{"id":882,"date":"2017-02-19T04:49:52","date_gmt":"2017-02-19T04:49:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/vccs-tcc-music-rford\/?post_type=chapter&p=882"},"modified":"2021-07-15T16:31:51","modified_gmt":"2021-07-15T16:31:51","slug":"monteverdi-orfeo","status":"web-only","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/vccs-tcc-music-rford\/chapter\/monteverdi-orfeo\/","title":{"raw":"Orfeo - Monteverdi","rendered":"Orfeo – Monteverdi"},"content":{"raw":"Intermedio:\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>Towards the end of the 16th century innovative Florentine musicians were developing the\u00a0intermedio\u2014a long-established form of musical interlude inserted between the acts of spoken dramas\u2014into increasingly elaborate forms.\u00a0Led by Jacopo Corsi, these successors to the renowned Florentine Camerata\u00a0were responsible for the first work generally recognized as belonging to the genre of opera: The early opera, \u00a0Dafne<\/i>, composed by Corsi and Jacopo Peri and performed in Florence in 1598. This work combined elements of madrigal singing and\u00a0monody with dancing and instrumental passages. Only fragments of its music still exist, but several other Florentine works of the same period. \u00a0Peri's Euridice<\/i> and Giulio Caccini's identically titled Euridice<\/i>\u2014survive complete. These last two works were the first of many musical representations of the Orpheus myth, and as such were direct precursors of Monteverdi's L'Orfeo. \u00a0<\/i>\u00a0 Monteverdi's\u00a0L'Orfeo<\/i> moved this process of the intermedio \u00a0out of its experimental era and provided the first fully developed example of the new genre, opera. After its initial performance the work was staged again in Mantua. After the composer's death in 1643 the opera went unperformed for many years, and was largely forgotten until a revival of interest in the late nineteenth\u00a0century.\r\n

L'Orfeo<\/i>\u00a0(SV 318)<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\r\nMonteverdi was called the \"last great madrigalist and the first great opera composer\"\u00a0 His\u00a0 music straddles the late Renaissance and early Baroque.\u00a0 The\u00a0early Baroque\u00a0 opera<\/span>\u00a0L'Orfeo,\u00a0<\/em>written in 1607 for a court performance during the annual Carnival at Mantua<\/span>, is one of his most significant compositions\u00a0 The libretto,\u00a0by Alessandro Striggio, is based on the\u00a0Greek legend of Orpheus. It\u00a0 and tells the story of his Orpheus's\u00a0 descent to Hades and his fruitless attempt to bring his dead bride,\u00a0 Eurydice back to the living world.\u00a0<\/span>L'Orfeo<\/i> has the honor of being the earliest surviving opera that is still regularly performed today. However , the<\/span>\u00a0honor of the first ever opera goes to Jacopo Peri's\u00a0<\/span>Dafne<\/i>, and the earliest surviving opera\u00a0 also by Perti is named\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Euridice<\/i>\u00a0<\/span>\"Figure<\/a>\r\n\r\nFigure 1. Duke Vincenzo Gonzaga, Monteverdi's employer at Mantua\r\n\r\nMonteverdi's Work (Orfeo)\r\n<\/strong>When Monteverdi wrote the music for <\/span>L'Orfeo<\/i> he had a thorough grounding in theatrical music. He had been employed at the Gonzaga court for 16 years, much of it as a performer or arranger of stage music,\u00a0\u00a0The elements from which Monteverdi constructed his first opera score\u2014the aria, the strophic song,\u00a0recitative, choruses, dances, dramatic musical interludes\u2014were not created by him. However\u00a0\u00a0\"he blended the entire stock of newest and older possibilities into a unity that was indeed new. In his composition he\u00a0states the orchestral requirements at the beginning of his score, but in accordance with the practice of the day. He does not specify their exact instrumentation. It was usual to allow the performer of the work make local decisions, based on the orchestral forces available but this could differ sharply from place to place. \u00a0Another practice of the time was to allow singers to embellish their arias. Each act of the opera deals with a single element of the story, and each ends with a chorus. \u00a0It was the contemporary custom for scene shifts to take place in sight of the audience, these changes being reflected musically by changes in instrumentation, key and style.<\/span>\r\n<\/strong>\r\n

