"Recitative Recitative (, also known by its Italian name """"recitativo"""" ()) is a style of delivery (much used in operas, oratorios, and cantatas) in which a singer is allowed to adopt the rhythms of ordinary speech. Recitative does not repeat lines as formally composed songs do. It resembles sung ordinary speech more than a formal musical composition. Recitative can be distinguished on a continuum from more speech-like to more musical, with more sustained melodic lines. The mostly syllabic recitativo secco (""dry"", accompanied only by continuo) is at one end of a spectrum through recitativo accompagnato (using orchestra), the more melismatic"
"popular style of opera singing evolved from the light and elaborate music of that era to the louder and more speech-like singing of the middle and later 19th century. In the popular music of the West ""messa di voce"" has been even less common. It still appears occasionally in some of the more ornate styles of popular music, however, like black gospel and other styles influenced by it. Modern mainstream vocalists who have showcased messa di voce include Beyoncé, Whitney Houston and Celine Dion. Messa di voce Messa di voce (Italian, ""placing of voice"") is a singing technique that requires"
"as ""number opera"", consists of two modes of singing: recitative, the plot-driving passages sung in a style designed to imitate and emphasize the inflections of speech, and aria (an ""air"" or formal song) in which the characters express their emotions in a more structured melodic style. Vocal duets, trios and other ensembles often occur, and choruses are used to comment on the action. In some forms of opera, such as singspiel, opéra comique, operetta, and semi-opera, the recitative is mostly replaced by spoken dialogue. Melodic or semi-melodic passages occurring in the midst of, or instead of, recitative, are also referred"
"Arioso In classical music, arioso (also aria parlante ) is a type of solo vocal piece, usually occurring in an opera or oratorio, falling somewhere between recitative and aria in style. Literally, arioso means ""airy"". The term arose in the 16th century along with the aforementioned styles and monody. It is commonly confused with recitativo accompagnato. Arioso is similar to recitative due to its unrestrained structure and inflexions, close to those of speech. It differs, however, in its rhythm. Arioso is similar to aria in its melodic form, both being closer to singing than recitative; however, they differ in form,"
"to the practice as it evolved in the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire. The Office is composed of both musical and rhetorical elements, the first usually given in the musical mode or tone (""echos""), according to which the liturgical compositions are chanted. There are eight musical modes: four primary and four secondary (plagal). The rhetorical elements are seldom given in a normal speaking voice, but are ""read"" in a simple recitative. As the early chanters rarely used texts set to musical notation, they learned by heart the words and music of some standard hymn, and this served as a model for"
"in a declamatory style called secco recitative, that is with only a continuo accompaniment. Direct speech sections of the Gospel text are brought by other singers in the same ""secco"" format (e.g. a soprano voice sings the words spoken by Pontius Pilate's wife), except for: Apart from the Evangelist and the Vox Christi the dramatis personae of these Gospel sections of the ""St Matthew Passion"" consists of: In between the sections or scenes of the Gospel text, other texts are sung as a meditation or underlining the action, in a variety of formats: In the scheme below indentation indicates the"
"or plain recitative. These recitatives are accompanied by a ""continuo"" but no other instruments. Bach also uses ""recitativo accompagnato"", which utilizes other instruments so as to be more emotionally expressive. The arias are typically sung by principal characters and convey emotion, rather than plot advancement like recitatives. Like the other movements, Bach uses his arias to convey intense emotion, to fit in with his ""empfindsam"" approach to the oratorio. They are written in a da capo form, which is organized so as to reflect the pattern of human emotion as it occurs. Because Bach treats the music and emotions of"
"singing, the verses are sung alternately by soloist and choir, or by choir and congregation. In the Western Church where formerly the responsorial method seems to have been used alone, the antiphonal method was introduced by St. Ambrose. Over time, the Milanese liturgy developed into the Ambrosian rite, which shares more in common with the Gallican and Mozarabic rites than with the Roman. Ambrosian chant developed to meet the particular needs of the Ambrosian liturgy. Although the Ambrosian rite is liturgically related to other rites and Ambrosian chant is musically related to other plainchant traditions, different categories of chant, different"
