A da capo aria is a simple formula dictated by the two-part organization of an aria’s libretto text. Its mood could vary between rage, jealousy, despair or joy, according to the demands of the location of the plot. The singer’s text can either directly describe their predicament, or take the form of a simile that has allegorical ...
The demise of the aria, as suggested by Wagner and to a lesser extent by Verdi, never really happened. The aria, of course, had its disadvantages. To start with, it encouraged performers to show off and hog the stage for much longer than was justified. This was a real possibility as the fame of individual singers ...
to explore potent tragic situations, such as the King of Scotland being forced to contemplate executing his much-loved daughter Ginvera. The opera is best known for ‘Scherza infida’, an aria composed for Carestini that explores the anguish of a broken heart. Ariodante also featured a full chorus and several fine dances for Marie Sallé’s ballet company. Composed: 1735 Premiered: 1735 ...
the Habanera from Carmen were it not for the mobile phone, but the chirpy first tune of the overture is now inescapable thanks to ring tones. Bizet based the aria on ‘El Arreglito’, a song written by Spanish composer Sebastián de Yradier, who had spent time in Cuba. Personalities | Georges Bizet | High Romantic | Opera Houses & ...
throws herself from the cliff. The Dutchman’s ship sinks and his spirit, embracing that of Senta, rises into the heavens. Sounds Familiar ‘Senta’s Ballad’ ‘Senta’s Ballad’, a soprano aria, occurs in Act II of Der Fliegende Holländer, and begins with the arresting cry of ‘Johohoe!’. In the ballad, Senta, the heroine, is at ...
great comic creation: the ‘foolish, coarse and spiteful’ (Mozart’s words) harem overseer Osmin, a larger-than-life compound of sullen irascibility, prejudice, lechery and (in his show-stopping final aria ‘Ha, wie will ich triumphieren’) gloating sadism. Mozart exploited, to wonderfully grotesque effect, the subterranean notes of the original Osmin, Johann Ludwig Fischer. Through his music ...
– it is a very different work from Figaro. The main section of the overture is a tense, brilliant D major allegro, leading directly to a wry buffo aria for the comic servant Leporello. Typically, though, comedy is immediately juxtaposed with tragedy as Don Giovanni emerges from Donna Anna’s bedroom, fights a duel with her father ...
III Trial 2/Prison: incorporates the spoken texts ‘Prematurely Air–Conditioned Supermarket’ (Childs) and ‘I Feel the Earth Move’ (Knowles). Dance 2 – Field with Spaceship. Act IV Building/Train Bed: cadenza and aria for solo soprano. Spaceship: as the chorus frantically chant numbers, the scene builds up to something that might be interpreted as a nuclear holocaust. Personalities | Philip Glass | ...
begs her to leave Gremin and go away with him. Although overcome with emotion, she insists she will honour her marriage vow and bids him farewell. Sounds Familiar Lensky’s Aria In this aria from Act II of Eugene Onegin, Vladimir Lensky sings of lost youth as he prepares for his friend Onegin to arrive to fight a duel with ...
and contains its most thrilling coups, above all the offstage trumpet call that heralds the final denouement. It is strokes like this, together with such moments as Leonore’s aria of hope and resolve ‘Komm, Hoffnung’ (‘Come, Hope’), and the dazed emergence of the prisoners into daylight in the first-act finale, that can make Fidelio the most ...
arioso, powerfully enhance the development of the drama. Iphigénie and her tormented brother Oreste drew from Gluck some of his most intense and anguished music – the heroine’s grieving aria ‘O malheureuse Iphigénie’, with its forlorn oboe solo and agitated syncopated accompaniment (a favourite Gluckian combination); or the scene for Oreste in Act II culminating in the haunting arioso ‘Le ...
premiered at the Teatro della Canobbiana in Milan on 12 May 1832. L’elisir owes much of its enduring popularity to ‘Una furtiva lagrima’ (‘One Furtive Tear’), the exceptionally beautiful tenor aria in Act II sung by the opera’s hero, Nemorino. Composed: 1832 Premiered: 1832, Milan Libretto by Felice Romani, after Eugène Scribe Act I The wealthy Adina relaxes ...
, nymphs and shepherds gather to celebrate the long-awaited marriage of demi-god Orfeo to beautiful Euridice. Amid joyous dancing and singing and teasing lovers’ games, Orfeo delivers a romantic aria to Euridice. The pair then leave for the wedding. Act II Returning from the wedding, Orfeo sings with the shepherds about how wonderful life is now that he has ...
Sony 37092; Soloists: Simone Kermes (Contessa di Almaviva), Fanie Antonelou (Susanna), Mary-Ellen Nesi (Cherubino), Christian van Horn (Figaro), Andrei Bondarenko (Conte di Almaviva) Sounds Familiar ‘Dove sono’ In this soprano aria from Act III of Le nozze di Figaro, set in a hall in the Almaviva castle, the Countess sings of her longing to have a happy marriage once ...
(1849), and New York (1858). For the premiere in Paris, at the Théâtre Lyrique on 21 April 1865, Verdi revised the opera. This included several additions: an extra aria in Act II for Lady Macbeth, ‘La luce langue’ (‘The Weak Light’), two new choruses, a new duet for the Macbeths, a battle fugue and a ballet. ...
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