Synopsis of L'Orfeo<\/h2>\r\nThe action takes place in two contrasting locations: the fields of Thrace (Acts 1, 2 and 5) and the Underworld (Acts 3 and 4). An instrumental \u00a0introduction - \u00a0Toccata \u00a0(a flourish on trumpets - \u00a0announcing fanfare begins \u00a0 precedes the \u00a0opera. \u00a0This \u00a0selection is performed by period instruments, cornetts and sackbuts and drums. Current operas of today would feature an overture \u00a0or prelude \u00a0here. Often works did not specify what instruments would be used. However, \u00a0one work where instruments were specified \u00a0is \u00a0\u00a0L'Orfeo<\/i>. The instrumentation \u00a0is \u00a0exceptionally varied with multiple harpsichords and lutes with a bass violin in the pastoral scenes followed by lamenting to the accompaniment of organo di legno<\/i> and \u00a0chitarrone<\/i>, while Charon stands watch to the sound of a regal. \u00a0.\r\n\r\nhttps:\/\/youtu.be\/JnYaVGI3mA4\r\n\r\nAct I<\/strong>\r\nThe curtain rises on Act 1 to reveal a pastoral scene. Orfeo and Euridice enter together with a chorus of nymphs and shepherds, who act in the manner of a Greek chorus, commenting on the action both as a group and as individuals. A shepherd announces that this is the couple's wedding day; the chorus responds, first in a stately invocation (\"Come, Hymen, O come\") and then in a joyful dance (\"Leave the mountains, leave the fountains\"). Orfeo and Euridice sing of their love for each other before leaving with most of the group for the wedding ceremony in the temple.\r\n

Act 2<\/span><\/h3>\r\nOrfeo returns with the main chorus, and sings with them of the beauties of nature. The mood of contentment is abruptly ended when La messaggera enters, bringing the news that, while gathering flowers, Euridice has received a fatal snakebite. The chorus expresses its anguish: \"Ah, bitter happening, ah, impious and cruel fate!\" \u00a0Orfeo, after venting his grief and incredulity (\"Thou art dead, my life, and I am breathing?\"), declares his intention to descend into the Underworld and persuade its ruler to allow Euridice to return to life.\r\n\r\nhttps:\/\/youtu.be\/_7Wo-3DtI34\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nIn particular listen to this very dramatic aria: \u00a0Tu se Morta. (You Are Dead) \u00a0and \u00a0sense his grief beginning\u00a0 at 8:00 and ending\u00a0 at 10:30.<\/strong> However\u00a0 other parts of this selections give\u00a0 good insight into the style and drama of this opera.\r\n

Act 3<\/span><\/h3>\r\nOrfeo is guided by Speranza to the gates of Hades. Orfeo is now confronted with the ferryman Caronte, who refuses to take him across the river Styx. \u00a0Orfeo takes up his lyre and plays and Caronte is soothed into sleep.\r\n\r\n\"Possente spirto, e formidabil nume\"<\/b> (\"Mighty spirit and formidable god\") is a key aria\u00a0from Act 3 of Claudio Monteverdi's opera L'Orfeo, where Orpheus attempts to persuade Charon to allow him to pass into Hades and find Euridice. Seizing his chance, Orfeo steals the ferryman's boat and crosses the river.,\r\n\r\nhttps:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=EaNB1r7-UYk\r\n\r\nAct 4<\/span>\r\n\r\nIn the Underworld, Proserpina, Queen of Hades, who has been deeply affected by Orfeo's singing, petitions King Plutone, her husband, for Euridice's release. \u00a0Plutone agrees on the condition that, as he leads Euridice towards the world, Orfeo must not look back. If he does, \"a single glance will condemn him to eternal loss.\" Orfeo enters, leading Euridice and singing confidently that on that day he will rest on his wife's white bosom. But as he sings a note of doubt creeps in: \"Who will assure me that she is following?\" Suddenly distracted by an off-stage commotion, Orfeo looks round; immediately, the image of Euridice begins to fade. She sings, despairingly: \"Losest thou me through too much love?\" and disappears.\r\n

Act 5<\/span><\/h3>\r\nBack in the fields of Thrace, Orfeo has a long soliloquy in which he laments his loss, praises Euridice's beauty and resolves that his heart will never again be pierced by Cupid's arrow. An off-stage echo repeats his final phrases. Suddenly, in a cloud, Apollo descends from the heavens and chastises him: \"Why dost thou give thyself up as prey to rage and grief?\" He invites Orfeo to leave the world and join him in the heavens, where he will recognise Euridice's likeness in the stars. Orfeo replies that it would be unworthy not to follow the counsel of such a wise father, and together they ascend. A shepherds' chorus concludes that \"he who sows in suffering shall reap the fruit of every grace,\" before the opera ends with a vigorous moresca.\r\n\r\nListen to the \u00a0expressive singing in these concluding arias. \u00a0This \u00a0music in \u00a0Baroque opera is very expressive and emotional.\r\n\r\nhttps:\/\/youtu.be\/KhDMNUqox1w\r\n

<\/span>https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Possente_spirto<\/span><\/h3>","rendered":"

