Handel in particular had a very considerable output of operas based on classical themes, mainly Roman but also including a pastoral Acis and Galatea, an Alessandro and even a musical drama, Hercules, which is based on Sophocles’ Women of Trachis (see video G. Both operas alternate recitative-sections declaimed over relatively modest accompaniment, in which the action is advanced-and arias-in which the emotions of the characters at that point in the action are explored, often in a simple ABA form, where on the reprise of the first section, the singer is expected to ornament his or her vocal part with embellishments (see video Cleopatra's second aria from Handel’s Julius Caesar). Neoplatonism and Stoicism dominate the outstanding operas of this period, which include Handel's Guilio Cesare in Egitto (“Julius Caesar,” 1724) and Mozart's La clemenza di Tito ( 1791). Sections declaimed over a light accompaniment are alternated with passages accompanied by the full orchestra in what was known as the stilo concertato-for example when Ulisse revenges himself on the suitors (see video Ulisse’s Revenge).Įxcept in France, where Lully's Alceste ( 1674) and Rameau's Hippolyte et Aricie ( 1733, after Racine’s Phèdre) are important, the significant operas of the Baroque turned largely to Rome for subject matter. Monteverdi established a dialogue between different musical forms, which was a true recreation in Renaissance terms of the structural principles of Greek tragedy. The first operas (e.g., Peri's Eurydice, 1600) largely consisted of declamation, and it was only with Monteverdi's Venetian operas- Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria ( 1640), and L'incoronazione di Poppea ( 1642)-that a true expressive power began to be achieved. They had a preference for happy endings the lyric poet Battista Guarini argued that, rather than purging pity and fear, as in Aristotle’s famous definition of tragedy, modern texts should aim to purge melancholy from the soul.
Its members believed that Greek tragedy was sung throughout, and sought to devise a new medium that would equal its perceived excellence. The Florentine Camerata-a group of humanists, musicians and intellectuals-invented opera, at the end of the 16th century ce.
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