Operatic characteristics

• Monody- type of music written for solo voice and continuo that imitated the natural rhythms of improvised speech.

This was a revolutionary concept after the polyphonic vocal compositions of the Renaissance.

Recitative was an equally important part of early opera, and indeed in operas until the late 18th century.

Recitative: a type of speech-like singing used in large-scale vocal genres, particularly operas and oratorios.

• It serves for dialogue or narrative and is clearly different from the arias.
• 2 basic types:
• recitative secco, meaning "dry" reciting, where the notes and meter of the singing follow the verbal accents, accompanied only by the occasional harpsichord chords.
• recitative accompagnato, a type of recitative with accompaniment introduced in 1663 in which the voice is accompanied by instruments.

Aria- Important musical piece in an opera

• From the Italian word "air" or "tune," an aria is an elaborate accompanied song for solo voice in a cantata, opera, or oratorio.
• da capo aria form became extremely popular and refers to th emusical form which is A-B-A: repeat from the beginning until you come to the word fine (end.) Thus, a da capo aria is on e in which the first part is repeated and the singer is expected to add ornamentation in the repeated section.

The role of the instruments also gained importance as operas developed as a commentator on the action.

• Ground bass was an important instrumental device.
• It is a short phrase which was repeated over and over in the lower instrumental voice(s) while the upper voices remain independent. The ground bass was a type of ostinato and a chromatic ground bass portrayed sorrow and grief.

By Monteverdi's time (1567-1643), the instruments were featured alone in ritornellos (repeated passages during a scene) and sinfonias (sightly longer passages for orchestra meant to be performed between scenes or acts).

Indeed, the origins of the Classical symphony can be partially traced back to the role of the sinfonia in late Baroque operas.

Finally, most operas opened with an instrumental section to set the mood, and this eventually developed into the overture.