Intermedio:\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>Towards the end of the 16th century innovative Florentine musicians were developing the\u00a0intermedio\u2014a long-established form of musical interlude inserted between the acts of spoken dramas\u2014into increasingly elaborate forms.\u00a0Led by Jacopo Corsi, these successors to the renowned Florentine Camerata\u00a0were responsible for the first work generally recognized as belonging to the genre of opera: The early opera, \u00a0Dafne<\/i>, composed by Corsi and Jacopo Peri and performed in Florence in 1598. This work combined elements of madrigal singing and\u00a0monody with dancing and instrumental passages. Only fragments of its music still exist, but several other Florentine works of the same period. \u00a0Peri’s Euridice<\/i> and Giulio Caccini’s identically titled Euridice<\/i>\u2014survive complete. These last two works were the first of many musical representations of the Orpheus myth, and as such were direct precursors of Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo. \u00a0<\/i>\u00a0 Monteverdi’s\u00a0L’Orfeo<\/i> moved this process of the intermedio \u00a0out of its experimental era and provided the first fully developed example of the new genre, opera. After its initial performance the work was staged again in Mantua. After the composer’s death in 1643 the opera went unperformed for many years, and was largely forgotten until a revival of interest in the late nineteenth\u00a0century.<\/p>\n

L’Orfeo<\/i>\u00a0(SV 318)<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

Monteverdi was called the “last great madrigalist and the first great opera composer”\u00a0 His\u00a0 music straddles the late Renaissance and early Baroque.\u00a0 The\u00a0early Baroque\u00a0 opera<\/span>\u00a0L’Orfeo,\u00a0<\/em>written in 1607 for a court performance during the annual Carnival at Mantua<\/span>, is one of his most significant compositions\u00a0 The libretto,\u00a0by Alessandro Striggio, is based on the\u00a0Greek legend of Orpheus. It\u00a0 and tells the story of his Orpheus’s\u00a0 descent to Hades and his fruitless attempt to bring his dead bride,\u00a0 Eurydice back to the living world.\u00a0<\/span>L’Orfeo<\/i> has the honor of being the earliest surviving opera that is still regularly performed today. However , the<\/span>\u00a0honor of the first ever opera goes to Jacopo Peri’s\u00a0<\/span>Dafne<\/i>, and the earliest surviving opera\u00a0 also by Perti is named\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Euridice<\/i>\u00a0<\/span>\"Figure<\/a><\/p>\n

Figure 1. Duke Vincenzo Gonzaga, Monteverdi’s employer at Mantua<\/p>\n

Monteverdi’s Work (Orfeo)
\n<\/strong>When Monteverdi wrote the music for <\/span>L’Orfeo<\/i> he had a thorough grounding in theatrical music. He had been employed at the Gonzaga court for 16 years, much of it as a performer or arranger of stage music,\u00a0\u00a0The elements from which Monteverdi constructed his first opera score\u2014the aria, the strophic song,\u00a0recitative, choruses, dances, dramatic musical interludes\u2014were not created by him. However\u00a0\u00a0“he blended the entire stock of newest and older possibilities into a unity that was indeed new. In his composition he\u00a0states the orchestral requirements at the beginning of his score, but in accordance with the practice of the day. He does not specify their exact instrumentation. It was usual to allow the performer of the work make local decisions, based on the orchestral forces available but this could differ sharply from place to place. \u00a0Another practice of the time was to allow singers to embellish their arias. Each act of the opera deals with a single element of the story, and each ends with a chorus. \u00a0It was the contemporary custom for scene shifts to take place in sight of the audience, these changes being reflected musically by changes in instrumentation, key and style.<\/span>
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Synopsis of L’Orfeo<\/h2>\n

The action takes place in two contrasting locations: the fields of Thrace (Acts 1, 2 and 5) and the Underworld (Acts 3 and 4). An instrumental \u00a0introduction – \u00a0Toccata \u00a0(a flourish on trumpets – \u00a0announcing fanfare begins \u00a0 precedes the \u00a0opera. \u00a0This \u00a0selection is performed by period instruments, cornetts and sackbuts and drums. Current operas of today would feature an overture \u00a0or prelude \u00a0here. Often works did not specify what instruments would be used. However, \u00a0one work where instruments were specified \u00a0is \u00a0\u00a0L’Orfeo<\/i>. The instrumentation \u00a0is \u00a0exceptionally varied with multiple harpsichords and lutes with a bass violin in the pastoral scenes followed by lamenting to the accompaniment of organo di legno<\/i> and \u00a0chitarrone<\/i>, while Charon stands watch to the sound of a regal. \u00a0.<\/p>\n