"not foresee an enacted or scenic representation, and also while he disconnected the male roles (according to the text) from the female voice(s) delivering these texts, keeping in mind a good understandability of the story exclusively by the words of the text, the form of the composition could rather be considered as (secular) oratorio, than opera, or (melo)drama (or symphony). It might be possible to think that Satie took formally similar secular cantatas for one or two voices and a moderate accompaniment as his examples for the musical form of ""Socrate"": nearly all Italian and German baroque composers had written"
"the use of recitative and monodic singing as developed by the Camerata and their successors. In this new style, the text dominates the music; while sinfonias and instrumental ritornelli illustrate the action, the audience's attention is always drawn primarily to the words. The singers are required to do more than produce pleasant vocal sounds; they must represent their characters in depth and convey appropriate emotions. Monterverdi's recitative style was influenced by Peri's, in ""Euridice"", although in ""L'Orfeo"" recitative is less preponderant than was usual in dramatic music at this time. It accounts for less than a quarter of the first"
"often contrapuntal and madrigal-like. Philip Neri's Congregazione dell'Oratorio featured the singing of spiritual laude. These became more and more popular and were eventually performed in specially built oratories (prayer halls) by professional musicians. Again, these were chiefly based on dramatic and narrative elements. Sacred opera provided another impetus for dialogues, and they greatly expanded in length (although never really beyond 60 minutes long). Cavalieri's ""Rappresentatione di Anima, et di Corpo"" is an example of one of these works, but technically it is not an oratorio because it features acting and dancing. It does, however contain music in the monodic style."
"variety of terms according to their character – e.g.""aria parlante"" ('speaking-style', narrative in nature), ""aria di bravura"" (typically given to a heroine), ""aria buffa"" (aria of a comic type, typically given to a bass or bass-baritone), and so on. M. F. Robinson describes the standard aria in ""opera seria"" in the period 1720 to 1760 as follows: The first section normally began with an orchestral ritornello after which the singer entered and sang the words of the first stanza in their entirety. By the end of this first vocal paragraph the music, if it were in a major key as"
"Cantata A cantata (literally ""sung"", past participle feminine singular of the Italian verb ""cantare"", ""to sing"") is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir. The meaning of the term changed over time, from the simple single voice madrigal of the early 17th century, to the multi-voice ""cantata da camera"" and the ""cantata da chiesa"" of the later part of that century, from the more substantial dramatic forms of the 18th century to the usually sacred-texted 19th-century cantata, which was effectively a type of short oratorio. Cantatas for use in the liturgy of"
"second a complementary one, and the third a repeat of the first with ornamentation and elaboration of the music by the singer. As the genre developed and arias grew longer, a typical ""opera seria"" would contain not more than thirty musical movements. A typical opera would start with an instrumental overture of three movements (fast-slow-fast) and then a series of recitatives containing dialogue interspersed with arias expressing the emotions of the character, this pattern only broken by the occasional duet for the leading amatory couple. The recitative was typically ""secco"": that is, accompanied only by ""continuo"" (harpsichord and cello, sometimes"
"arioso, and finally the full-blown aria or ensemble, where the pulse is entirely governed by the music. The term recitative (or occasionally liturgical recitative) is also applied to the simpler formulas of Gregorian chant, such as the tones used for the Epistle, Gospel, preface and collects; see accentus. The first use of recitative in opera was preceded by the monodies of the Florentine Camerata in which Vincenzo Galilei, father of the astronomer Galileo Galilei, played an important role. The elder Galilei, influenced by his correspondence with Girolamo Mei on the writings of the ancient Greeks and with Erycius Puteanus on"
