Opera semiseria

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Opera semiseria (Italian for "half serious opera"; from "semi" = half, and "seria" = serious) is a generic name for an opera that mixes elements from opera buffa and opera seria , ie a genere misto (mixed genre). As the name semiseria suggests, the serious element predominates, albeit with a happy ending ( lieto fine ). The Opera semiseria developed under the influence of the French Comédie larmoyante . Its heyday is between around 1789 and 1830, with runners up to around 1850.

history

Prehistory and differentiation from other genres

Mixtures of comic and serious characters had already existed in the Venetian and Neapolitan opera of the 17th century, and were quite normal there (e.g. in Monteverdi's late operas, in Cavalli , Provenzale, etc.). However, these have nothing to do with the opera semiseria of the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

After the development or splitting of a pure, aristocratic seria and a purely comical, rather folk buffa genre in the first half of the 18th century , this was no longer enough for the composers and librettists of the Enlightenment . From around the 1760s, many operas therefore show a mixture of seria and buffa characters, as well as characters “di mezzo carattere” (of medium character). The genres of dramma giocoso (cheerful drama) and dramma eroicomico (heroic-comic drama) should be mentioned here. The former is actually an opera buffa with serious elements such as: B. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro (1786) and Don Giovanni (1787); the second, conversely, an opera seria with comic elements, as in Traetta's Il cavalier errante (1776), Haydn's Orlando paladino (1782), or in some operas by Antonio Salieri . All of these types of operas are “semi-serious”, but not an opera semiseries in the true sense of the word .

Blurred genre boundaries

However, it must be pointed out that a very clear distinction between the genres mentioned and the opera semiseria is not always completely clear and simple. This is partly due to the fact that in the turbulent Italian opera business of the era, it was often not taken very seriously, and sometimes the same work was given different names in different productions, e.g. B. Mozart's Don Giovanni - which he himself describes as "dramma giocoso", but actually went beyond the existing genre boundaries due to its unusual plot - was officially called "dramma tragi-comico" according to the libretto in Naples in 1812, but in the score used as “tragico”, and in Milan in 1814 as “melodramma semiserio”, and Carlo Coccia's Semiseria Clotilde was featured in three different productions in 1819 in Arezzo as “opera seria”, in Perugia as “dramma semiserio” and in Pisa as “opera buffa “(Sic!) Given. Similar ambiguities continue in the later literature, e.g. B. Rossini's "melodramma giocoso" Matilde di Shabran (1822) was sometimes referred to as "semiseria" or misunderstood.

Niccolò Piccini's setting of Goldoni's La buona figliuola (1760) was often regarded by earlier authors as at least a forerunner, if not the first example, of an opera semiseria , but according to Jacobshagen, despite certain sensitive traits, it is quite clearly a dramma giocoso.

The actual opera semiseria

The term “semiserio” was rarely encountered in the 18th century, for the first time in Turin in prints of the libretti for L'illustre villanella (1769) and Il trionfo della costanza (1769) by Giuseppe Maria D'Orengo.

The sentimental and sensitive influences of the French Comédie larmoyante were decisive for the development of the Opera semiseria . In contrast to the exaggerated aristocratic and mythological heroes of the opera seria , people from the people are typically the focus of the opera semiseria , often women who, however, do not have the typical flirtatious or malicious traits of a buffa heroine, but rather as innocent-noble, virtuous, to a certain extent naive characters get into sad, unjust, tragic, or even "terrifying" situations. Especially because of the simpler and more realistic, often rural milieu and the complete innocence, the sufferings of the main character (s) of noble character play out on a level that is understandable for everyone - or for “sensitive minds” - which often led and should lead to this that parts of the audience shed tears of emotion and compassion (e.g. testified for Bellini's La sonnambula ). In some cases, a socially critical aspect cannot be overlooked ( Paër : Agnese (1809), Donizetti : Linda di Chamounix (1842)).

