By the middle of the century, operasset to the libretti of Pietro Metastasio held a prestigious position in every European court except Paris. Members of the privileged class and those aspiring to this standing were prepared to accept all of the defects of the genre that was "alien in plot, culture and language and often tedious and repetitious music," for the sake of the high and exclusive status.
The Da Capo Aria
The Da Capo aria form dominated the Italian aria of the eighteenth century. The form was usually of a binary construction of the ABA structure. The A part usually consisted of two to four lines of verse, the middle B section being treated in a similar way to the A section. The A and B sections were generally equal in length and musical weight. Metastasio’s libretti created a number of conventions for the Da Capo aria which held throughout the century. Its role created an emotional climax to a scene and adopted the principle of contrasting types in successive arias. Texts were two poetic stanzas, generally of equal length.
The Da Capo aria became universal, and its types so stereotyped, that arias could be transplanted from opera to opera, whether by the impresario, librettist or composer, or at the desire of the singer.
The Duet and Exit Duet
The duet appeared as the expression of emotions for pairs of characters and normally took the form of a dialogue followed by a duet. Between about 1730 and 1780, duets were virtually the exclusive province of the principle couple. Until 1770s the duet was the only ensemble in opera seria and usually functioned as the finale to the first or second act. The "exit aria" became the norm and was placed at the end of a scene where the singer would leave the stage. The "exit duet" was usually put at the end of an act, generally the second.
Popularity of individual settings of Arias
The visit to the opera had now become the main social activity of the period. It was fashionable for the audience to arrive late, to talk among themselves and walk about at will. Attention was paid to the dress, embellishments and cadenzas of the Prima Donna or Prima Uomo. Many attended several performances of the production in one season, which indicates lack of attention rather than of interest.
It would appear only a small minority really understood the elegance of the text, appropriateness of the music or the singer’s interpretation. One reason for this apparent lack of interest may have been that many of the audience would have been already familiar with the texts. The aim of the reform was to encourage librettists to produce work which would be accepted as literature.
This was the case with Metastasio’s works; all well-to-do households had complete copies of his libretti, which were read as poetry is read today. The audiences would, therefore, be familiar with the plots, texts and would have favourite arias. They would, when attending operas, be interested in their particular favourites and the performance of the soloists rather than the whole opera. These visits to the opera were merely social events where people could meet in a formal setting.
The popularity of these arias led the composers to reset them for voice or voices with a basso continuo, enabling them to be performed in private. Many other composers also set individual texts as opposed to complete operas.
Hart, Anthony. "Concertini a tre Soprani, e Contralto – Eighteenth Century Arias for Four Voices." Unpublished LLCM dissertation, 2010.
Reinhard Strohm. Dramma per Musica ; ItalianOpera Seria of the Eighteen Century. Newhaven, 1997.
Anthony Hart - I am a retired Management Consultant, Management Trainer and University lecturer. Born in the UK, I now live in Malta. As a member of ...
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