Comic opera,sometimes known aslight opera,is a sung dramatic work of a light or comic nature, usually with a happy ending and often including spoken dialogue.
Forms of comicoperafirst developed in late 17th-century Italy. By the 1730s, a new operatic genre,opera buffa,emerged as an alternative toopera seria.It quickly made its way to France, where it becameopéra comique,and eventually, in the following century,French operetta,withJacques Offenbachas its most accomplished practitioner.
The influence of the Italian and French forms spread to other parts of Europe. Many countries developed their own genres of comic opera, incorporating the Italian and French models along with their own musical traditions. Examples include Germansingspiel,Viennese operetta,Spanishzarzuela,Russian comic opera, EnglishballadandSavoy opera,North American operetta andmusical comedy.
Italianopera buffa
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In late 17th-century Italy, light-hearted musical plays began to be offered as an alternative to weightieropera seria(17th-century Italian opera based onclassical mythology).Il Trespolo tutore(1679) byAlessandro Stradellawas an early precursor ofopera buffa.The opera has a farcical plot, and the characters of the ridiculous guardian Trespolo and the maid Despina are prototypes of characters widely used later in theopera buffagenre.
The form began to flourish inNapleswithAlessandro Scarlatti'sIl trionfo dell'onore(1718). At first written in Neapolitan dialect, these works became "Italianized" with the operas of Scarlatti,Pergolesi(La serva padrona,1733),Galuppi(Il filosofo di campagna,1754),Piccinni(La Cecchina,1760),Paisiello(Nina,1789),Cimarosa(Il matrimonio segreto,1792), and then the great comic operas ofMozartand, later,RossiniandDonizetti.
At first, comic operas were generally presented asintermezzibetween acts of more serious works. Neapolitan and then Italian comic opera grew into an independent form and became the most popular form of staged entertainment in Italy from about 1750 to 1800. In 1749, thirteen years after Pergolesi's death, hisLa serva padronaswept Italy and France, evoking the praise of suchFrench Enlightenmentfigures asRousseau.
In 1760,Niccolò Piccinniwrote the music toLa Cecchinato a text by the great Venetian playwright,Carlo Goldoni.That text was based onSamuel Richardson's popular English novel,Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded(1740). Many years later,VerdicalledLa Cecchinathe "first true Italian comic opera" – that is to say, it had everything: it was in standard Italian and not in dialect; it was no longer simply an intermezzo, but rather an independent piece; it had a real story that people liked; it had dramatic variety; and, musically, it had strong melodies and even strong supporting orchestral parts, including a strong "stand-alone" overture (i.e., you could even enjoy the overture as an independent orchestral piece). Verdi was also enthusiastic because the music was by a southern Italian and the text by a northerner, which appealed to Verdi's pan-Italian vision.
The genre was developed further in the first half of the 19th century byGioachino Rossiniin his works such asThe Barber of Seville(1816) andLa Cenerentola(1817) and byGaetano DonizettiinL'elisir d'amore(1832) andDon Pasquale(1843), but declined in the mid-19th century, despiteGiuseppe Verdi'sFalstaffstaged in 1893.
Frenchopéra comiqueand operetta
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French composers eagerly seized upon the Italian model and made it their own, calling itopéra comique.Early proponents included the ItalianEgidio Duni,François-André Philidor,Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny,André Grétry,François-Adrien Boïeldieu,Daniel François AuberandAdolphe Adam.Although originally reserved for less serious works, the termopéra comiquecame to refer to any opera that included spoken dialogue, including works such asCherubini'sMédéeandBizet'sCarmenthat are not "comic" in any sense of the word.
Florimond Hervéis credited as the inventor of Frenchopéra bouffe,oropérette.[1]Working on the same model,Jacques Offenbachquickly surpassed him, writing over ninetyoperettas.Whereas earlier French comic operas had a mixture of sentiment and humour, Offenbach's works were intended solely to amuse. Though generally well crafted and full of humorous satire and grand opera parodies, plots and characters in his works were often interchangeable. Given the frenetic pace at which he worked, Offenbach sometimes used the same material in more than one opera. Another Frenchman who took up this form wasCharles Lecocq.
