The typical context for arias isopera, but vocal arias also feature inoratorios andcantatas, or they can be stand-aloneconcert arias. The term was originally used to refer to any expressivemelody, usually, but not always, performed by a singer.
The Italian termaria, which derives from the Greek ἀήρ and Latinaer (air), first appeared in relation to music in the 14th century when it simply signified a manner or style of singing or playing. By the end of the 16th century, the term 'aria' refers to an instrumental form (cf. Santino Garsi da Parma lute works, ('Aria del Gran Duca'). By the early 16th century it was in common use as meaning a simple setting ofstrophic poetry; melodicmadrigals, free of complexpolyphony, were known asmadrigale arioso.[1]
In the context of staged works and concert works, arias evolved from simple melodies into structured forms. In such works, the sung, melodic, and structured aria differed from the speech-like (parlando)recitative – the latter tending to carry the story-line, the former used to convey emotional content and serve as an opportunity for singers to display their vocal talent.
By the late 17th century operatic arias came to be written in one of two forms.Binary form arias were in two sections (A–B); arias internary form (A–B–A) were known asda capo arias (literally 'from the head', i.e. with the opening section repeated, often in a highlydecorated manner).[2] In theda capo aria the 'B' episode would typically be in a differentkey – thedominant orrelative major key. Other variants of these forms are found in the French operas of the late 17th century such as those ofJean-Baptiste Lully which dominated the period of the French baroque. Vocal solos in his operas (known of course as the French term,airs) are frequently in extended binary form (ABB') or sometimes inrondeau form (ABACA),[3] (a shape which is analogous to the instrumentalrondo).
In the work of Italian composers of the late 17th and early 18th century, theda capo aria came to be include theritornello (literally, 'little return'), a recurring instrumental episode which featured certain phrases of the aria proper and provided, in early operas, the opportunity for dancing or entries of characters.[4]Da capo aria withritornelli became a typifying feature of European opera throughout the 18th century and is thought by some writers to be a direct antecedent ofsonata form.[5] Theritornelli became essential to the structure of the aria – "while the words determine the character of a melody the ritornello instruments often decided in what terms it shall be presented."[6]
By the early 18th century, composers such asAlessandro Scarlatti had established the aria form, and especially its da capo version with ritornelli, as the key element ofopera seria. "It offered balance and continuity, and yet gave scope for contrast. [...] The very regularity of its conventional features enabled deviations from the normal to be exploited with telling effect."[7] In the early years of the century, arias in the Italian style began to take over in French opera, giving rise eventually to the French genre ofariette, normally in a relatively simple ternary form.[8]
Types of operatic aria became known by a variety of terms according to their character – e.g.aria parlante ('speaking-style', narrative in nature),[9]aria dibravura (typically given to a heroine),[10]aria buffa (aria of a comic type, typically given to abass orbass-baritone),[11] and so on.
M. F. Robinson describes the standard aria inopera seria in the period 1720 to 1760 as follows:
The first section normally began with an orchestral ritornello after which the singer entered and sang the words of the firststanza in their entirety. By the end of this first vocal paragraph the music, if it were in amajor key as it usually was, had modulated to thedominant. The orchestra then played a second ritornello usually shorter than the first. The singer re-entered and sang the same words through a second time. The music of this second paragraph was often slightly more elaborate than that of the first. There were more repeats of words and perhaps more florid vocalisations. The key worked its way back to thetonic for the final vocalcadence after which the orchestra rounded the section off with a final ritornello.[12]
The nature and allocation of the arias to the different roles inopera seria was highly formalized. According to the playwright andlibrettistCarlo Goldoni, in his autobiography,
The three principal personages of the drama ought to sing five arias each; two in the first act, two in the second, and one in the third. The second actress and the second soprano can only have three, and the inferior characters must be satisfied with a single aria each, or two at the most. The author of the words must [...] take care that two pathetic [i.e. melancholy] arias do not succeed one another. He must distribute with the same precaution the bravura arias, the arias of action, the inferior arias, and the minuets and rondeaus. He must, above all things, avoid giving impassioned arias, bravura arias, or rondeaus, to inferior characters.[13]
By contrast, arias inopera buffa (comic opera) were often specific in character to the nature of the character being portrayed (for example the cheeky servant-girl or the irascible elderly suitor or guardian).[14]
By later in the century it was clear that these formats were becoming fossilized.Christoph Willibald Gluck thought that bothopera buffa andopera seria had strayed too far from what opera should really be, and seemed unnatural. The jokes ofopera buffa were threadbare and the repetition of the same characters made them seem no more than stereotypes. Inopera seria the singing was devoted to superficial effects and the content was uninteresting and stale. As inopera buffa, the singers were often masters of the stage and the music, decorating the vocal lines so floridly that audiences could no longer recognise the original melody. Gluck wanted to return opera to its origins, focusing on human drama and passions and making words and music of equal importance. The effects of these Gluckist reforms were seen not only in his own operas but in the later works ofMozart; the arias now become far more expressive of the individual emotions of the characters and are both more firmly anchored in, and advance, the storyline.Richard Wagner was to praise Gluck's innovations in his 1850 essay "Opera and Drama": " The musical composer revolted against the wilfulness of the singer"; rather than "unfold[ing] the purely sensuous contents of the Aria to their highest, rankest, pitch", Gluck sought "to put shackles on Caprice's execution of that Aria, by himself endeavouring to give the tune [...] an expression answering to the underlying Word-text".[15] This attitude was to underlie Wagner's would-be deconstruction of aria in his concept ofGesamtkunstwerk.
Despite the ideals of Gluck, and the trend to organise libretti so that arias had a more organic part in the drama rather than merely interrupting its flow, in the operas of the early 19th century, (for example those ofGioachino Rossini andGaetano Donizetti),bravura arias remained focal attractions, and they continued to play a major role ingrand opera, and in Italian opera through the 19th century.
A favoured form of aria in the first half of the 19th century in Italian opera was thecabaletta, in which a songlikecantabile section is followed by a more animated section, thecabaletta proper, repeated in whole or in part. Typically such arias would be preceded byrecitative, the whole sequence being termed ascena. There might also be opportunities for participation by orchestra or chorus. An example isCasta diva from the operaNorma ofVincenzo Bellini.[16]
After around 1850, aria forms in Italian opera began to show more variety – many of the operas ofGiuseppe Verdi offer extended narrative arias for leading roles that enable, in their scope, intensification of drama and characterisation. Examples includeRigoletto's condemnation of the court, "Cortigiani, vil razza dannata!" (1851).[16]
Later in the century, the post-1850 operas ofWagner werethrough-composed, with fewer elements being readily identifiable as self-contained arias;[17] whilst the Italian genre ofverismo opera also sought to integrate arioso elements although still allowing some 'show-pieces'.[16]
Concert arias, which are not part of any larger work, (or were sometimes written to replace orinsert arias in their own operas or operas of other composers) were written by composers to provide the opportunity for vocal display for concert singers;[18] examples areAh! perfido, Op. 65, byBeethoven, and a number of concert arias byMozart, includingConservati fedele.
Title page of theGoldberg Variations (first edition, 1741)
The term 'aria' was frequently used in the 17th and 18th centuries for instrumental music modelled on vocal music.[19] For example,J. S. Bach's so-called "Goldberg Variations" were titled at their 1741 publication "Clavier Ubung bestehend in einer ARIA mit verschiedenen Verænderungen" ("Keyboard exercise, consisting of one ARIA with diverse variations.")
