Opera: From
the Florentine Camerata to the Twentieth Century (Music 423)
- Spring Semester (2003), Monday, Wednesday,
and Friday, 1:00-1:50 p.m., room 204
- Dr. Rosenblatt, office #227
- Office hours: Mondays and Wednesday,
2-4 p.m., or by appointment
- Office Phone: 621-1120
- E-mail: jrosenbl@u.arizona.edu
- Web page: http://www.arts.arizona.edu/rosenblatt/
-
Prerequisite
Music 330A-B (History
of Western Music)
Course Description
The purpose of this class is to explore
the history of opera, from its beginnings in Florence around 1600
to representative examples of the twentieth century. In addition
to discussion of various genres and musical forms, the sessions
will explore the connection between music and society, including
the expectations of contemporary musicians and audiences.
Course Objectives
- 1. to develop an historical understanding
of opera
- 2. to explore the underlying forms
and content that distinguish the genre
- 3. to understand social expectations
and the ways they may have shaped the resulting work
- 4. to discuss current scholarly theories
of opera
Texts
- Required
(available in the bookstore):
- (1) Roger Parker, ed., The Oxford
History of Opera -- or -- The Oxford Illustrated History
of Opera (the text is identical) [also on reserve in the
music library: ML1700.O95 1994]
- (2) Piero Weiss, Opera: A History
in Documents [also on reserve in the music library: ML1700.O644
2002]
- Also required
(available in the Harvill Copy Center):
- (3) Texts and Translations to the Operas
- Optional
(available in the bookstore):
- (4) Donald J. Grout & Herminie
Williams, A Short History of Opera (3rd edition)
- (5) Piero Weiss & Richard Taruskin,
Music in the Western World: A History in Documents [on
reserve in the music library: ML160.M865 1984]
Class Policies
Assignments:
The course work consists of listening and reading assignments,
and the "questions" included in most weeks' assignments
will help focus your reading for class preparation and may be
the topic of class discussions. Books, scores, and recordings
are on reserve in the music library, under this class number.
Students may also choose an opera for an optional 10-page paper
(with citations and bibliography). If you wish to do the optional
paper, please consult with me after the first midterm.
Grading:
Midterm No. 1 (25%), Midterm No. 2 (25%), Final (40%), class participation
(10%). All grades will be assigned according to a 100 point standard,
with A = 90-100, B = 80-89, etc.
Attendance:
Students are expected to attend all class sessions. If circumstances
do not permit attendance, please contact me before class. It is
imperative that you obtain class notes of any missed classes from
another student.
Class Sessions
(the amount of class time given to each
topic may be subject to change):
- Week One
(January 15): Introduction. The Florentine Camerata.
- Emilio de' Cavalieri (c1550-1602)
- Giulio Caccini (c1545-1618)
- Jacopo Peri (1561-1633)
- Ottavio Rinuccini (1562-1621)
- Listening:
La Pellegrina [no score available]; Peri, Euridice
[M2.R295b v. 36-37]; Cavalieri, Rapresentatione di anima e
di corpo [no score available]
- Reading:
Oxford History, pp. 1-8 (Oxford Illustrated History, pp. 1-14);
Opera: A History in Documents, pp. 1-23 (nos. 1-4)
- Question:
What were the expectations of the audience for the first operas?
No class session Monday, January 20
(Martin Luther King, Jr., day)
- Week Two
(January 22): Monteverdi. Roman Opera. Opera in Venice.
- Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643)
- Stefano Landi (1587-1639)
- Francesco Cavalli (1602-1676)
- Antonio Cesti (1623-1669)
- Listening:
Monteverdi, Orfeo [M3.M78 v. 11]; Landi, Il Sant'Alessio
[no score available]; Cavalli, Giasone [no score available];
Cesti, Orontea [no score available]
- Reading:
Oxford History, pp. 8-23 (Oxford Illustrated History, pp. 14-32);
Opera: A History in Documents, pp. 24-39 (nos. 5-7); Music in
the Western World, pp. 174-177 (no. 46)
- Question:
How do these operas compare with those from earlier in the century?
-
- Week Three
(January 27): 17th-Century French Opera. English Opera.
- Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632-1687)
- Philippe Quinault (1635-1688)
- Marc-Antoine Charpentier (c1645-1704)
- Henry Purcell (1659-1695)
- Listening:
Lully, Armide [M2.C45 v. 17]; Purcell, Dido and Aeneas
[M1500.P98 D4 1986]
- Reading:
Oxford History, pp. 23-31 (Oxford Illustrated History, pp. 32-46);
Opera: A History in Documents, pp. 39-65 (nos. 8-11)
- Question:
In what ways are French and Italian opera different?
