The Bel Canto style of opera, which had begun in the C18th, lasted well into the mid C19th. This term means, most literally, "beautiful singing", and refers to the light, bright quality that Italian opera singers use to charm and captivate their audiences.The roots of Bel Canto can be traced back to the Middle Ages. It began in the singing instruction that Italian masters provided for their students. It was initially used by men, and, at its earliest, by male religious singers. The Italian castrati were famous for this singing style. Alessandro Moreschi, born in 1858, was considered to be the last castrato voice. Listen to his solo recording here.
Gioachino Rossini, Gaetano Donzinetti and Vincenzo Bellini are three of the most recognised composers of Bel Canto. Rossini (1792-1868) created no fewer than 39 operas as well as sacred music and chamber music. His best known works include Il Barbiere di Seviglia (1816), La Cenerentola (1817) and Guillaume Tell (1829). This last work, widely regarded as his chef d'oeuvre, initially encountered difficulties of production because of its glorification of a revolutionary figure against authority.
Gaetano Donizetti (1797-1848) was another leading composer of bel canto opera. In contrast to Bellini, (see below), his family was very poor with no music tradition. It was principally through instruction from Johann Simon Mayr, a priest at the local church and also a prolific composer of operas, that set Donizetti on the road to his musical career. Lucia di Lammermoor (1835), a tragic opera in three acts, is Donizetti's most recognised work. Based on the historical novel, The Bride of Lammermoor by Sir Walter Scott, it concerns a feud between two families. One of the best-known pieces is Il dolce suono; arguably his most immediately recognizable piece of music is the aria, Una furtiva lagrima from L'elisir d'amore (1832).
Vincenzo Bellini (1801-1835) is considered the quintessential composer of Bel canto opera. Born in Sicily, he was a child prodogy from a highly musical family and who, according to legend, could sing an aria at eighteen months, began studying music theory at two, the piano at three and, by the age of five could play well. His first composition is said to be dated from his sixth year. His most famous works include I Capuleti e i Montechi (1830), La somnambula (1831), Norma (1831)and I Puritani (1835). This last work is set in England during the English Civil War of the 1650s and, once again, involves a conflict of loyalties between love and politics.
Rossini, Bellini and Donizetti had a cardinal influence on the Italian Romantic composer, Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901). His works are frequently performed in opera houses throughout the world and some of his themes have taken root in popular culture, such as La donna è mobile from Rigoletto (1851), Va, pensiero - the chorus of the Hebrew slaves from Nabucco (Nebuchadnezzar, 1841) and Libiamo ne'lieti calici -The Drinking Song - from La Traviata (1853). It is said that Verdi was one of the first composers who insisted on patiently seeking out plots to suit his personal talents. Well aware that dramatic expression was his forte, it seems he stripped any initial work on which his libretto was based of all unnecessary detail and superfluous participants; only characters brimming with passion and scenes rich in drama remained.
La Bohème (1893), Tosca (1900), Madama Butterfly (1904) and Turandot (1926) are among the most frequently performed operas by Giacomo Puccini. Born in Tuscany in 1858, he formed an integral part of a family with five generations of music behind him. It was on seeing a performance of Verdi's Aida (1871) that he became inspired to be a composer of opera.
Puccini's works, with an emphasis on melody and popular appeal, gave rise to the criticism of a "lack of seriousness". Yet, critics highlight the strong sense of continuous flow in his music together with the use of lietmotifs to denote characters: the three chords which are used to signal the beginning of the opera are used throughout to announce Scarpia in Tosca; motifs are also linked to Mimi and the bohemians in La Bohème and to Cio-Cio-San's suicide in Butterfly. Another distinctive quality of his work is the use of the voice in the style of speech: characters sing short phrases one after another as if they were talking to each other.
