HISTORY 203 – PREPARATION 1
(S-12)
For
Tuesday Jan 24
Please read the
attached excerpt from Pier Jacopo Martello’s treatise on Italian opera,
published in 1715. In it Martello gives advice to would-be opera librettists on
how to construct libretti that composers can turn into opera seria. Then review the excerpts I’ve assigned from Handel’s
Giulio Cesare
(libretto by Nicola Haym). There are four scenes from the beginning of
Act 1 in the supplementary listening plus two scenes from the beginning of Act 2
in NAWM 99. The score and the libretto of act I are posted online. Read the
libretto and listen to the excerpts following the score. If you like, you can
also watch the video, which I’ve put on reserve.
Write out
brief answers to the following questions:
1. Explain the basic principles that Martello sets
forth about what parts of the drama should be set as recitative and what should
be set as aria (“Every scene must contain either recitative, or an arietta . .
. etc”). Explain in your own words;
don’t just quote the text. Note that when Martello says “arietta” or “canzonetta,” he means what we call an aria.
2. Can you find an example of an “entrance
aria”? Explain your choice. Can you find
an example of an “exit aria”? Explain.
Are there any exceptions to Martello's advice that "no singer may exit without first warbling a canzonetta"??
3. What does Martello mean by a “scena di forza”? Should it be set as aria or recitative? Can you
find an example of a “scena di forza” in either of the excerpts from Giulio Cesare? Do Haym and Handel take Martello’s advice about the relation
of aria and recitative in such a scene? Explain.
4. What does Martello mean in the second
paragraph by "verisimilitude"? What does he mean by
"marvelous"? Do the first two scenes of Act 2 tend toward the
realistic or toward the marvelous? Or both? Discuss.
You may write
out your answers by hand or you may type them. They are due at the end of class
next Tuesday. If there’s anything about the assignment you don’t understand,
write me an Email.