-
- Week Four
(February 3): Opera seria. 18th-Century French Opera.
- Alessandro Scarlatti (1660-1725)
- Apostolo Zeno (1668-1750)
- Pietro Metastasio (1698-1782)
- George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)
- Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764)
- Listening:
Handel, Rinaldo [M3.H13 1965 v. 58a], Ariodante
[M3.H13 1965 v. 85]; Rameau, Hippolyte et Aricie [M1503.R171h]
- Reading:
Oxford History, pp. 32-44 (Oxford Illustrated History, pp. 47-69);
Opera: A History in Documents, pp. 65-72 (no. 12); Music in the
Western World, pp. 225-234 (nos. 61-63)
- Question:
How does the organization of the libretto differ from earlier
Italian opera? How do Rameau's operas compare to those of Lully?
-
- Week Five
(February 10): Opera buffa. Opéra-comique. Ballad Opera.
Midterm No. 1.
- Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (1710-1736)
- Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)
- Antoine Dauvergne (1713-1797)
- John Gay (1685-1732)
- Listening:
Pergolesi, La serva padrona [M1503.P43s]; Dauvergne, Les
Troqueurs [no score available]; Gay, The Beggar's Opera
[M1503.P424b]
- Reading:
Oxford History, pp. 57-70 (Oxford Illustrated History, pp. 84-103);
Opera: A History in Documents, pp. 97-111 (nos. 16-19)
- Question:
Why does a work such as La serva padrona continue to appeal
to us? How would you characterize the two sides of the Querelle
des Bouffons?
- Midterm No. 1
(Friday, February 14)
-
- Week Six
(February 17): Gluck and Opera Reform. Mozart I.
- Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714-1787)
- Ranieri de' Calzabigi (1714-1795)
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
- Listening:
Gluck, Orfeo ed Euridice [M1500.G56O6 1992]; La Clemenza
di Tito [M1500.M939C354 1993]; Die Entführung aus
dem Serail [M1500.M939E6]
- Reading:
Oxford History, pp. 44-56, 80-82 (Oxford Illustrated History,
pp. 69-83, 118-121); Opera: A History in Documents, pp. 115-129,
130-136 (nos. 18-20)
- Question:
How do Gluck's reforms compare to the ideals of the Florentine
Camerata? How faithful was Mozart to the techniques of opera
seria from earlier in the century?
-
- Week Seven
(February 24): Mozart II. French Opera. German Opera.
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
- Lorenzo da Ponte (1749-1838)
- André-Ernest-Modeste Grétry
(1741-1813)
- Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
- Listening:
Mozart, Le nozze di Figaro [M1500.M939N54 1979]; Grétry,
Zémire et Azor [no score available]; Beethoven,
Fidelio [M1503.B415]
- Reading:
Oxford History, pp. 70-80, 83-88 (Oxford Illustrated History,
pp. 103-118, 122-129); Opera: A History in Documents, pp. 141-147
(no. 22), 136-141 (no. 21), 156-162 (no. 24)
- Question:
How indebted is Beethoven to French opera? How indebted is he
to Mozart?
-
- Week Eight
(March 3): Italian Opera and Rossini.
- Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868)
- Vincenzo Bellini (1801-1835)
- Gaetano Donizetti (1797-1848)
- Listening:
Rossini, Tancredi [M1503.R835T3 1970]; L'italiana in
Algeri [M1503.R835I8 1966]; Bellini, La sonnambula
[M1503.B444s]; Donizetti, Lucia di Lammermoor [M1500.D683L7
1992]
- Reading:
Oxford History, pp. 114-127 (Oxford Illustrated History, pp.
169-190); Opera: A History in Documents, pp. 172-175 (no. 27)
- Question:
In the use of form and pacing, how do these operas compare to
18th-century examples of opera seria and opera buffa?
-
- Week Nine
(March 10): Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901).
- Listening:
Macbeth [M1503.V48m]; Rigoletto [M1503.V48rS]
- Reading:
Oxford History, pp. 128-133 (Oxford Illustrated History, pp.
190-198); Opera: A History in Documents, pp. 185-196 (no. 31)
- Question:
How does the use of form and pacing in the operas of Verdi compare
with that of Rossini, Bellini, and Donizetti?
Spring Break (Saturday, March 15 to
Sunday, March 23)
- Week Ten
(March 24): German Romantic Opera. French Grand Opera. Midterm
No. 2.
