 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Recitative" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(September 2008) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Recitative (/ˌrɛsɪtəˈtiːv/, also known by its Italian namerecitativo ([retʃitaˈtiːvo]) is a style of delivery (much used inoperas,oratorios, andcantatas) in which a singer is allowed to adopt the rhythms and delivery of ordinary speech. Recitative does not repeat lines as formally composed songs do. It resembles sung ordinary speech more than a formal musical composition.
Recitative can be distinguished on a continuum from more speech-like to more musically sung, with more sustained melodic lines. The mostly syllabicrecitativo secco[A] ("dry", accompanied only bycontinuo, typically cello and harpsichord) is at one end of the spectrum, throughrecitativo accompagnato (using orchestra), the moremelismaticarioso, and finally the full-blownaria or ensemble, where the pulse is entirely governed by the music. Secco recitatives can be more improvisatory and free for the singer, since the accompaniment is so sparse; in contrast, when recitative is accompanied by orchestra, the singer must perform in a more structured way.
The termrecitative (or occasionally liturgical recitative) is also applied to the simpler formulas ofGregorian chant, such as the tones used for theepistle,gospel,preface andcollects; seeaccentus.
The first use of recitative inopera was preceded by themonodies of theFlorentine Camerata in whichVincenzo Galilei, father of the astronomerGalileo Galilei, played an important role. The elder Galilei, influenced by his correspondence withGirolamo Mei on the writings of the ancient Greeks and withErycius Puteanus on the writings ofHucbald[1] and wishing to recreate the old manner of storytelling and drama, pioneered the use of a single melodic line to tell the story, accompanied by simple chords from a harpsichord or lute.
In theBaroque era, recitatives were commonly rehearsed on their own by the stage director, the singers frequently supplying their own favouritebaggage arias which might be by a different composer (some ofMozart's so-called concert arias fall into this category). This division of labour persisted into the 19th century:Rossini'sLa Cenerentola (1817, recitatives by Luca Agolini[2]) is a famous example. Later it remained a custom to replace originally spoken dialogue with new recitatives:Carl Maria von Weber'sDer Freischütz (1821, adapted 1841 with recitatives byHector Berlioz for the Paris Opera),Georges Bizet'sCarmen (1875, recitatives by Ernest Guiraud for the posthumous run in Vienna the same year),Charles Gounod'sMireille andLa colombe (staged bySergei Diaghilev with recitatives respectively byEric Satie andFrancis Poulenc[3]).
Secco recitatives, popularized in Florence though the proto-opera music dramas ofJacopo Peri andGiulio Caccini during the late 16th century, formed the substance ofClaudio Monteverdi's operas during the 17th century, and continued to be used into the 19th centuryRomantic era by such composers asGaetano Donizetti, reappearing inStravinsky'sThe Rake's Progress. They also influenced areas of music outside opera.
In the early operas and cantatas of the Florentine school,secco recitatives were accompanied by a variety of instruments, mostly plucked fretted strings including thechitarrone, often with apipe organ to provide sustained tone. Later, in the operas ofVivaldi andHändel, the accompaniment was standardised as aharpsichord and a bassviol orvioloncello. When the harpsichord was gradually phased out over the late 18th century, and mostly disappeared in the early 19th century, many opera-houses did not replace it with thefortepiano, a hammered-string keyboard invented in 1700.
Instead the violoncello was left to carry on alone, or with reinforcement from adouble bass. A 1919 recording ofRossini'sBarber of Seville, issued byLa voce del padrone, gives a unique glimpse of this technique in action, as docello methods of the period and some scores ofMeyerbeer. There are examples of the revival of the harpsichord for this purpose as early as the 1890s (e.g. byHans Richter for a production ofMozart'sDon Giovanni at the LondonRoyal Opera House, the instrument being supplied byArnold Dolmetsch), but it was not until the 1950s that the 18th-century method was consistently observed once more. In the 2010s, the early music revival movement has led to the re-introduction of harpsichord in someBaroque performances.
Accompanied recitative, known asaccompagnato orstromentato, employs theorchestra as an accompanying body. The composer writes an arrangement for the orchestra musicians. As a result, it is less improvisational and declamatory thanrecitativo secco, and moresong-like. This form is often employed where the orchestra can underscore a particularly dramatic text, as in "Thus saith the Lord" from Händel'sMessiah;Joseph Haydn andWolfgang Amadeus Mozart were also fond of it. A more inward intensification calls for anarioso; the opening of "Comfort ye" from the same work is a famous example, while the ending of it ("The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness") issecco.
Sometimes a distinction is made between the more dramatic, expressive, or interjecting 'orchestral recitative' (recitativo obbligato orstromentato) and a more passive and sustained 'accompanied recitative' (recitativo accompagnato).[4]
Later operas, under the influence ofRichard Wagner, favoredthrough-composition, where recitatives, arias, choruses and other elements were seamlessly interwoven into a whole. Many of Wagner's operas employ sections which are analogous to accompanied recitative.
Recitative is also occasionally used inmusicals, being put to ironic use in the finale ofKurt Weill'sThe Threepenny Opera. It also appears inCarousel andOf Thee I Sing.
George Gershwin used it in his operaPorgy and Bess, though sometimes the recitative in that work is changed to spoken dialogue.Porgy and Bess has also been staged as a musical rather than as an opera.
Recitative has also sometimes been used to refer to parts of purely instrumental works which resemble vocal recitatives, in terms of their musical style. In an instrumental recitative, one instrument (or group of instruments) are given the melody line (akin to the role of the singer) and another instrument (or group of instruments) are given the accompaniment role. One of the earliest examples is found in the slow movement ofVivaldi'sviolin concerto in D, RV 208, which is marked "Recitative".C. P. E. Bach included instrumental recitative in his "Prussian" piano sonatas of 1742, composed atFrederick the Great's court in Berlin. In 1761,Joseph Haydn took his post atEsterhazy Palace and soon after composed hisSymphony No. 7 ("Le Midi") in concertante style (i.e. with soloists). In the second movement of that work, the violinist is the soloist in an instrumental recitative.[citation needed]
Ludwig van Beethoven used the instrumental recitative in at least three works, includingPiano Sonata No. 17 (The Tempest),Piano Sonata No. 31, and in the opening section of the Finale of hisNinth Symphony. Here, Beethoven inscribed on the score (in French) "In the manner of a recitative, butin tempo." Leon Plantinga argues that the second movement of Beethoven'sFourth Piano Concerto is also an instrumental recitative,[5] although Owen Jander interprets it as a dialogue.[6]
OtherRomantic music era composers to employ instrumental recitative includeNikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (who composed a lyrical, virtuosic recitative for solo violin withharp accompaniment to represent thetitle character in his orchestralScheherazade) andHector Berlioz (whosechoral symphonyRoméo et Juliette contains atrombone recitative as part of its Introduction).[citation needed]
Arnold Schoenberg labeled the last of hisFive Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 16, as "Das obligate Rezitativ", and also composed a piece fororgan,Variations on a Recitative, Op. 40. Other examples of instrumental recitative in twentieth century music include the third movement ofDouglas Moore'sQuintet for Clarinet and Strings (1946), the first ofRichard Rodney Bennett'sFiveImpromptus forguitar (1968), the opening section of the last movement ofBenjamin Britten'sString Quartet No. 3 (1975), and the second ofWilliam Bolcom's12 New Etudes for Piano (1977–86).[citation needed]
There are certain conventions, ortropes, which standardize recitative; so that, in practice, recitative is a rigid musical form. The following are standard tropes of recitative:
