Differences Between Opera And Seria

An opera is a dramatic work in one or more acts, which contains music, singing, drama, poetry, and sometimes dances. In each work, all the components of opera combine their expressiveness and their beauty.

There were also different singing styles developed for the opera, such as recitative, aria and more. The different types of operas include opera buffa, opera seria, French opera, opera cornique, grand opera and singspiel. Therefore, I will be explaining and discussing the differences and similarities between opera buffa and seria and will be analyzing two musical extracts to demonstrate aspects of both.

Seria:

Opera seria is an Italian term for a "serious" style of an Italian dramatic opera of the 18th century based on a serious plot

Opera seria was less popular in France, where the national genre of French opera was preferred. Popular composers of opera seria included Alessandro Scarlatti, Johann Adolf Hasse, Leonardo Vinci, Nicola Porpora and George Frideric Handel.

Opera seria built upon the conventions of the High Baroque era by developing and exploiting the da capo aria, with its A-B-A form. The first section presented a theme, the second section presented a complementary theme, and the third section presented 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 no 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 dispersed with arias showing or expressing the emotions of the character, this was only broken by the occasional duet for the leading romantic couple. The recitative was typically secco: that is, accompanied only by continuo (harpsichord and cello, sometimes supported by bass instruments). At moments of violent passion secco was replaced by stromentato recitative, where the singer was accompanied by the entire family of

Comic characters had been a part of opera until the early 18th century, when opera buffa started becoming a separate genre. Opera buffa had the same development to opera seria. Opera buffa was partially intended as a genre that ordinary people could relate to more easily.

Opera seria was a form of entertainment that was both made for and portrayed kings and nobility, but opera buffa was made for and portrayed common people with common problems. Language that sounded important and impressive or high-flown language was avoided in dialogue that the lower class would relate to.

In the early 18th century, comic operas often appeared as short, one-act interludes known as intermezzi that were performed in between acts of opera seria. These gave way completely developed opera buffa later in the 18th century. Pergolesi is the one intermezzo that is still regularly performed today, and presents an excellent example of a comic opera.

Apart from Pergolesi, the first major composers of opera buffa were Logroscino, Galuppi and Alessandro Scarlatti, all of them based in Naples or