Opera 1

What does opera literally mean?

What were the original operas about?

A printed book containing the words of an opera

Writer of the lyrics in an opera

Can be Coloratura, Soubrette, Lyric, Spinto, Dramatic; often the “heroine” or “prima donna”

Can be Lyric, Coloratura, Dramatic; often play the “trouser” or “pants” role

Often the old maid/witch

Can be Lyric, Dramatic, Castrati/Countertenor/Haute-contre, Character, Wagnerian/Heldon, often the hero

Lyric, found in Mozart’s operas and became popular in Verdi’s operas as a secondary hero

combines the qualities of the bass and the baritone, often associated with Wagner

often a figure of authority such as a king, a priest, a father or a god.

A florid figuration or ornamentation

A passage of floral writing in which several notes are sung to the same syllable

The embellishment of a melodic line, either improvised by the performer or written out by the composer.

"beautiful singing"; A term loosely used to indicate the elegant Italian vocal style of the 18th and 19th Centuries and the operas designed to exploit that style.

A term used by Wagner for his music dramas, in which all the arts (music, poetry, movement, design etc) should combine to the same artistic end.

A term used to signify the Paris Opéra and the operas performed there, especially the monumental works performed at the Opéra during the middle 1800’s.

A term for an opera consisting of individual sections or numbers which can be detached from the whole.

Continuous Music with no repetitions, breaks or pauses in the music or drama. Unified by Leitmotifs.

A name for the Italian version of the late 19th Century movement towards naturalism in literature, (Emile Zola, Charles Dickens)

Orchestral music designed to precede a dramatic work. Often sets the mood and introduces the main musical themes

An introductory scene in which the author explains the context and meaning of the work to follow.

One of the main divisions of an opera, usually completing a part of the action and often having a climax of its own.

Music written for performance between the acts

The concluding, continuously composed, section of an act of an opera. “Lieto fine” – a happy ending

Musically-heightened speech that expresses the opera's action

Recitative that includes basso continuo

Recitative that is accompanied by the orchestra

a small ensemble of at least two instrumentalists who provide a foundation for the melody or melodies above

passionate, expansive music that expresses the character's emotion

Music sung halfway between recitative and aria

French/English term for "song" or "aria"

Shorter and less elaborate than a fully developed aria

a dance-song

A song inviting a company to raise their glasses and drink

songs sung outside the dramatic action

a short aria, without da capo, often an entrance aria

an instruction to return to the head of the piece of music and repeat the first section

A comic song in which the humour derives from having the greatest number of words uttered in the shortest possible time.

the concluding section of an aria; generally in a fairly rapid tempo and with mounting excitement

a virtuoso passage in an aria

Usually the first, slower part in a two-part aria

The quality of a musical passage or composition that causes it to be sensed as gravitating towards a particular note, called the keynote or tonic.

The movement out of one key into another as a continuous process. It is particularly used in opera as a device to suggest a change of mood

a short musical idea, melodic, rhythmic, or harmonic

a motive that symbolizes a person, object, action, place, etc...

The repetition of a musical pattern many times over

a piece of music constructed around a repeating bass line

A short recurring instrumental passage, particularly the tutti section of a Baroque Aria.

Term for the form of a song or aria in which all stanzas of the text are set to the same music.

A term for a melody that remains the same in each verse however the accompaniment varies.

Term for the form of an aria in which the music for each stanza is different.

Opera seria, heroic characters, one emotion per aria

Opera buffa, realistic characters, rapid changes in mood