MUAR 211 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Da Capo Aria, Castrato, Aria
10 Apr 2019
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05/02/18: different from other opera we learned, overture: first thing you hear in an opera. The second half is polyphonic: opera is one of the richest human artifact, lots of breaks in the action, unlike older opera. Rich in interpretation you can learn a lot from an opera. 19th century opera was all about that continuous drama. It was about the singers and the singing: ex: giulio cesare. Julius caesar is a conqueror in egypt, a heroic character. Similarly, the english were starting to conquer other countries as well. Handel wouldn"t present colonialism as something bad. Fanfare that introduces caesar very brassy. When julius caesar comes in, he sings an aria. This is a castrato role: castrati were the rockstars of the day. So now it"s played by a woman, since we"re not allowed to castrate people anymore. Back then, women characters were often played by castrati. Da capo aria: go back to beginning.