"the life of Jesus, or the career of a classical hero or Biblical prophet. Other changes eventually took place as well, possibly because most composers of oratorios were also popular composers of operas. They began to publish the librettos of their oratorios as they did for their operas. Strong emphasis was soon placed on arias while the use of the choir diminished. Female singers became regularly employed, and replaced the male narrator with the use of recitatives. By the mid-17th century, two types had developed: Lasting about 30–60 minutes, ""oratorio volgares"" were performed in two sections, separated by a sermon;"
"of Bach cantatas), or the ""Chandos Anthems"" of Handel. In Johann Sebastian Bach's case many of the larger cantatas are actually called oratorios; and the ""Christmas Oratorio"" is a collection of six church cantatas actually intended for performance on six different days, though together forming as complete an artistic whole as any classical oratorio. During the baroque era, the term ""cantata"" generally retained its original Italian usage to describe a secular vocal piece of extended length, often in different sections, and usually Italianate in style. At the same time, vocal pieces of similar scope, often with several singers, and various"
"the courante. The harmonies, too, might be simpler than in the early Baroque monody, and the accompanying bass lines were more integrated with the melody, producing a contrapuntal equivalence of the parts that later led to the device of an initial bass anticipation of the aria melody. This harmonic simplification also led to a new formal device of the differentiation of recitative (a more spoken part of opera) and aria (a part of opera that used sung melodies). The most important innovators of this style were the Romans Luigi Rossi and Giacomo Carissimi, who were primarily composers of cantatas and"
"the cantata for one or two solo voices with accompaniment of basso continuo (and perhaps a few solo instruments) was a principal form of Italian vocal chamber music. A cantata consisted first of a declamatory narrative or scene in recitative, held together by a primitive aria repeated at intervals. Fine examples may be found in the church music of Giacomo Carissimi; and the English vocal solos of Henry Purcell (such as ""Mad Tom"" and ""Mad Bess"") show the utmost that can be made of this archaic form. With the rise of the da capo aria, the cantata became a group"
"with the lyrics of the aria, which may include pretending to be dying from a stab wound, miming an activity (e.g., pouring wine), or doing a simple dance routine. Both choral and opera singers are expected to be able to follow the gestures of a conductor in regards to expression and tempo. Since microphones are not used in most classical music performances, the audition panel will be assessing the auditionees ability to project a strong, room-filling vocal tone. In classical music, in addition to judging singing ability (e.g., tone, intonation, etc.), the audition panel will be judging the applicant's ability"
"The current day's thought held that the Greeks used a style between speech and song, and this belief guided the Camerata's discourse. They were influenced by Girolamo Mei, the foremost scholar of ancient Greece at the time, who held—among other things—that ancient Greek drama was predominantly sung rather than spoken. Foundational for this belief was the writing of the Greek thinker Aristoxenus, who proposed that speech should set the pattern for song. Largely concerned with a revival of the Greek dramatic style, the Camerata's musical experiments led to the development of the ""stile recitativo"". Cavalieri was the first to employ"
"""squillo"" includes: Famous singers who personify this technique include Leontyne Price, Mariella Devia, Renata Tebaldi, Giuseppe di Stefano, Jussi Björling and Luciano Pavarotti. Certain dramatic singers may also employ ""squillo"" as opposed to volume over the course of a performance, for example Birgit Nilsson. ""Squillo"" may also refer, in current Italian: Squillo Squillo is a technical term for the resonant, trumpet-like sound in the voices of opera singers. It is also commonly called ""singer's formant"", ""ring"", ""ping"", ""core"", and other terms. Squillo enables an essentially lyric tone to be heard over thick orchestrations, e.g. in late Verdi, Puccini and Strauss"
"tenor aria in adopting the minor mode. The movement is remarkable for its ""reaching"" obbligato violin and for the multiple instances of word painting throughout the vocal line. The seventh movement is an alto aria in which the singer assumes a personal view of devotion. The accompaniment comprises flowing triplets in the flute, ""the palpitations of an excited heartbeat"", over repeated chords in the strings. The tenor recitative adopts the voice of a pastor preaching to his followers. The movement is ""short but operatically declamatory"" and modulates from the minor mode to G major to set up the final movement."
