Aria

Under an aria (from the Italian aria, way ',' air ', so to Latin aera of aer, air ' ) refers to a solo vocal piece already put forward, which is accompanied by instruments, usually an orchestra. Mostly an aria is a part of a larger work such as an opera, a cantata or an oratorio. The aria conveys emotions and moods that affect. If they are moderate, the piece thus less extensive and consisting of only one part, it is called an Arietta, a "small aria". In contrast to this is the recitative that drives the plot.

Term differentiation

An aria is different from orchestral accompaniment vocal songs for several voices, which are collectively referred to as ensemble ( duet, trio, quartet ).

At the beginning of the 17th century was not yet differentiated conceptually between aria and song - even strophic vocal pieces with instrumental accompaniment were the most economical "Aria" titled ( see also Arioso ).

Historical

Da capo aria

A dominant position in Baroque music became the da capo aria. It consists of two distinctly contrasting parts. After the second part is in the score usually the instruction Da capo, to which the first part is repeated in literal or varied shape. This offers the performer the opportunity for ornaments and other variations. Especially the star singers of that time benefited from this form; a castrato or a Prima Donna were two to three arias per opera, the singers could embellish the da capo section their part by any ornamentation and coloratura. The da capo aria first appears in Monteverdi's L' Orfeo. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the da capo aria is further expanded and often expanded to five parts. The first verse ( a) in the home key is slightly varied repeats (a ') and that on the dominant. The second verse ( b ) is then often in the minor Allegro, with minor arias in a major key. Not infrequently contain large da capo arias and short purely instrumental ritornello. At the height of the da capo aria came at the climax of the Neapolitan School of Opera. While the old simple strophic form was the aria of the characterization of popular games reserved, the da capo aria experienced as a virtuoso singing skills field increasing linguistic mannerisms and content impoverishment, especially in the opera seria.

Among the composers who used this form include:

• Alessandro Scarlatti and other representatives of the Neapolitan opera
• Antonio Vivaldi
• Johann Sebastian Bach
• Georg Friedrich Händel
• Nicola Antonio Porpora
• Johann Adolph Hasse
• Georg Philipp Telemann

The Baroque da capo aria is today's opera directors over again with the problem of the already not very action- promoting arias - they often consist of only a few lines of text - to provide you with a targeted action. Finally, there is usually a development or a contrast to the B- part, by the repetition of the A section, the figure is but again thrown back into an already subdued state.

Later developments

Only with Mozart, Antonio Salieri and Christoph Willibald Gluck, the mold is treated more freely again and made ​​dramatic usable. Especially in -Baroque Italian opera aria is often structured in two interdependent parts: one of them slow - meditative, the other ( the so-called Cabaletta ) fast - expressive, that allows a singer to display his virtuosity. A typical example is the aria " Oh, do not tremble ( my son ) " Queen of the Night in Mozart's " Magic Flute".

In the late 18th century, especially after the so-called " opera reform " by Christoph Willibald Gluck, who so far resulted in the less marked by formal schemes tradition of French opéra comique, the aria again approached at more of the song form, and then in the 19th century to become more and more extended and individualized. In Germany, the aria was doing increasingly heavily influenced by the folk song. In the late romantic opera, the aria often developed further to the scene.

A bravura aria rsp. Bravura aria is a difficult, targeting virtuoso aria effect (usually for female voice [n]).