Opera, Composers, and Musical Forms: A Concise Summary
Classified in Music
Written at on English with a size of 2.08 KB.
Key Musical Terms and Concepts
- Arias: Songs for a solo singer and orchestra.
- Recitative: Sung conversation between characters to advance the story.
- Opera seria: Serious opera with heroic themes from history and mythology.
- Opera buffa: Comic opera with contemporary, down-to-earth stories.
- Verismo: Italian opera style with realistic portrayals of everyday life.
- Libretto: The text of an opera or musical, including dialogue and lyrics.
- Sonata: A work in several movements for one or more instruments.
Notable Composers and Their Works
Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
The Erlking (Lied for piano and voice, 1815): A father and son ride a horse; the son, ill, imagines scary things and dies. The Erlking is the ghost calling to the son.
Hector Berlioz (1811-1869)
Symphonie fantastique (1830): Inspired by unrequited love, this program symphony expresses intense feelings. Later, Berlioz revised it, adding a dream sequence where the protagonist kills his beloved and is guillotined.
Modest Mussorgsky (1839-1881)
Pictures at an Exhibition (1874): An instrumental (piano) tone poem inspired by an art exhibition, including "The Great Gate of Kiev".
Bedřich Smetana (1824-1884)
The Moldau (1874-1875): A symphonic poem depicting various river tributaries merging into one.
Il barbiere di Siviglia
Gioachino Rossini (born February 29, 1792, died November 13, 1868, in Paris) was a famous Italian composer known for his comic operas. The Barber of Seville is a comic opera in two acts, premiered on February 20, 1816, in Rome. Key characters include:
- Figaro: The barber
- Bartolo: A doctor and Rosina's guardian
- Lindoro: Count Almaviva
- Basilio: Rosina's music teacher
- Berta: A servant
The opera's plot revolves around Bartolo being the best barber in Seville.