- Carl Maria von Weber (1786-1826)
- François-Adrien Boieldieu (1775-1834)
- Giacomo Meyerbeer (1791-1864)
- Listening:
Weber, Der Freischütz [M1500.W374f]; Boieldieu, La
dame blanche [M1503.B67 D3]; Meyerbeer, Le prophète
[M1503.M613P76]
- Reading:
Oxford History, pp. 88-105, 138-144 (Oxford Illustrated History,
pp. 129-153, 206-217); Opera: A History in Documents, 175-181
(nos. 28-29)
- Question:
To what extent did the business of opera affect the work of French
librettists and composers?
- Midterm No. 2
(Friday, March 28)
-
- Week Eleven
(March 31): Richard Wagner (1813-1883).
- Listening:
Der fliegende Holländer [M1503.W13f]; Das Rheingold
[M1503.W13rrK14]
- Reading:
Oxford History, pp. 144-156 (Oxford Illustrated History, pp.
217-236); Opera: A History in Documents, pp. 196-211 (nos. 32-33)
- Question:
Compare Wagner's operatic reforms with earlier reform movements.
-
- Week Twelve
(April 7): French Opera after 1850. Operetta.
- Charles Gounod (1818-1893)
- Georges Bizet (1838-1875)
- Jules Massenet (1842-1912)
- Jacques Offenbach (1819-1880)
- Johann Strauss II (1825-1899)
- Arthur Sullivan (1842-1900)
- Listening:
Gounod, Faust [M1503.G711fS 1966]; Massenet, Manon
[M1503.M41m 1940]; Offenbach, Orphée aux Enfers
[M1503.O32o]
- Reading:
Oxford History, pp. 105-113 (Oxford Illustrated History, pp.
153-168)
- Question:
How has French opera changed since the first half of the century?
-
- Week Thirteen
(April 14): Nationalist Opera. Late 19th-Century Italian Opera.
- Modest Mussorgsky (1839-1881)
- Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901)
- Pietro Mascagni (1863-1945)
- Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924)
- Listening:
Mussorgsky, Boris Godunov (Rimsky-Korsakov version) [M1503.M986bK];
Tchaikovsky, Eugene Onegin [M1503.C434E8 1936]; Verdi,
Otello [M1503.V48oI]; Mascagni, Cavalleria rusticana
[M1503.M395c]; Puccini, La bohème [M1503.P977 B84
1954]
- Reading:
Oxford History, pp. 157-185, 133-137 (Oxford Illustrated History,
pp. 237-278, 198-205); Music in the Western World, pp. 388-396
(nos. 112-114); Opera: A History in Documents, pp. 212-223 (nos.
34-35), 230-258 (nos. 37-39)
- Question:
To what extent is Italian opera from the latter part of the 19th
century influenced by the operas of Wagner?
-
- Week Fourteen
(April 21): French and German Opera after Wagner.
- Claude Debussy (1862-1918)
- Richard Strauss (1864-1949)
- Alban Berg (1885-1935)
- Kurt Weill (1900-1950)
- Listening:
Debussy, Pelléas et Mélisande [M1503.D289
P32 1962]; Strauss, Der Rosenkavalier [M1503.S91r]; Berg,
Wozzeck [M1503.B493 W93]; Weill, Aufstieg und Fall
der Stadt Mahagonny [M1503.W42 A91]
- Reading:
Oxford History, pp. 186-202 (Oxford Illustrated History, pp.
279-303); Opera: A History in Documents, pp. 258-272 (nos. 40-41),
283-297 (nos. 45-46)
- Question:
Does the use of a play as the text of an opera, as opposed to
a versified libretto, affect the musical result?
-
- Week Fifteen
(April 28): Twentieth-Century Opera.
- Dimitri Shostakovich (1906-1975)
- Benjamin Britten (1913-1976)
- Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971)
- Listening:
Shostakovich, Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District [no
score available]; Britten, Peter Grimes [M1503.B86p];
Stravinsky, The Rake's Progress [M1503.S912r]
- Reading:
Oxford History, pp. 203-216 (Oxford Illustrated History, pp.
303-324); Opera: A History in Documents, pp. 297-303, 306-318
(nos. 47-49)
-
- Week Sixteen
(May 5): Twentieth Century Opera.
- Francis Poulenc (1899-1963)
- Philip Glass (b.1937)
- John Adams (b.1947)
- Listening:
Poulenc, Dialogues des Carmelites [M1503.P874 D52 1979];
Glass, Einstein on the Beach [no score available]; Adams,
Nixon in China [M1503.A22 N59 1999]
- Reading:
Oxford History, pp. 217-234 (Oxford Illustrated History, pp.
324-349); Opera: A History in Documents, pp. 319-333 (nos. 50-52)
- Assignment:
Optional term paper due at the beginning of this week.
Final Exam
(Monday, May 12, 11 a.m. - 1 p.m.)
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