Germansingspieland Viennese operetta
editThesingspieldeveloped in 18th-century Vienna and spread throughout Austria and Germany. As in the Frenchopéra comique,thesingspielwas an opera with spoken dialogue, and usually a comic subject, such asMozart'sDie Entführung aus dem Serail(1782) andThe Magic Flute(1791). Latersingspiels,such asBeethoven'sFidelio(1805) andWeber'sDer Freischütz(1821), retained the form, but explored more serious subjects.
19th centuryViennese operettawas built on both thesingspieland the French model.Franz von Suppéis remembered mainly for his overtures.Johann Strauss II,the "waltz king", contributedDie Fledermaus(1874) andThe Gypsy Baron(1885).Carl Millöckera long-time conductor at theTheater an der Wien,also composed some of the most popular Viennese operettas of the late 19th century, includingDer Bettelstudent(1882),Gasparone(1884) andDer arme Jonathan(1890).
After the turn of the 20th century,Franz LehárwroteThe Merry Widow(1905);Oscar StraussuppliedEin Walzertraum( "A Waltz Dream", 1907) andThe Chocolate Soldier(1908); andEmmerich KálmáncomposedDie Csárdásfürstin(1915).
Spanishzarzuela
editZarzuela,introduced inSpainin the 17th century, is rooted in popular Spanish traditional musical theatre. It alternates between spoken and sung scenes, the latter incorporating dances, with chorus numbers and humorous scenes that are usually duets. These works are relatively short, and ticket prices were often low, to appeal to the general public. There are two main forms ofzarzuela:Baroquezarzuela(c. 1630–1750), the earliest style, andRomanticzarzuela(c. 1850–1950), which can be further divided into the two subgenres ofgénero grandeandgénero chico.
Pedro Calderón de la Barcawas the first playwright to adopt the termzarzuelafor his work entitledEl golfo de las sirenas( "The Gulf of the Sirens", 1657).Lope de Vegasoon wrote a work titledLa selva sin amor, drama con orquesta( "The Loveless Jungle, A Drama with Orchestra" ). The instruments orchestra was hidden from the audience, the actors sang in harmony, and the musical composition itself was intended to evoke an emotional response. Some of these early pieces were lost, butLos celos hacen estrellas( "Jealousies Turn Into Stars" ) byJuan Hidalgoand Juan Vélez, which premiered in 1672, survives and gives us some sense of what the genre was like in the 17th century.
In the 18th century, the Italian operatic style influencedzarzuela.But beginning with the reign of Bourbon KingCharles III,anti-Italian sentiment increased.Zarzuelareturned to its roots in popular Spanish tradition in works such as the sainetes (or Entr'actes) of Don Ramón de la Cruz. This author's first work in this genre wasLas segadoras de Vallecas( "The Reapers of Vallecas", 1768), with music byRodríguez de Hita.
Single actzarzuelaswere classified asgénero chico(the "little genre" or "little form" ) andzarzuelasof three or more acts weregénero grande(the "big genre" or "big form" ).Zarzuela grandebattled on at the Teatro de la Zarzuela de Madrid, but with little success and light attendance. In spite of this, in 1873 a new theater, theTeatro Apolo,was opened forzarzuela grande,which shared the failures of the Teatro de la Zarzuela, until it was forced to change its program togénero chico.
Russian comic opera
editThe first opera presented inRussia,in 1731, was a comic opera (or "commedia per musica" ),Calandro,by an Italian composer,Giovanni Alberto Ristori.It was followed by the comic operas of other Italians, likeGaluppi,PaisielloandCimarosa,and alsoBelgian/FrenchcomposerGrétry.