In contrast to the later typically romantic opera, the opera semiseria always ends well ( lieto fine ), albeit often only at the very last moment, which can intensify the touching effect on the audience ( Paisiello : Nina (1789); Rossini : La gazza ladra (1817); Bellini : La sonnambula (1831) and I puritani (1835)). Buffa characters are more of a minor character, but spread a folk and / or realistic atmosphere. Aristocratic or socially superior people also appear, also as main characters ( Meyerbeer : Margherita d'Anjou (1820)), but are also drawn more realistically and humanly than in the opera seria, sometimes as villains and perpetrators (Rossini: Torvaldo e Dorliska ( 1815)). Bad guys can also be grotesquely exaggerated with the help of Buffa moves (e.g. the bad sisters and the father in Rossini's Cenerentola (1817)).

The most famous and first example of the new mixed opera type, and an important precursor of the romantic opera of the 19th century, is Giovanni Paisiello's opera Nina, ossia La pazza per amore (1789), which is based on a French subject. The subject of unbearable suffering, which leads to the (temporary) madness of the main character, is the focus here, and was also discussed several times later, e.g. a. in Ferdinando Paërs L'Agnese (1809), in Vincenzo Bellini's I puritani (1835), in Gaetano Donizetti's Linda di Chamounix (1842), and also in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor (1837). The latter, however, does not belong to the genre of the semiseria, but is a typically romantic dramma that takes place in a purely aristocratic milieu, has no mixture whatsoever with the buffa opera, and above all has a tragic, even fatal end that it has in the world the semiseria does not exist.

Important and very successful examples of the genre composed around and shortly after 1800, especially Ferdinando Paër ( Griselda (1798), Camilla (1799), I fuorusciti (1802), Sargino ossia L'allievo dell'amore (1803), Leonora ossia L ' amore conjugale (1804) and Agnese (1812)). Other important composers of the Semiseria were Johann Simon Mayr , a. a. with La Lodoiska ( 1796/1799/1800 ) and Elisa (1804), and Carlo Coccia with Clotilde (1815). Late Opere semi series still wrote Pacini ( L'orfana Svizzera (1848), Zaffira (1851), Belfagor (1861)); however, these were unsuccessful.

Around 1830, the generic names “Opera seria”, “buffa” and “semiseria” began to disappear in favor of the more and more neutral term “melodramma” (not to be confused with a melodrama ). Although the genre of the semiseria practically died out after 1850, so no (or hardly) new works were created, some operas such as Rossini's La gazza ladra , Bellini's La sonnambula and I puritani , as well as Gaetano Donizetti's Linda di Chamounix were performed regularly until at least 1870. Bellini's operas in particular were remembered and popular.

Works

18th and 19th centuries

The following selection is limited to the most successful works of the time and those by well-known composers. A more extensive list, together with works from related genres such as the genre Eroicomico or the Melodramma, can be found at Jacobshagen.

