Opera

    In opera, the most important figure in the nineteenth century was undoubtedly Wagner.  As a boy he had great admiration for Beethoven, who, he later declared, was reaching out in his ninth symphony for the consummation of music and words which he-himself set out to achieve in "music drama".  

    He was also much influenced by the operatic aims of Gluck, and by the German nationalism shown in Weber's operas. Wagner made much use of German myths and legends. He glorified the "Nordic" element; and in the twentieth century his music became closely linked with the ideals of Hitler and the Nazis, and was received with great enthusiasm in Germany.  

    Wagner believed that the artwork of the future was to be a fusion of all the arts of the theatre: music, poetry, acting, dancing, stage setting; and he attempted to achieve this unity in himself. He wrote his own libretti, and tried to direct, in detail, the performances of his operas.  He even designed and helped to build his theatre at Bayreuth.  

    He wanted a fellowship of all the artists (though he himself was a most quarrelsome individual!), and he wanted the public to take art seriously and to attend a festival almost as a sacred duty, as at Bayreuth.  

    He gradually created a free "arioso" style of melody, which was in speech rhythm (like recitative), and yet was musical and song-like (as in aria).  But he avoided the set song, as being undramatic.  In place of regular form, as for example ternary form, he got unity by using Leitmotive to illustrate persons or ideas or moods, and combined them very freely.  

    He used a much larger orchestra than most operatic composers, and made much use of brass.  If he wanted a certain type of instrument that did not exist, he invented it.  The orchestra was not merely an accompaniment; it was an integral part of the texture, and often commented effectually on the story by means of Leitmotive, while the singers were silent. (For example, the "curse" motiv is used when the zing is passed from one person to another in 'The Ring', though the persons on the stage do not know it is cursed.)  

    The theatre at Bayreuth was designed by Wagner.  The auditorium was fan-shaped, and the orchestra was sunken, so that the conductor would not distract the audience.  This meant also that the singers could more easily get their voices over the large orchestral tone volume.  The most elaborate scenery, machinery and lighting were used.  When 'Parsifal' was written, its performance was confined to Bayreuth for twenty years, so that it could be performed in just the way the composer wanted.  

    Wagner's greatest achievements were his wonderful power of music development and his mastery of the orchestra.  He is as great as Beethoven in his power of developing and combining germs of musical thought and working them up to a climax; and his orchestration had a great effect on all the next generation of composers, though no one (except the lesser composer Humperdinck, who wrote 'Hansel and Gretel') followed on his footsteps in writing his kind of 4 c music drama".  Much of Wagner's music is capable of being transferred to the concert room, and some people even consider that he would have made a greater symphonist than an operatic composer.

    But side by side with this great rise of Wagnerian music drama, Italian opera continued to be performed in every large music centre in Europe.  Donizetti, Bellini, and, later, Puccini, were three of the best-known composers, but Verdi (1813-1901) was the greatest of them all.  He had written 16 operas, all of which had been successfully produced in various towns in Italy, before he wrote his first 3 operas which are still in the regular repertoire: 'Rigoletto', 'II Trovatore' and 'La Traviata'.  These, written between 1851 and 1853, are, like the earlier operas, in the typical Italian style, but they are more mature, more full of bold characterization, dramatic situations and lyrical melodies.  

    Between 1853 and 1867 Verdi wrote or rewrote 7 operas, of which 'Un Ballo in Maschera' is the best known.  Then, in 1870, he accepted a commission to write 'Aida' for a newly opened opera house in Cairo.  This is a spectacular opera, using a large chorus and ballet, though it is still full of Italianate melody.  But the orchestral part is fuller and more harmonically interesting than in any of his earlier operas.

    When Verdi was 74, he wrote a serious dramatic opera, ‘Otello', that used Leitmotive, and had obviously been influenced by the operas of Wagner.  Even more surprising, at 80 he wrote a light-hearted comic opera, 'Falstaff', that was again Wagnerian in style and scope, and bears comparison with Wagner's 'Mastersingers'.  But in both these works the emphasis is still on the voices.  He always gives them good melodies, and he never swamps them, as Wagner tends to do.  

    In France, Gounod wrote two popular operas, 'Faust' and 'Romeo and Juliet'; and Bizet completed 'Carmen' only a month or so before his early death in 1875.  

    Three of the greatest Russian operas, after Glinka had shown the way, were Borodin's 'Prince Igor', Moussorgsky's 'Boris Godounov', and Rimsky-Korsakov's 'Ivan the Terrible', though the latter's 'Coq d'Or' is better known in this country.  They are all very Russian in style and feeling, with strong, barbaric, oriental coloring.  Opera has been very popular in Russia ever since, as has also the ballet, in which Russia developed a distinctive style.  

    Smetana and Dvorak wrote many Czech operas, though Smetana's 'The Bartered Bride' is the only one that is regularly performed in this country.  It is a comedy about Czech village life, and is full of gay peasant dances and songs.