III. ROSSINI AND HIS SCHOOL UP TO WAGNER.
In 1814 the operatic conditions were deplorable. Vocalists were masters over the composers. They accepted the mere skeleton of a tune, and so adorned it with their own trills and flourishes that the poor composer could scarcely recognize it. The solos were placed to suit their convenience, whether or not they were suited dramatically. The tenor singers were very prominent and the bass singers had not as yet emerged from the background.
Rossini expelled the male soprani from the stage, directed and controlled his own operas. His music was sensuous and, as shown in "William Tell", of a simple dramatic style. The operas were of two acts and scarcely conducive to the maintenance of dramatic action, separated by a ballet. His "Elizabetha" contained an overture, a duet and the finale had involved motives in the orchestra. There were two tenors, for the bass was still in the background. This was the first opera in which the recitative was accompanied by a stringed quartet and double bass. He supported the declamation by brilliant themes for the orchestra. "The Barber of Seville" is a series of melodies, continuous, and the characters only ceased to sing for strains executed by the instrumentalists. The transfer of the current of the melody from the voices to the orchestra was an entirely new idea. He also introduced new instruments into the orchestra.
Mozart was indebted to the Italians for the sweetness of his melodies and gave to Italy, through Rossini, new instrumental combinations, new dramatic methods and new operatic forms. The horn, eighty years ago, was not very important in Italy and the orchestration played in the operatic band probably had a part in developing the taste for wind instruments and especially for horns. Rossini was a student of Haydn's symphonies and quartets.
In the opera-buffo "L'Equivaco Stravagante" the concerted pieces are good, and the final rondo a type of final airs. "L'Inganno Felice" was the first to make an impression. "Ciro in Babilonia" was given to accomodate a woman, who sustained one tone while the orchetra played the melody. With "Tancredi" came the commencement of reforms and the character of the easily comprehended melodies was fascinating. Rossini substituted singing for declamation, for monologues supported by chords, and concerted pieces connected with and supported by a brilliant orchestral accompaniment. In "Tancredi" the bass was given prominence, in fact he was as prominent as the tenor. In "Semiramide" the principal is a bass. The action is sustained, the number of formal airs decreased, the number of characters increased and a free use made of the chorus, which previous to this time had been merely a subordinate part with no dramatic functions. In "Otello" the recitative is used more sparingly and accompanied by a full band, from which the piano was banished. This had been expelled before in Germany, and by Gluck in France. The two leading parts are assigned to bass voices, and the interminable recitative accompanied by double piano or piano and double bass, is done away with. The most beautiful airs for the prima donna are in "La Cenercatola".
Rossini was now bringing his operas to a brilliant termination, and beginning to emphasize the alto and mezzo voice. It was only toward the end of his Italian career in "Matilda di Shubrun" that he assigned the leading part to a soprano. We find now that there are no leading parts written for contralto and whether this is due the fact that the soprano has bean forced into activity to suit new tastes, or because contraltos are rare, we can not say. Of course Meyerbeer's "L'Africaine" and Donnizetti's "La Favorita" are exceptions. The orchestration of "La Gazza Ladrone" is more brilliant and sonorous than that of its predecessors and introduces new instruments, new combinations, a new distribution of voice parts, and of orchestral melodies with declamatory phrases for the singers instead of the endless recitative accompanied only by chords for the cellos or piano.
He introduced cornets and ophicleides in the overture to "William Tell", as the nearest approach to the actual instruments used by the cowherders of Switzerland. In "Semiramide" he brought an entire band onto the stage and wrote beautifully harmonized music which suggests the chase. He began the overture to "La Gazza Ladrona" with a duet for the drums, and did away with the extemporaneous attempts at orchestration by solo instrumentalists in the accompaniment, who were every bit as disagreeable and authoritative os the vocal soloists.
Berlioz charged that Rossini's music was heartless, unemotional and written entirely for the singer, utterly disregarding the vocal effect. His particular attention to orchestral and choral effects may be traced to the Parisian influence of his fine experience in hearing their choruses and orchestras. His music changed from the soft voluptuous melodies of "Semiramide" to simple emotional dramatic ones in "William Tell".
Rossini, as mentioned before, was the first Italian to accompany recitative with a full band, assign leading parts to the bass, make each dramatic scene one continuous piece of music, and bring to perfection the highly varied, amply developed, concerted finales.