  • Giovanni Paisiello : Nina, ossia La pazza per amore (1789; "commedia in prosa ed in verso")
  • Johann Simon Mayr : La Lodoiska ( 1796/1799/1800 ). Luigi Cherubini had already composed the same story in 1791 as the French "comédie-héroïque", and Rossini's Torvaldo e Dorliska (1815) was based on a similar story.
  • Ferdinando Paër : Griselda (1798)
  • Ferdinando Paër: La virtù al cimento (1798, "melodramma")
  • Ferdinando Paër: Camilla (1799; "dramma serio-giocoso")
  • Ferdinando Paër: Leonora (1804). This opera influenced Ludwig van Beethoven's Leonore / Fidelio .
  • Johann Simon Mayr: Elisa (1804)
  • Johann Simon Mayr: L'amor coniugale (1805; "dramma di sentimento")
  • Ferdinando Paër: L'Agnese (1809). Paërs L'Agnese is about a woman who got involved in an illegitimate affair and had a child from it, and who was then abandoned by the “seducer”. Her father Uberto is so unhappy with Agnese's behavior that he has gone mad; but in the end everything turns out fine.
  • Pietro Generali : Adelina (1810; "dramma sentimentale")
  • Carlo Coccia : La donna selvaggia (1813; also as La Matilde, 1814; rev. 1841)
  • Johann Simon Mayr: Elena (1814)
  • Stefano Pavesi : Agatina, ovvero La virtù premiata (1814). This opera deals with the Cinderella theme and is based on Perrault's fairy tale version Cendrillon. The libretto was set to music by Rossini three years later in only a slightly different form, as La Cenerentola , and it superseded Pavesis' previously successful opera.
  • Carlo Coccia: Clotilde (1815). This most successful opera by the composer was played internationally and stayed on the stages for around 50 years.
  • Gioachino Rossini : Torvaldo e Dorliska (1815)
  • Pietro Carlo Guglielmi : Paolo e Virginia (1816; "dramma semiserio").
  • Carlo Coccia: Etelinda (1816)
  • Gioachino Rossini: La gazza ladra ( The Thieving Magpie, 1817), one of his most important and profound scores, one of the most successful semiserias. It was one of the "[...] most performed operas in the first two decades of the 19th century".
  • Gioachino Rossini: La Cenerentola ( The Cinderella ; 1817) is originally referred to as "dramma giocoso", but because of the main character, it is also viewed as a semiseria ; Compared to La gazza ladra, the musical treatment is generally much more burlesque.
  • Giovanni Pacini : Adelaide e Comingio (1817) was finally a long-awaited success for the composer after a series of failed operas.
  • Giacomo Meyerbeer : Romilda e Costanza (1817) was his first Italian opera.
  • Giovanni Pacini: La sposa fedele (1819)
  • Giacomo Meyerbeer: Margherita d'Anjou (1820) is a romantic historical drama from the time of the Wars of the Roses . The plot and its musical design already point to Meyerbeer's later Grand Opéras Les Huguenots and Le prophète .
  • Saverio Mercadante : Elisa e Claudio, ossia L'amore protetto dall'amicizia (1821) was his first great success, and ran in Italian theaters until the 1840s.
  • Saverio Mercadante: Adele ed Emerico ossia Il posto abbandonato (1822)
  • Gaetano Donizetti : Emilia di Liverpool / L'eremitaggio di Liverpool ( 1824/1828 )
  • Michele Carafa : Il sonnambulo (1824)
  • Vincenzo Bellini : Adelson e Salvini (1825)
  • Gaetano Donizetti: Gianni di Calais (1828)
  • Vincenzo Bellini: La sonnambula ( Die Nachtwandlerin , 1831; "melodramma") plays in a relatively typical pastoral-rural setting and is also musically designed in a relatively pastoral tone. The nightwalking or sleepwalking of Amina can be seen as a more harmless variation on the madness scenes of other operas.
  • Vincenzo Bellini: I puritani (1835) is, according to the composer's words, a mixture of semiseria, as in La sonnambula , with military elements; there is no Buffa person.
  • Federico Ricci : La prigione d'Edimburgo (= The prison of Edinburgh, 1838; "melodramma semiserio")
  • Gaetano Donizetti: L'ange de Nisida (1839). This “melodramma semiserio” was never performed, but the composer reworked it in 1840 into the famous Grand Opéra La favorite .
  • Gaetano Donizetti: Linda di Chamounix (1842; "melodramma")
  • Giovanni Pacini: L'orfana svizzera (1848)
  • Giovanni Pacini: Zaffira (1851)
  • Carlo Pedrotti : Fiorina, o La fanciulla di Glaris (also: La fanciulla di Glaris ) (1851; “melodramma semiserio”), one of the last somewhat successful opera semiseries ; Performances until 1863.
  • Giovanni Pacini: Belfagor (1861)

