Ornament And The Affections In The Opera Arias Of George Frideric Handel

Author : Kurt Sven Markstrom
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (142 download)

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Download or read book The Opera Arias of Handel written by Kurt Sven Markstrom and published by . This book was released on 1979 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This thesis is intended as an investigation of the form and content of Handel's opera arias. Although other aspects of Handel's operas are considered, the primary attention is placed upon the aria because it is the most important musical element in the genre of opera seria. An adequate understanding of Handel's achievements as an opera composer is difficult without some knowledge of early eighteenth-cen tury opera, and therefore, the first chapter consists of a brief sur vey of the opera seria convention-its libretti, its singers, and its music. The basic elements of opera seria are discussed separately, with special emphasis on the formal and stylistic evolution of the da capo aria as represented in the music of two of the foremost composers of opera seria -Alessandro Scarlatti and Johann Adolph Hasse. A similar analytical approach is employed in the second chapter, which is a study of Handel's operas as seen through six representative works: Giulio Cesare, Tamerlano , Rodelinda , Orlando, Ariodante , and Alcina. These operas have been chosen because they represent Handel's two main periods of operatic activity: Giulio Cesare (1724), Tamerlano (1724), and Rodelinda (1725), were written during the middle of the first Royal Academy period, 1720-1728; and Orlando (1733), Ariodante (1735), and Aloina (1735), were written during the second Royal Academy period, 1729-1737. In addition, these six operas are perhaps the most dramatically successful and least obscure of Handel's operas, and may someday enter the standard operatic repertoire. After a brief discus sion of Handel's opera career, libretti, singers, and musical style, the musical elements of his operas are studied separately. From the background material contained in the first chapter, one can determine how closely Handel followed the operatic conventions of his day, and the ways in which he deviated from these conventions. A model of the typical Handelian da capo aria is established in order to compare this form with the da capo form of his contemporaries. The final section of this chapter examines Handel's dramatic manipulation of aria form, analysing the various techniques employed by the composer to enhance the dramatic action of his operas. The third chapter concentrates on the emotional content in Handel's arias. His treatment of the Doctrine of the Affections is examined to establish the basic vocabulary employed by the composer to convey the emotional content of his arias to contemporary audiences. Finally, mu sical characterization is investigated. The portrayal of character through music, which is perhaps the most important and also the most elusive talent of a great opera composer, is evident in the operas of Handel. The author attempts to discover the techniques employed by the composer in the creation of the life-like characters which are found in his operas.