French Opera Research Paper

As opera developed throughout the Baroque era, distinct styles emerged from the countries of Italy and France. Each country held specific goals with the composition and production of opera. Italy desired to make money from public opera houses, therefore, they hired the most famous divas to sing their most virtuosic arias to guarantee a full house. France, however, wished to preserve their cultural traditions and maintain a distinction between themselves and the rest of Europe. Under the supervision and funding of the Kings, French opera was written to glorify France and its rich traditions of dance and literature. The art form developed uniquely in each country because Italy made money by glorifying individuals, while France kept the monarch

The competition between Italian city-states propelled support for the arts because each city-state wanted to make the most money. After the first public opera house opened in Venice in 1637 and public opera houses began to open around the country, this competition became more prevalent due to the selling of tickets. As opera rose in prevalence in the culture, people attended the opera to see famous singers perform with dramatic intensity, rather than to enjoy the storytelling. These singers were referred to as “divas.” Managers of opera companies competed to hire most popular divas. For example, the character of Ottavia in Monteverdi’s opera L’incoronazione di Poppea was performed with great fierceness, due to her madness over her husband Nero’s illicit affair with Poppea. Audience members would have likely been more interested in who was playing this role rather than the story associated with it. By the late seventeenth century, Italian operas would have 60 arias or more, because the audience’s priority was to hear the diva sing the most possible hits, not necessarily hear a good story. For the first time in history, the performer held more importance than the

The french resisted Italian influence in an effort to retain their own artistic culture and they did not establish a national opera until the 1670s. Due to the fact that the monarchy funded the opera, the artistic preferences of the Kings governed the style of music written. For example, King Louis XIV insisted that ballet be a central element of French opera, partly due to his own interests and participation in dance. In addition to dance, the French also valued their rich literary culture, which lead to story and drama holding priority in their opera. The most lyrical portions of French opera were called airs, which had little text repetition. Beginning in measure 90 of Jean-Baptiste Lully’s opera Armide, the character of Armide begins singing an air to contrast the previous recitative. The air is songlike, with regular meter and phrasing. The overall style is simple, with little instance of repeated text and virtuosic passages. These compositional tactics are employed by Lully to emphasize the change of emotion from the recitative to the aria. This is an example of French opera holding priority in the emotional story, not the virtuosic abilities of the