Between the close of the C19th and the early 1900s, verismo, meaning "realism", was an Italian literary and, by extension, operatic movement which reached its peak at this time. The style is distinguished by realistic - sometimes sordid and violent - depictions of contemporary everyday life, especially the life of the lower classes. It rejected the historical subjects of Romanticism, and often - but not always - themes of a mythical nature. In contrast to Bel Canto (see above), no verismo melody, fragment or leitmotiv is composed simply because it sounds pretty. The purpose of each bar in a verismo score is to convey or reflect scenery, action or a character's feelings. Exponents of the Verismo style include Pietro Mascagni, Ruggero Leoncavallo and Francesco Cilea. Some critics are reluctant to include Puccini in this opera style, although they do accept that Tosca is classifiable as verist and, possibly, La Bohème.
Sources:
Vincenzo Bellini (1801-1835) is considered the quintessential composer of Bel canto opera. Born in Sicily, he was a child prodogy from a highly musical family and who, according to legend, could sing an aria at eighteen months, began studying music theory at two, the piano at three and, by the age of five could play well. His first composition is said to be dated from his sixth year. His most famous works include I Capuleti e i Montechi (1830), La somnambula (1831), Norma (1831)and I Puritani (1835). This last work is set in England during the English Civil War of the 1650s and, once again, involves a conflict of loyalties between love and politics.
Rossini, Bellini and Donizetti had a cardinal influence on the Italian Romantic composer, Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901). His works are frequently performed in opera houses throughout the world and some of his themes have taken root in popular culture, such as La donna è mobile from Rigoletto (1851), Va, pensiero - the chorus of the Hebrew slaves from Nabucco (Nebuchadnezzar, 1841) and Libiamo ne'lieti calici -The Drinking Song - from La Traviata (1853). It is said that Verdi was one of the first composers who insisted on patiently seeking out plots to suit his personal talents. Well aware that dramatic expression was his forte, it seems he stripped any initial work on which his libretto was based of all unnecessary detail and superfluous participants; only characters brimming with passion and scenes rich in drama remained.
La Bohème (1893), Tosca (1900), Madama Butterfly (1904) and Turandot (1926) are among the most frequently performed operas by Giacomo Puccini. Born in Tuscany in 1858, he formed an integral part of a family with five generations of music behind him. It was on seeing a performance of Verdi's Aida (1871) that he became inspired to be a composer of opera.
Puccini's works, with an emphasis on melody and popular appeal, gave rise to the criticism of a "lack of seriousness". Yet, critics highlight the strong sense of continuous flow in his music together with the use of lietmotifs to denote characters: the three chords which are used to signal the beginning of the opera are used throughout to announce Scarpia in Tosca; motifs are also linked to Mimi and the bohemians in La Bohème and to Cio-Cio-San's suicide in Butterfly. Another distinctive quality of his work is the use of the voice in the style of speech: characters sing short phrases one after another as if they were talking to each other.
Between the close of the C19th and the early 1900s, verismo, meaning "realism", was an Italian literary and, by extension, operatic movement which reached its peak at this time. The style is distinguished by realistic - sometimes sordid and violent - depictions of contemporary everyday life, especially the life of the lower classes. It rejected the historical subjects of Romanticism, and often - but not always - themes of a mythical nature. In contrast to Bel Canto (see above), no verismo melody, fragment or leitmotiv is composed simply because it sounds pretty. The purpose of each bar in a verismo score is to convey or reflect scenery, action or a character's feelings. Exponents of the Verismo style include Pietro Mascagni, Ruggero Leoncavallo and Francesco Cilea. Some critics are reluctant to include Puccini in this opera style, although they do accept that Tosca is classifiable as verist and, possibly, La Bohème.
Sources:
Delgado Cabrera, A. El Siglo XIX. Iniciación a la Ópera. 2008-2009. Talleres y Cursos de Cultura. ULPGC.
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/626111/verismo
http://www.musica.co.uk/composers/Puccini.htm
http://www.musica.co.uk/composers/Verdi.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bel_canto
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donizetti
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gioacchino_Rossini
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincenzo_Bellini
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/626111/verismo
http://www.musica.co.uk/composers/Puccini.htm
http://www.musica.co.uk/composers/Verdi.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bel_canto
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donizetti
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gioacchino_Rossini
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincenzo_Bellini
Image: Bel Canto by Larry Elliott.
