17t-Century Opera in England

and France
 Schedule
1) Historical Background
2) The Creation of French Opera
3) English Opera
 1) King Louis XIV (1638-1715)
• Known as the ‘Sun
God’
• Employed 150-200
musicians
• Royal Chapel
• Music of the Chamber
• Music of the Great
Stable
 2) Why did it take so long for France to
start producing French-language operas?
 They Preferred
1) Court ballets:
• Performed at the Court of King Louis XIV
(r. 1643-1715)

• Combined dancing, solo songs, choruses, and

instrumental dances
• The dancers portrayed characters
• Staged with costumes and scenery
2) Spoken Drama
They Disliked Aspects of Italian
Opera:
1) Low literary quality of Italian librettos
2) Found recitatives too long
3) Bel canto and ornamentation obscured the
text
4) Lack of dance numbers
5) Use of castrati
Jean Baptiste Lully (1632-1687)
• Born in Florence
• Moved to France at 14
• 1653: Became a court
musician for King
Louis XIV
• 1672: Created his first
operas
 Lully’s Operas (Tragédie en musique)
Combined Italian and French Traits

Jean-Baptiste
Lully  Italian traits:
– Stage machinery and
spectacle (combat scenes,
descents of gods, infernal
scenes)
– Subplots involving minor
characters
Versailles
  French traits in Lully’s operas

1. Libretti of high literary quality (court authors)

2. Mostly syllabic text setting with careful attention to
rhythm
3. Used airs instead of arias (these were short,
melodically simple, and dance-like)
4. Lyric pieces and recitative were combined in long
scenes (airs, duets, choruses, and dances)
 Lully’s Contributions to 17th-century
Instrumental Music
 Lully introduced binary-form dances into opera from
the ballet repertoire (i.e. minuet, gavotte)
Binary form: |: A :|: B :| (|: I  V :|: V I :|)

 Lully introduced the French overture (ouverture).

What are the characteristics of
the French Overture?
 French Overture
• Binary Form

• A = homophonic; slow; persistent dotted

rhythm

• B = fast; imitation, meter change

 Lully, Armide (1686)
a) GENRE: Overture
FORM: Binary

c) Enfin il est en ma puissance

GENRE: Recitative and air
FORM: Through composed (recitative),
binary (air)
 The Air
• Inspired by dance music
• Binary form often
• Simpler style than the Italian aria (syllabic
text setting, less ornamentation)
• Regular meter and phrasing
• Basso continuo accompaniment
3) Henry Purcell (1659-1695)
• Choirboy at the
Chapel Royal
• Age 8: Published first
song
• Organist at
Westminster Abbey
and Chapel Royal
Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas (1689) incorporated
elements of French, Italian, and English
traditions of dramatic music
 French
 French overture
 Arioso-style recitative
 Interpolated dance music
 Airs in dance rhythms
 Italy
 Italian aria types, including arias on
ground basses
 Florid melodies (English imitation of bel canto)
 Italian plot devices
 England
 Tradition of choral writing (syllabic setting of text from
Anglican Church tradition and the English madrigal)
Purcell, “When I am Laid” Dido
and Aeneas
GENRE: Ground bass aria
FORM: AABB

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeB4cpR
q16M