To appreciate the extensive influence Italian opera has had on Classical music we need to take a good look into its past. One claim is that Italian opera began in the Renaissance Era. It was doubtlessly one of the most culturally rich and innovative times in which to live, particularly if you were residing in Italy.
The Camara de’ Bardi was given the credit for creating the first Italian opera. These individuals were a collective of Florentine artists, poets, humanists, musicians and intellectuals who had an eye and an ear for the new. An opera composed by Jacopo Peri (1561-1633), called Dafne dates from around 1597 and is often cited as the first example of its kind.
This opera as many that followed was based around the re-telling of a Greek play. In this case, Dafne was an opera about Daphne and Apollo that would have been well known at the time. What this group of creatives thought was that the Greeks probably sang these dramas, so the idea of opera was born.
(Incidentally, the word opera when translated literally means piece of work.)
Italian Opera Influence on Classical Music
Even in these tenderly early versions of the genre, many turned their attention towards Italy and the cultural developments that were underway. At the heart of many significant changes were the Medici family; one of the most powerful and influential sets of people to ever live.
Catherine Medici, for example, almost single-handedly funded and encouraged the development of the violin. The trends and fashions of Italy travelled across Europe and set in motion many of the musical developments we take for granted today.
17th-Century Italy
In 1637, another important step took place. The Teatro San Cassiano in Venice opened. What this did was allow any patron who had enough money to pay to see the opera could come and watch.
Up until that point, these performances were the province of royalty and nobility alone. This change made a monumental difference to the popularity of opera as it became available to a vastly wider audience.
By the mid-17th century, Italy had both Florence and Venice established as centres of opera. This naturally meant that opera companies could be properly formed and that they could then tour with the opera.
Companies based in these two cities travelled extensively around Europe bringing with them the newest cultural works. As a result, opera became increasingly popular and other composers began to explore this exciting cultural revolution.
The Baroque Era saw a growing number of composers working extensively in the genre. One of the most important operas of the early 17th century was by Claudio Monteverdi. This opera was Orfeo. Drawing on Greek drama, this opera was the tale of Orpheus and Euridice.
What differentiated this work from others was Monteverdi’s clever use of recitative between arias where the narrative could be told. Equally, the aria sections were deeply lyrical and impassioned pieces that set the pathway for the development of operatic structure for decades to come.
Another important characteristic of Italian opera was its neat division into two categories. These were Opera Seria and Opera Buffa. The first, as you can probably guess, refers to serious operas, the second comic. This distinction between opera types would be a key step in defining operatic styles over the next two hundred years of musical history.
Alessandro Scarlatti was a key figure in the Venetian operatic world. Not only was he one of the greatest exponents of the Italian style, his approach to composition helped establish many longstanding features. One of these was the Da Capo aria.
From the more continuous operatic scores of Cavalli, Scarlatti sought to break up the narrative that was often based on classical myths, into smaller sections that allowed for changes of pace, emphasis and style. You hear some incredibly virtuosic vocal writing within opera seria of which Scarlatti was felt to be the Nepolese Master.
Other noteworthy composers considered to be of the Neapolitan operatic school were Niccolò Porpora, Leonardo Leo, Giovan Battista Pergolesi, Nicolò Piccinini, Giovanni Paisiello and Domenico Cimarosa.
Opera Buffa Development
By contrast, opera buffa began to aim its sights at the wealthy classes. To attract this important audience, Italian composers began placing intermezzo into their operas. These intermezzo or interludes were designed to bring further and popular comic elements into the opera.
They were drawn from the Italian tradition of Commedia dell’arte and would have been masked players familiar to the Italian audiences. These players often represented social stereotypes that added a welcome lighter touch to the operas.
George Frederik Handel (1685-1759), was one of Germany’s most influential and important composers of the Era. What may not be commonly known is just how much of a formative role Italian culture played in Handel’s compositional style.
At the tender age of 21, Handel was working at the Gansemarkt Theatre in Hamburg. This was the first opera house to become established in Germany in the mid-17th century.
Handel toured Italy extensively to learn and benefit from the wisdom of Italian composers. He visited Venice, Naples, Florence and Rome. As you can hear in his early operatic scores, Handel seamlessly assimilated all the characteristics of Italian opera into his work.
It cannot be underestimated just how pivotal this step was in the young Handel’s career and what a huge impact it had on his music.
Mozart’s Evolution
What we discover as music merges into the Classical period, is that key composers like CW Gluck, and WA Mozart were composing operas in line with Italian tradition. This was the fashion, and this is what attracted audiences to the theatre houses. Some of WA Mozart’s opera buffa are amongst the finest examples of Italian-style opera in the Classical repertoire.
Listen to the following fantastic operas to get the full flavour of comic WA Mozart. The Marriage of Figaro (Le Nozze de Figaro), Don Giovanni, and Così fan tutte. Towards the end of WA Mozart’s life, he turned more towards the German language in opera such as Die Zauberflöte, (The Magic Flute), but this was initially met with some resistance from his patrons.
Italy continued to exert a considerable influence during the Romantic Era too. Composers such as Gioacchino Rossini (1792-1868), composed extensively in the opera buffa tradition although the lines between serious and comic opera were blurring. Other Italian composers embraced the Romantic operatic opportunity more fully.
Vincenzo Bellini (1801-1835) in barely a decade of frenzied composition with works like Norma (1831), was on a trajectory to great fame. This flight to greatness was sadly cut short by his early death. Even so, Bellini is felt to have greatly influenced the work of Frederik Chopin perhaps through his bel canto operatic style.
Hard on the heels of WA Mozart, Gaetano Donizetti (1797-1848), became the court composer in Vienna. Donizetti seemed to compose with considerable ease and wrote a large number of works for the stage.
Donizetti’s style was characterised by witty, sparkling comedies as well as darkly rich emotional operas. His 1885 composition titled Lucia di Lammermoor is thought by many to be his most brilliant opera.
The likes of Verdi and Puccini followed in the footsteps of these formidable Italian composers. Their operas took the Italian traditions into wholly new realms that have remained extremely popular even today.
The operatic works written now are still under the influence of this immensely important history whose origins began humbly over four-hundred years ago.