What do you think about when you think of Italian opera? Wonderful singing? Exciting stories full of revenge, passion and murder? That's right: Italian opera is all that. But Italian opera composers weren't people who wrote music only when the inspiration came and who had no rules at all in composing: they were very skillful professionals who had very clear in their minds how to compose an opera. They were a little bit like today Hollywood playwright: they knew that composing a successful opera meant hard work and knowledge of the rules. And, of course, a little bit of chance.
If we walk into the atelier of a Eighteenth century composer, like, for instance, Mozart or Paisiello, we see that all their Italian operas (i.e: operas who were sung in Italian) have the same form: they are made by scenes in which we can find two elements:
1) The Recitativo, which is a little bit boring, but which is the part of the scene in which the action takes place
2) The Aria, which is in the end of the scene and has not a great importance for the development of the story, but which is very interesting from a musical point of view
What do you think of such a scene? Yes, of course, the aria in the end of it is beautiful, but the long recitativo isn't and this point of view was shared by many composers who, in the beginning of the Nineteenth century tried to "put more music into the opera scenes" and built the so-called solita forma.
What is it? We'll discover that in this episode of our brand new programme A punk at the opera.
The idea of the Solita forma is Rossini's. Rossini, whose main interests were music and food, as we can see in the following image,
thought: why should we put only a very short aria after the very long recitativo? I want an opera full of beautiful music and melody, not a one full of boring recitativos!"
And so he had an idea: he put after the recitativo not one but two arias: a slow aria, which was called the cantabile and a fast one, which was called the cabaletta.
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| The basic structure of solita forma is the following: scena (recitativo) - cantabile (slow aria) - cabaletta (fast aria) |
And so he created the basic structure of the Solita forma, which was made by three parts:
1) Recitativo, which now was called scena
2) Cantabile, which was a slow aria
3) Cabaletta, which was a fast aria
But Rossini wasn't still satisfied. "We need to put something between the cantabile and the cabaletta! The story need to go a little bit on between this two arias" he said and so he put the Tempo di mezzo between the two arias.
What is the Tempo di mezzo? It is a very short piece of music (30 seconds - 2 minutes, even though Verdi creates Tempos di mezzo who last 5-7 minutes) which is, from a musical point of view, more melodic than the recitativo but less than the arias and in which something happens. Something sudden and unexpected, usually: for instance, the main character receives a letter which says that his mother has been imprisoned and will be executed (Il trovatore), a character who was believed to be dead appears again (Il trovatore, again) or someone asks something to the main character (Lucia di Lammermoor).
In every case, the Tempo di mezzo is always very short and what happens in it is very simple.
So, the basic structure of the Solita forma is this:
1) First of all, we have a Recitativo or Scena in which the story goes on, the characters talk and things happen:
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| Scena, in which the action takes place: "Hello!" "Oh, hello! Do you know my daughter?" "I don't! Well, I'm John, nice to meet you!" |
2) Now, what happened in the Recitativo evokes a feeling in one of the characters on scene. That character expresses what he's feeling with a slow aria, the Cantabile
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| Cantabile, slow aria: "What a beautiful girl! I love you!" |
3) But suddenly... suprise! Something unexpected happen: here's the Tempo di mezzo:
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| Tempo di mezzo, in which something happens (again): "Hello!" "Who are you?" "I'm Moiro the acrobat and I love you more than John!" "Do you?" |
4) What happened in the Tempo di mezzo inspires another feeling in the character who sang the Cantabile and he expresses this feeling by singing another aria: the Cabaletta. It is a fast aria and it is usually repeated twice: the first time, the singer sings it as the composer wrote it, the second time he adds highs and grace-notes in order to show his vocal abilities.
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| Cabaletta, fast aria: "I love you more than Moiro and I'll show that by singing this song with a jazz band of flying acrobats!" |
Well, to be honest, we should say that this is not always true. In fact, this structure of the Solita forma is used only when only one singer sings in the cantabile and in the cabaletta: when the singers who sing there are more than one, the composer puts a melodic bridge between the recitativo and the cantabile. It is called Tempo d'attacco and we can find that in duets, quartets and so on. In the Tempo d'attacco, usually the characters who will sing together in the cantabile and in the cabaletta, have a dialogue, as we can see in the following example taken from Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor:
The difference between the Tempo d'attacco and the two arias is that in the Tempo d'attacco the two (or three, four...) singers never (or hardly ever) sing together, while in the arias they always do. To see the difference, here's the complete scene from Lucia di Lammermoor, in which the Tempo d'attacco we heard is followed by a Cabaletta (well, I know, that's a little bit strange - the Tempo d'attacco should be followed by a Cantabile, then by a Tempo di mezzo and only at last by the Cabaletta - but it happens that composers for theatrical reasons sometimes don't use some parts of the Solita forma. Verdi will do worse, believe me).
Can you see the difference?
Well, now, let's sum up:
1) If the two arias are sung by a single singer, the scene is built like that: Recitativo (Scena) - Cantabile - Tempo di Mezzo - Cabaletta
2) If we have a duet, a quartet and so on, the Solita forma is modified like that: Recitativo (Scena) - Tempo d'attacco - Cantabile - Tempo di Mezzo - Cabaletta
If you want to impress your friends by showing your knowledge of Italian Opera (please don't), you will be probably pleased to know that there is another kind of Solita forma. What kind? Well, ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce you to the wonderful...
What is the "Finale"? It is the end of an act ("Fine", in Italian, means "end"), but the solita forma we're talking about is the one we can find in the Finale of the second act of Opera seria (which is the opera which talks about tragic and serious subjects and which have three acts) or of the first act of the Opera buffa (which is comic and has two acts). It is the so-called "Central Finale", i.e. the Finale which you can find in the middle of the opera.