Donizetti wrote from sixty to seventy operas, but his "Don Pasquale" is in a light style as compared to the "Barber of Seville" and does not approach "Semeramide" for melody, nor "William Tell" for dramatic value. Stendhal foretold that the florid music of Rossini would be followed by a master of simple melodies and we find Bellini to be the one. Donizetti's work is not well balanced and he sways from one extreme to the other. His tenor air in "Anne Bolena" is attractive for it possesses more dramatic significance than most of his. He counted on the pure musical effect, which is naturally more effective in spoken drama than in opera, which is sung through out. For instance, the horn of "Hermani" is terrifying when heard in the play, but merely ordinary when heard in the opera. He seldom wrote a tune, or scored a half dozen measures of simple accompaniment, without burying the voice under ponderous chords for the wood winds. "Lucrezia Borgia" contains less recitative than was customary with Rossini. Notice must be taken of the brilliancy of the introduction, the series of dramatic scenes and the large number of tuneful themes distributed judiciously for the four leading personages. "Lucia" is broadly conceived, well constructed and highly dramatic, especially where the chorus informs Lucia of the end of Edgar. In "La Favorita" there is passionate impulsiveness in the final duet, the choruses are impressive, and the music appropriate to the various personages and situations of the piece.
Bellini had true melody and his creative power was more effective than Donizetti's, as was his use of the orchestra. He abandoned trills and for ornamentation delivered simple phrases. "La Somnambula" is an endless flow of melodies full of true emotion and thoroughly dramatic, for he gave attention to the orchestration and concerted melodies. Rossini emphasized the necessity of introducing choruses, which he maintained were indispensable for dramatic effect, and we find his ideas developed by these men. However, these, and Paisiello's form of long scenes of recitative are old now.
Mozart's introduction to "Figaro" first introduces the air by the orchestra, then transcribed for the solo voice and finally sung by the chorus. The melody of his "Zitti Zitti" trio was take I from Hayden's "Seasons". He has adapted also an air from a Russian dance to aid in the dramatic effect. He reached the highest perfection of expression of melody with the strings, woodwinds and voice. His librettos are weak, however, although he rewrote the less important ones himself. His recitative is barren, for in his operas one had only to sing beautifully, while in Wagner one must declaim beautifully. Mozart knew music as the art of expression and gave this in its fullest sense to airs, duets and ensemble pieces, yet he left opera forms as he found them. He spoke of and depicted scenes, animals, etc. in his music. "Magic Flute" is a primma donna opera. Mozart considered first music, then the book and lastly the performance. In "Figaro" the psychological handling of the characters is unconvincing. He has applied one invariable musical formula to every character. He repeats one or two chords ad infinitum in the orchestra. The voice trips along on top of these in semi speed. He sanctioned formulas for cadences used in every situation. Even in "Don Giovanni" the formulas for the cadences are used in this manner. He uses the same method for light scenes as well as tragic situations, depicting indignant heroines and chorus in the same manner. He was more musical but he did not realize the dramatic situations.
Bellini was a pure melodist, but his instrumentation was faulty, and he objected to ornamentation.
The French opera helps to develop the tendency of individual expression while the German crushes it in striving for a whole general effect. Rameau's "Hyppolyte et Aricie" is the most highly developed study of character. Lulli's work is an amplification of Ramean's work. He combined simplicity, natural melody and dramatic intentions. He developed his attention to the orchestra, and employed the chorus as an integral factor in the situation. He invented the overture using a slow movement, followed by a quick fugal style with the third division, a short dance. He developed the style of the French ballet. Both he and Ramean considered accompanied recitative a matter of more importance than a continuous flow of melodies. He reduced music to a minimum in this and did not dominate it in time, rythm nor musical feeling. He characterized it by accentuating the metrical and prosodial elements of the words themselves, and followed closely the accent of the words, changing rapidly from four-four rythm to three-four, and back again.
There is no feeling in his arias for he was restricted to conventional forms, and his melodies are characterless. In his "Comique de la Rayne", arranged by Baltazan de Beaujoyeaux, with dance, tunes, chorus, musical dialogues and ritornelli he exhibits a bold and highly cultivated taste for instrumental music which led him to mold the overture into a more perfect form.
The serious opera, however, was becoming a mass of absurdities, emphasizing the spectacle as superior to the music, with bad libretti, degenerating under aristocratic patronage. The overture was to anticipate the opera and a better recitative was wanted. Gluck wished to minimize the disparity between opera and recitative and protested against the frequent use of the de capo and repetition of words, maintaining that the words should only be repeated where required by circumstances of passion.
Meyerbeer was feeble in harmonic invention with no psychological grip but with a talent for manipulating broad contrasts and climaxes of sound. He is a creator of modern stage technique, merging scenes and music into unity, a school of dramatic effects closely studied by Berlioz and Wagner.
Bizet's "Carmen" is the most brilliant and best to convey the romance of the nomadic desire in the gypsy. The ballets and operas of Delibes are like the fashioning of a piece of Sevres china. Cesar Franck's veil of harmonies envelops a multitude of themes so that the tragic ending almost gives one a sense of peace. Auber was the last to represent the Opera Comique and is noted for his simple melodies, and the rythm and brilliancy of his orchestral effects. Bizet's operas are notable for their abundance of local color, but Meyerbeer was the most influential except Wagner. He opened up a new epoch in French opera.