THE DEVELOPMENT OF CERTAIN TENDENCIES IN MODERN OPERA.
INTRODUCTION.
In this thesis there has been an attempt made to trace the origin, growth and development, and modification of various tendencies in the Opera. The form only of the opera has been considered and no attempt has been made towards the harmonic analysis of the various operas. The main tendencies that have been discussed are, the differences in regard to; (1) the number of acts employed; (2) the number and kind of characters; (3) a comparison; (a) of the proportion of orchestral work, overtures, ballets and ritornelli; (b) of solo work and the various voices employed; (c) of recitative, spoken, accompanied and unaccompanied; (d) of ensemble work, duets, trios, quartets, quintets and sextets; and (e) separate from this last, a consideration of the proportion of chorus work, mixed, and that sung by the men and the women alone.
A study has been made of thirty-four operas and in order to accurately consider these proportions, tables have been prepared, showing the percentage of the factors portrayed. These percentages have been obtained by actual count of the measures devoted to the solos, choruses, ensembles, etc. There are seven tables.
Table I is a general table showing the number of characters, acts, percentage of orchestra, solo, recitative, ensemble and chorus.
Table II shows the distribution and number of characters.
Table III shows the percentage of orchestral work, and also that of the divisions of the orchestral work into overture, ballet and ritornelli.
Table IV shows the percentage of solo work and its distribution to the various voices.