"to as arioso. The terminology of the various kinds of operatic voices is described in detail below. During both the Baroque and Classical periods, recitative could appear in two basic forms, each of which was accompanied by a different instrumental ensemble: ""secco"" (dry) recitative, sung with a free rhythm dictated by the accent of the words, accompanied only by ""basso continuo"", which was usually a harpsichord and a cello; or ""accompagnato"" (also known as ""strumentato"") in which the orchestra provided accompaniment. Over the 18th century, arias were increasingly accompanied by the orchestra. By the 19th century, ""accompagnato"" had gained the"
"the text. Opera tends to deal with history and mythology, including age-old devices of romance, deception, and murder, whereas the plot of an oratorio often deals with sacred topics, making it appropriate for performance in the church. Protestant composers took their stories from the Bible, while Catholic composers looked to the lives of saints, as well as to Biblical topics. Oratorios became extremely popular in early 17th-century Italy partly because of the success of opera and the Catholic Church's prohibition of spectacles during Lent. Oratorios became the main choice of music during that period for opera audiences. The word ""oratorio"","
"and ""da capo"" arias. In accordance with 18th-century opera convention the plot is mainly carried forward in the recitatives, while the musical interest and exploration of character takes place in the arias—although on occasion Handel breaks this mould by using arias to advance the action. With one exception the recitative sections are ""secco"" (""dry""), where a simple vocal line is accompanied by continuo only. The anomaly is Otho's ""Otton, qual portentoso fulmine"", where he finds himself robbed of the throne and deserted by his beloved Poppaea; here the recitative is accompanied by the orchestra, as a means of highlighting the"
"Oratorio An oratorio () is a large musical composition for orchestra, choir, and soloists. Like most operas, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias. However, opera is musical theatre, while oratorio is strictly a concert piece – though oratorios are sometimes staged as operas, and operas are sometimes presented in concert form. In an oratorio the choir often plays a central role, and there is generally little or no interaction between the characters, and no props or elaborate costumes. A particularly important difference is in the typical subject matter of"
"Roger Sessions, Siegfried Strohbach, Michael Tippett, and Kurt Weill. Cantata A cantata (literally ""sung"", past participle feminine singular of the Italian verb ""cantare"", ""to sing"") is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir. The meaning of the term changed over time, from the simple single voice madrigal of the early 17th century, to the multi-voice ""cantata da camera"" and the ""cantata da chiesa"" of the later part of that century, from the more substantial dramatic forms of the 18th century to the usually sacred-texted 19th-century cantata, which was effectively a type of"
"than sung. Instead of moving from one musical number to another, the musical segments – e.g. aria, recitative, chorus – are interspersed with periods of dialogue. There is usually no musical accompaniment to the dialogue, although sometimes some musical themes are played quietly under it. Short passages of recitative are, however, sometimes used in operetta, especially as an introduction to a song. The operetta is a precursor of the modern musical theatre or the ""musical"". In the early decades of the 20th century, the operetta continued to exist alongside the newer musical, with each influencing the other. The main difference"
"lines). The canzone is typically hendecasyllabic (11 syllables). The ""congedo"" or ""commiato"" also forms the pattern of the Provençal ""tornado"", known as the French ""envoi"", addressing the poem itself or directing it to the mission of a character, originally a personage. Originally delivered at the Sicilian court of Emperor Frederick II during the 13th century of the Middle Ages, the lyrical form was later commanded by Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio, and leading Renaissance writers such as Spenser (the marriage hymn in his ""Epithalamion""). The canzone (German ""Kanzone"") is the characteristic strophic form of Minnesang, the Middle High German lyric genre. In"
"Operatic pop Operatic pop or popera is a subgenre of pop music that is performed in an operatic singing style or a song, theme or motif from classical music stylized as pop. According to music historians, operatic pop songs became most prevalent with the rise of Tin Pan Alley musicians during the early 1900s. One influence was the large influx of Italian immigrants to the United States who popularized singers such as Enrico Caruso and inspired the creation of ""novelty songs"" using Italian dialect. The songs often used operatic repertory ""to make a satirical or topical point"". Popularized by American"
"the writings of Hucbald and wishing to recreate the old manner of storytelling and drama, pioneered the use of a single melodic line to tell the story, accompanied by simple chords from a harpsichord or lute. In the baroque era, recitatives were commonly rehearsed on their own by the stage director, the singers frequently supplying their own favourite baggage arias which might be by a different composer (some of Mozart's so-called concert arias fall into this category). This division of labour persisted in some of Rossini's works; the ""secco"" recitatives for ""The Barber of Seville"" and ""La Cenerentola"" were composed"
"designs of the period that we can easily comprehend their failure to gain popular approval. Gone are the coloratura flourishes; gone is a more elaborate orchestration; gone are requirements of phrase construction and cadential repetition; gone, in short, are the conventions that usually rule Italian opera. Instead, the concluding moments of the opera mirror each word of the dying hero, supported essentially by strings alone."" Additionally, we find in Gossett and Brauner an explanation of another aspect of Rossini's compositional style: in his vocal writing, although the opera continues to use ""closed numbers separated by ""secco"" recitatives, a flexibility of"