Well, the Finale has a very particular Solita forma, because in the beginning of it you'll never find a recitativo but...
Yes, there's always a choir singing in the beginning of the Finale. The rest of the Finale is nothing strange, but you have to remember two things:
1) In the Finale, you can usually find on scene (and singing) all the characters of the opera. For instance, in the small opera we created in order to explain the parts of Solita Forma the characters are John (aka "The punk at the opera"), Moiro the acrobat, the girl they love and her father: well, in the Finale of the first act (it is a comic opera, isn't it?) we'll find all those characters on stage and singing for our delight.
2) In the Finale, the two arias of the Solita forma change their names (but they are nothing different): the Cantabile is called Concertato (because all the characters sing together and concertare, in 1800s Italian, meant something like "making many instrument or singers play or sing together") and the Cabaletta is called Stretta.
It's easy, isn't it? Well, you're know ready to see the Finale of the first act of our beloved opera Johnny the Punk against Moiro the acrobat and recognize the single parts of its Solita Forma:
I know, it's not a very instructive end: people shouldn't drink and so on. But, well, if you have a better idea for that, please tell me and I will see what I can do.
If you want to test your skills in recognizing the parts of the Solita forma of the Finale, you can go and listen to the Finale of Lucia di Lammermoor Act II (you can find it here). Can you recognize the parts of the Solita forma we've seen? Just a tip: this is the stretta:
Wonderful, isn't it? Just in case you didn't notice it: I love Donizetti, but let's move on.
This is the structure of the Solita forma, now there's only one thing left to do: you may ask in what composers' operas we can find the Solita forma. It is very simple, indeed: you can find it:
1) In some Rossini's opera, given that Rossini, as we said before, was the creator of Solita forma
2) In all Italian operas written in the 1830s. The main composers in this period are two: Vincenzo Bellini, a Sicilian composer who had a lot of success in Northern Italy...
...and Gaetano Donizetti, a composer from Bergamo, in Lombardia, who had a lot of success in Naples and in Southern Italy.
Donizetti was very successful in Naples and someone says that he has also written the music of one of the most beautiful Neapolitan songs, which you can hear below. I have to say that many authors disagree with this attribution, but I love Te voglio bene assaje, and I wanted to put it here.
3) In Verdi's operas, but Verdi makes many changes to the Solita forma: he does not change the structure, but he makes very long Tempi di mezzo and he uses Recitativo as sort of a monologue (for instance in Rigoletto). We'll talk about that later.
Well, ladies and gentlemen, sadly we reached now the end of our episode of A punk at the opera. This was the story and the structure of the Solita forma, the standard form of 1800s Italian opera. Knowing it will help you understanding better Italian opera and show your high knowledge of opera to your friend during your future travels to Italy or next time you'll go to the Opera theatre. I hope you enjoyed your visit and we'll see again soon for another episode of A punk at the opera.
See you soon!
Well, the Finale has a very particular Solita forma, because in the beginning of it you'll never find a recitativo but...
Yes, there's always a choir singing in the beginning of the Finale. The rest of the Finale is nothing strange, but you have to remember two things:
1) In the Finale, you can usually find on scene (and singing) all the characters of the opera. For instance, in the small opera we created in order to explain the parts of Solita Forma the characters are John (aka "The punk at the opera"), Moiro the acrobat, the girl they love and her father: well, in the Finale of the first act (it is a comic opera, isn't it?) we'll find all those characters on stage and singing for our delight.
2) In the Finale, the two arias of the Solita forma change their names (but they are nothing different): the Cantabile is called Concertato (because all the characters sing together and concertare, in 1800s Italian, meant something like "making many instrument or singers play or sing together") and the Cabaletta is called Stretta.
It's easy, isn't it? Well, you're know ready to see the Finale of the first act of our beloved opera Johnny the Punk against Moiro the acrobat and recognize the single parts of its Solita Forma:
I know, it's not a very instructive end: people shouldn't drink and so on. But, well, if you have a better idea for that, please tell me and I will see what I can do.
If you want to test your skills in recognizing the parts of the Solita forma of the Finale, you can go and listen to the Finale of Lucia di Lammermoor Act II (you can find it here). Can you recognize the parts of the Solita forma we've seen? Just a tip: this is the stretta:
Wonderful, isn't it? Just in case you didn't notice it: I love Donizetti, but let's move on.
This is the structure of the Solita forma, now there's only one thing left to do: you may ask in what composers' operas we can find the Solita forma. It is very simple, indeed: you can find it:
1) In some Rossini's opera, given that Rossini, as we said before, was the creator of Solita forma
2) In all Italian operas written in the 1830s. The main composers in this period are two: Vincenzo Bellini, a Sicilian composer who had a lot of success in Northern Italy...
 |
| Someone says Bergamo composer Donizetti wrote the music of worldwide known Neapolitan song "Te voglio bene assaje" |
3) In Verdi's operas, but Verdi makes many changes to the Solita forma: he does not change the structure, but he makes very long Tempi di mezzo and he uses Recitativo as sort of a monologue (for instance in Rigoletto). We'll talk about that later.
Well, ladies and gentlemen, sadly we reached now the end of our episode of A punk at the opera. This was the story and the structure of the Solita forma, the standard form of 1800s Italian opera. Knowing it will help you understanding better Italian opera and show your high knowledge of opera to your friend during your future travels to Italy or next time you'll go to the Opera theatre. I hope you enjoyed your visit and we'll see again soon for another episode of A punk at the opera.
See you soon!
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