20th century

literature

Remarks

  1. ↑ "[...] in the Opera Semiseria, conversely, the comedy is accidental and a potentially tragic plot is in the foreground".
  2. ↑ Meant are: Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria (1640) and L'incoronazione di Poppea (1642).
  3. ↑ See Jacobshagen, Chapter “4. Functions and limits of historical generic terminology ". Jacobshagen also mentions a few other imaginative opera names, which cannot always all be defined as a completely clear, independent type.
  4. ↑ Salieri himself made an even finer distinction between “tragic-comic” (e.g. Axur, re d'Ormus , 1788) and “heroic-comic” (e.g. Cublai, gran kan de 'Tartari , 1788).
  5. ↑ Further examples u. a. Jacobshagen gives on pp. 34–35 for the alternative use of the terms “semiserio” and “eroicomico”.
  6. ↑ E.g. in: 1) Richard Osborne: Rossini. Life and work . Translation by Grete Wehmeyer . List, Munich 1988, p. 261. And in: 2) Herbert Weinstock : Rossini. A biography. Edition Kunzelmann, Adliswil 1981, p. 434.
  7. ↑ Goldoni described his play Pamela retrospectively as “un drame selon la définition des François” and as “une Pièce a sentimens”, meaning “[…] a genre of stage art between comedy and tragedy, which was and was created for sensitive hearts This, since it is about their own kind, moves far more than the fate of tragic heroes. "
  8. ↑ This also met with criticism. In 1821 a Mr. Andrea Majer spoke of "a malicious sentimental fever" ("[...] Una febbre maligna sentimentale [...]") and of "tearful farsi and moonstruck semiseria dramas" ("[...] farse lagrimanti e dei drammi lunatici semi-serj [...] "). In: Andrea Majer: Discorso sulla origine, progressi e stato attuale della musica italiana. Padua 1821, p. 165.
  9. ↑ Senici speaks of "[...] a plot culminating to the last-minute liberation, salvation, or reinstatement of the good characters and the condemnation, or (less frequently) pardon of the evil ones." (Senici, Virgins of the Rocks , P. 21f).
  10. ↑ In the original referred to as "dramma sentimentale".
  11. ↑ Some works by Jacobshagen are possibly wrongly assigned to the genus Semiseria (e.g. Francesca di Foix (1832) by Donizetti).
  12. ↑ In the original referred to as "dramma sentimentale".
  13. ↑ Jakobshagen accidentally uses “prigone” instead of “prigione” (= prison).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Arnold Jacobshagen : Opera semiseria. Genre convergence and cultural transfer in music theater (= Archive for Musicology . Supplement 57). Habilitation thesis, University of Bayreuth 2002, Steiner, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 3-515-08701-X .
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Arnold Jacobshagen : Dramma eroicomico, Opera buffa and Opera semiseria. In: Herbert Schneider , Reinhard Wiesend (ed.): The opera in the 18th century (= manual of musical genres. Volume 12). Laaber, 2001, ISBN 3-89007-135-X , pp. 84-92.
  3. ^ A b Frédéric Vitoux: Rossini (Italian translation by Maria Delogu of the French original: Gioacchino Rossini , Éditions du Seuil, Paris 1986). Rusconi, Milan 1991.
  4. ^ A b Wilhelm Keitel , Dominik Neuner : Gioachino Rossini. Albrecht Knaus, Munich 1992, ISBN 3-8135-0364-X .
  5. ↑ a b c d Jeremy Commons, Don White: Booklet text for the CD box A Hundred Years of Italian Opera 1800–1810. Opera Rara ORCH 101.
  6. ↑ a b c d e f Jeremy Commons, Don White: Booklet text on the CD box A Hundred Years of Italian Opera 1810-1820. Opera Rara ORCH 103.
  7. ^ La sposa fedele (Giovanni Pacini) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna , accessed on November 20, 2017.
  8. ↑ See booklet and libretto for CD: Giacomo Meyerbeer: Margherita d'Anjou . Annick Massis, Bruce Ford, Daniela Barcellona, ​​Alastair Miles, The London Philharmonic Orchestra, David Parry. Opera Rara ORC 25, 2003.
  9. ↑ Elisa e Claudio, ossia L'amore protetto dall'amicizia (Saverio Mercadante) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna , accessed on November 20, 2017.
  10. ↑ Il sonnambulo (Michele Carafa) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna , accessed on November 20, 2017.