The first Russian comic opera wasAnyuta(1772). The text was written byMikhail Popov,with music by an unknown composer, consisting of a selection of popular songs specified in the libretto. Another successful comic opera,The miller who was a wizard, a cheat and a matchmaker,text byAlexander Ablesimov(1779), on a subject resemblingRousseau'sDevin,is attributed toMikhail Sokolovsky.Ivan Kerzelli,Vasily PashkevichandYevstigney Fominalso wrote a series of successful comic operas in the 18th century.
In the 19th century, Russian comic opera was further developed byAlexey Verstovskywho composed more 30 opera-vaudevilles and 6 grand operas (most of them with spoken dialogue). Later,Modest Mussorgskyworked on two comic operas,The Fair at SorochyntsiandZhenitba( "The Marriage" ), which he left unfinished (they were completed only in the 20th century).Pyotr Tchaikovskywrote a comic opera,Cherevichki(1885).Nikolai Rimsky-KorsakovcomposedMay Night1878–1879 andThe Golden Cockerel1906–1907.
In the 20th century, the best examples of comic opera by Russian composers wereIgor Stravinsky'sMavra(1922) andThe Rake's Progress(1951),Sergey Prokofiev'sThe Love for Three Oranges(1919) andBetrothal in a Monastery(1940–1941, staged 1946), andDmitri Shostakovich'sThe Nose(1927–1928, staged 1930). Simultaneously, the genres oflight music,operetta,musical comedy,and later,rock opera,were developed by such composers asIsaak Dunayevsky,Dmitri Kabalevsky,Dmitri Shostakovich (Opus 105:Moscow, Cheryomushki,operetta in 3 acts, (1958)),Tikhon Khrennikov,and later byGennady Gladkov,Alexey RybnikovandAlexander Zhurbin.
The 21st century in Russian comic opera began with the noisy premieres of two works whose genre could be described as "opera-farce":Tsar Demyan(Царь Демьян) –A frightful opera performance.A collective project of five authors wrote the work:Leonid Desyatnikovand Vyacheslav Gaivoronsky fromSt. Petersburg,Iraida Yusupova and Vladimir Nikolayev fromMoscow,and the creative collective "Kompozitor", which is a pseudonym for the well-known music critic Pyotr Pospelov. The libretto is by Elena Polenova, based on a folk-drama,Tsar Maksimilyan,and the work premiered on June 20, 2001, at theMariinski Theatre,St Petersburg. Prize "Gold Mask, 2002" and "Gold Soffit, 2002".
The Children of Rosenthal(Дети Розенталя), an opera in two acts byLeonid Desyatnikov,with a libretto byVladimir Sorokin.This work was commissioned by the Bolshoi theatre and premiered on March 23, 2005. The staging of the opera was accompanied by juicy scandal; however it was an enormous success.
English ballad and Savoy opera
editEngland traces its light opera tradition to theballad opera,typically a comic play that incorporated songs set to popular tunes.John Gay'sThe Beggar's Operawas the earliest and most popular of these.Richard Brinsley Sheridan'sThe Duenna(1775), with a score byThomas Linley,was expressly described as "a comic opera".[2][3]
By the second half of the 19th century, the London musical stage was dominated bypantomimeandmusical burlesque,as well as bawdy, badly translated continental operettas, often including "ballets" featuring much prurient interest, and visiting the theatre became distasteful to the respectable public, especially women and children. Mr. and Mrs.Thomas German Reed,beginning in 1855, and a number of other Britons, deplored the risqué state of musical theatre and introducedshort comic operasdesigned to be more family-friendly and to elevate the intellectual level of musical entertainments.Jessie Bondwrote,
The stage was at a low ebb, Elizabethan glories and Georgian artificialities had alike faded into the past, stilted tragedy and vulgar farce were all the would-be playgoer had to choose from, and the theatre had become a place of evil repute to the righteous British householder.... A first effort to bridge the gap was made by the German Reed Entertainers.[4]
Nevertheless, an 1867 production of Offenbach'sThe Grand Duchess of Gerolstein(seven months after its French première) ignited the English appetite for light operas with more carefully crafted librettos and scores, and continental European operettas continued to be extremely popular in Britain in the 1860s and 1870s, includingLes Cloches de Corneville,Madame Favartand others into the 1880s, often adapted byH. B. FarnieandRobert Reece.[3]F. C. Burnandcollaborated with several composers, includingArthur SullivaninCox and Box,to write several comic operas on English themes in the 1860s and 1870s.
