Musical Field Trip
I love listening to opera. It is one of the best types of
music I listen to when I’m doing my homework because it calms me. I’m not a
large fan of rap music, I prefer music
that doesn’t have an autotune and is full
of raw talent. I was first introduced to opera music in the form of the opera Carmen but more importantly the aria Habanera. The words “Love is a
rebellious bird” sounded like beautiful poetry to me. Since then, I have dedicated
my time to filling my music library with more opera genres.
The genre of Opera was born in Italy 400 years ago during
the Renaissance Era. When one thinks of opera, they think of vocals and
orchestra personified. The melding of visual arts and dance come to play. There
are two ways to determine Opera; Opera Seria- the rich socialites would gather
to watch meaningful and “real” opera, Opera Buffa- comedies performed to make
the audience laugh. Opera has come a long way from what it once was. Years
before, boys were castrated to retain their soprano voices. Those that survived
were famous during the 17th and 18th century.
One of the first pieces
of Opera, which is lost now, was called Dafne. Composed by Jacopo Puccini,
Dafne (Daphne) was the story of Apollo and his pursuit of the nymph Daphne. Due
to the Enlightenment period, Opera has changed from stories of Gods to more
human and realistic situations.
As I stated above, the story of Carmen is my favorite and was also the most famous piece of opera.
Composed by Georges Bizet (1838-75) Carmen,
is the story of a gypsy who values
freedom above all else, and the Soldier who begins to obsess over her. It is
written in 4 Acts. The Aria “Habanera”,
is famously known and many have heard the instrumental/orchestral version play in the Disney movie "up". The opera itself was written during the Romantic Era and was not fully accepted because women were not
fighting, sexually vivacious, and smoking cigarettes. Bizet dies 3 months later
from a heart complication without learning of the Opera’s success years later.
I added the Video of Bugs Bunny in his role as Leopold in the espisode "Bugs Rules" because as he is as he is orchestrating, he is also showing the raising and lower of the vocal chords in a hilarious way. (I hope you enjoy).
The vocal Ranges/pitches to opera are: Soprano (Highest
female voice, C4- C6 or even higher than that), Mezzo-Soprano (High female voice, A3-A5), Contralto (Lowest female voice,
F4-E5), Tenor (Highest male voice, B2 to A4), Baritone (Male voice from G2 to
F4), Bass (Lowest male voice, E2 to E4). I myself am a soprano, I love singing while
playing the piano. My mother is a Contralto and my Grandmother is a Soprano. I believe I inherited my grandmother's soprano voice.
Opera was originally written
to be more monody (single singing with simple chords) to be more meaningful rather than polyphonic. During that
time Polyphonic madrigals (one singer
with instruments in rendition) were in fashion, opera was meant to be a poetic form of singing. After a while, the
famous Homophonic signatures, such as frottola
and villanelle, grew much more famous and became their own vocal genres.
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