Tuesday, October 18, 2011

The aria/cabaletta form from bel canto to Verdi

The aria form established during the bel canto period of Italian opera is known as the aria/cabaletta form. Arias starting with baroque opera usually has recitative where the action is going on, then aria. The aria stops the action. A cabaletta is a follow up melody to an aria, and it is fast. The character gets excited about going to battle, going to kill the SOB, winning someones love, gaining something or whatever. Bellini and Donizetti always used the aria/cabaletta form in their operas. Bellini and Donizetti kept the orchestration relatively light in their cabalettas. The main object of the game during the bel canto period was the beauty of the voice. Verdi continued to use this form, but eventually he cut it out entirely. In his early operas Verdi always used the form because it was common practice. The main things he did were to kick the orchestration up a few knotches, and write higher for the voice. Kind of him to do that wasn't it? I am just joking of course. He wrote brilliant cabalettas, and he always used the form until 1851, when his middle period began with Rigoletto. The composition of Rigoletto was paramount in the history of Italian opera because Verdi got rid of the Rossinian code, and also used the aria/cabaletta form in a new and unique way. The Rossinian code was the formula by which Giacchino Rossini's operas were constructed. Every major character had an aria, and there was a concerted finale with all the characters and chorus on stage at the end of each act. Verdi's genius was absolutely remarkable. He changed all this, and here is how he accomplished that. Verdi abolished the Rossinian code in 1851 when Rigoletto was premiered. What he did in "Rigoletto" was fascinating. Act three ends with just Gilda and Rigoletto. There is no concerted finale. That is the first thing. At the beginning of the second act, the Duke sings an aria and cabaletta in the traditional form. In Rigoletto's aria the big change occurs, because Verdi writes and aria/cabaletta in reverse. No it is not a cabaletta/aria, I am calling it an aria and cabaletta in reverse because the tempos are fast/slow instead of slow/fast. Rigoletto begins in an absolute rage demanding his daughter back, and then there is the cantabile section of the aria where he is begging. Verdi's changing of the guard in this aria really heightens the emotional intensity. Verdi would go back to the old form in his next operas when he wanted to. Both "Il Trovatore" and "La Traviata" have arias and cabalettas for the major characters. Verdi's cabalettas always have more weight and intensity to them like I said before, so they do have his own stamp on them. The duet "Teco io sto" in "Un Ballo in Maschera" has a cabaletta with an awesome intensity. The last time Verdi used a cabaletta was in his opera "La Forza del Destino." In his last four operas Verdi abolishes the aria and cabaletta form completely. Interestingly Stravinsky went back to it once in his opera "The Rakes Progress" with Anne Truelove's scene. It has rarely been used aside from that. Puccini and the verismo composers who followed him never used this form to my knowledge. Twentieth century opera is mostly recitative. Verdi really changed the course of opera with changing the form and eventually abolishing it.

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