In 1875,Richard D'Oyly Carte,one of the impresarios aiming to establish an English school of family-friendly light opera by composers such asFrederic ClayandEdward Solomonas a countermeasure to the continental operettas, commissioned Clay's collaborator,W. S. Gilbert,and the promising young composer,Arthur Sullivan,to write a short one-act opera that would serve as an afterpiece to Offenbach'sLa Périchole.The result wasTrial by Jury;its success launched theGilbert and Sullivanpartnership. "Mr. R. D'Oyly Carte's Opera Bouffe Company" tookTrialon tour, playing it alongside French works by Offenbach andAlexandre Charles Lecocq.Eager to liberate the English stage from risqué French influences, and emboldened by the success ofTrial by Jury,Carte formed a syndicate in 1877 to perform "light opera of a legitimate kind".[5]Gilbert and Sullivan were commissioned to write a new comic opera,The Sorcerer,starting the series that came to be known as theSavoy operas(named for theSavoy Theatre,which Carte later built for these works) that includedH.M.S. Pinafore,The Pirates of PenzanceandThe Mikado,which became popular around the world. TheD'Oyly Carte Opera Companycontinued to perform Gilbert and Sullivan almost continuously until it closed in 1982.
The Gilbert and Sullivan style was widely imitated by their contemporaries (for example, inDorothy), and the creators themselves wrote works in this style with other collaborators in the 1890s. None of these, however, had lasting popularity, leaving the Savoy Operas as practically the sole representatives of the genre surviving today. Only recently, some of these other English light operas have begun to be explored by scholars and to receive performances and recordings.
North American operetta and musical comedy
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In the United States,Victor Herbertwas one of the first to pick up the family-friendly style of light opera that Gilbert and Sullivan had made popular, although his music was also influenced by the European operetta composers. His earliest pieces, starting withPrince Ananiasin 1894, were styled "comic operas", but his later works were described as "musical extravaganza", "musical comedy", "musical play", "musical farce", and even "opera comique". His two most successful pieces, out of more than half a dozen hits, wereBabes in Toyland(1903) andNaughty Marietta(1910).[6]
Others who wrote in a similar vein includedReginald de Koven,John Philip Sousa,Sigmund RombergandRudolf Friml.The modern Americanmusicalincorporated elements of the British and American light operas, with works likeShow BoatandWest Side Story,that explored more serious subjects and featured a tight integration among book, movement and lyrics.
In Canada,Oscar Ferdinand TelgmannandGeorge Frederick Cameroncomposed in the Gilbert and Sullivan style of light opera.Leo, the Royal Cadetwas performed for the first time on 11 July 1889 at Martin's Opera House inKingston, Ontario.
The line between light opera and other recent forms is difficult to draw. Several works are variously called operettas or musicals, such asCandideandSweeney Todd,depending on whether they are performed in opera houses or in theaters. In addition, some recent American and British musicals make use of an operatic structure, for example, containing recurring motifs, and may even be sung through without dialogue. Those with orchestral scores are usually styled "musicals", while those played onelectronic instrumentsare often styledrock operas.
Notes
edit- ^Operette001at Theatrehistory, accessed 4 January 2009
- ^"The Duenna",Mary S. Van Deusen, accessed 4 January 2009
- ^abGillan, Don."The Origins of Comic Opera"at the stagebeauty website, accessed 4 January 2009
- ^Bond, Jessie.Introduction to Jessie Bond'sReminiscencesreprinted at The Gilbert and Sullivan Archive, accessed 7 November 2009
- ^Stone, David."Richard D'Oyly Carte",Archived2006-09-01 at theWayback MachineWho Was Who in the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company,accessed 4 January 2009
- ^"Victor Herbert"at the Musical Theatre Guide, accessed 4 January 2009