In which country did the opera appear? History of the musical genre

Opera, ballet, musicals so firmly entered our life that we began to feel as if they existed always. But this is not so. Some musical genres are relatively new to world culture. In this article, we will consider in which country and when the opera appeared. The word itself has Latin roots. The word "opus" means "work", "work", "composition". Since the musical genre was invented by the Florentines, the works began to be called Italian operas. When did this creation first sound, and for whose ears was it intended? Who was the author of the first opera in the world? Read about it below.

Academies and Camerata

In the Renaissance, the general fascination with ancient culture prevailed. From the attempt to "revive" the ancient heritage and was called the entire historical era. On a special scale, this fascination with antiquity reached the "homeland" of the once powerful Roman Empire, in Italy. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, so-called academies-culturological and scientific communities-began to appear everywhere, which were completely free from the influence of the Church. It would seem, what relation does the above information have to the question of which country the opera appeared in? The most direct. In academies, poets, musicians, scientists and simply rich and enlightened people engaged in so-called secular art. And the opera, as you know, was never akin to a Benedictine chapel or a church oratorio. Cultural circles (academies and chamber cells) were sponsored by secular rulers and rich patrons of art. The main purpose of these communities was the development and promotion of the sciences and arts.

Florentine Camerata

In Italy at the end of the sixteenth century there were about a thousand such academies. Florence was more fortunate than other cities. All the rulers of this republic considered it their duty to patronize creative people and give them generously. Therefore, the talents of all Italy gathered in Florence. In 1580 Giovanni Bardi, who held the title of Count Vernio, initiated the creation of the Camerata. And now this circle has the most direct relation to the country in which the opera appeared, because its purpose was "the revival of ancient music." How songs and melodies sounded in Ancient Rome, none of the members of the Florentine Camerata knew for sure. But the members of the cultural community were scientific and creative people: Jacopo Peri, Cristofano Malvezzi, Girolami Mei, Ottavio Rinuccini, Pietro Strozzi, Giulio Caccini, Jacopo of Korea and the father of an astronomer with a worldwide reputation Vincenzo Galilei.

In which country did the opera in music appear and what was it called?

Composers, part of the Camerata of Florence, came to the conclusion that in ancient Rome, an ancient drama was declared to music. Jacopo Peri seriously decided to revive the forgotten art. As a result, a monody appeared - a new kind of solo singing, performed in a free rhythm for unpretentious accompaniment. This creation the composer - the inventor of the genre - called drama per musica (drama through music). So, we already understood in which country the opera first appeared. And what was it called? And when was it written? It was composed by Jacopo Peri in 1598. But, unfortunately, the very first opera in history can not now be auditioned. The score of this work, alas, has not been preserved. We only know that it was called Daphne.

In which country did Opera 2 appear?

But where did the first score reach us? Again, in Florence. And it was created by the same author, Jacopo Peri. But this time, in co-authorship with the librettist Ottavio Rinuccini. In this opera, members of the Florentine Camerata presented in the music and solo singing a mythological story about Orpheus and Eurydice. This work consisted of "arias", read by a recitative to the accompaniment of an ensemble of seven instruments. Opera "Eurydice" was a custom-made work. She was writing to a significant event - the marriage of a native of Florence, Maria Medici, with the King of France, Henry the Fourth. The opera was presented at a wedding celebration at the Pitti Palace on October 6th, 1600. By the way, at the same time appeared another piece of music, with the same name and the same story. The author of this opera "Eurydice" is a member of the Florentine Camerata Giulio Caccini.

The triumph of the musical genre

"Drama through music" was very popular with music lovers. And the opera as a genre began to develop rapidly. Italian composers continued to be the first creators. But gradually the opera "stepped" through the Alps and began its victorious march through Europe. In each country, it acquired national traits.

In Germany, Italian passion was replaced by patriotic patheticism. The French opera is more lyrical. Having clarified the question, in which country the opera appeared, let's think about which work of this genre first arose in Russian. It is known that already in the 1730s, at the imperial court, they listened to singers who performed arias. But they were foreigners, mostly from Italy. In the second half of the eighteenth century, fashion appeared in private theaters, whose troupe consisted of serfs. The first opera, the libretto of which is written in Russian, is considered a household comedy with arias "The Miller - a deceiver, sorcerer and matchmaker" by composer MM Sokolovsky on the text of AO Ableisimov (1779).