It was the opinion of some that its success contributed to the demise of Handel’s first Academy.
  • Like so many innovations in popular music, The Beggar’s Opera grew out of new ways of combining old material and ideas.
  • Broadside Ballad: Topical lyrics sung to an old, familiar song.