The Musical Language of Italian Opera, 1813-1859 (OXFORD STUDIES IN MUSIC THEORY)

Though studying opera often requires attention to aesthetics, libretti, staging, singers, compositional history, and performance history, the music itself is central. This book examines operatic music by five Italian composers—Rossini, Bellini, Mercadante, Donizetti, and Verdi—and one non-Italian, Meyerbeer, during the period from Rossini's first international successes to Italian unification. Detailed analyses of form, rhythm, melody, and harmony reveal concepts of musical structure different from those usually discussed by music theorists, calling into question the notion of a common practice. Taking an eclectic analytical approach, author William Rothstein uses ideas originating in several centuries, from the sixteenth to the twenty-first, to argue that operatic music can be heard not only as passionate vocality but also in terms of musical forms, pitch structures, and rhythmic patterns—that is, as carefully crafted music worth theoretical attention. Although no single theory accounts for everything, Rothstein's analysis shows how certain recurring principles define a distinctively Italian practice, one that left its mark on the German repertoire more familiar to music theorists. Cover Series The Musical Language of Italian Opera, 1813–1859 Copyright Dedication Contents Preface Acknowledgments Introduction: What Is There to Analyze? PART I: LA VIA ITALIANA 9 1. The Anvil Chorus 2. Theoretical Contexts I: Nineteenth-​Century Theory Italian Theory: An Overview Theories of Harmony, 1800–​1840 Theories of Rhythm, 1800–​1840 Midcentury Theorists Theories of Harmony, 1840–​1860 Theories of Rhythm, 1840–​1860 Conclusion 3. Theoretical Contexts II: Schenker and Riemann Heinrich in Italy Riemann, Paleo-​ and Neo-​ 4. Rhythm and Meter Poetic Meters and Their Musical Settings Four-​Cycles Rossini Verdi 5. Musical Form Symmetry Rossini and Repetition Lyric Form Multi-​Movement Forms PART II: ROSSINI 185 6. Rossini’s Mediants Diatonic Mediants The Mediant Key in Major (iiiT) The Submediant Key in Major (viT) Chromatic Mediants Chromatic Mediants on a Large Scale Chromatic Miracles in Mosè in Egitto Chromatic Stupefaction in Il barbiere Summary of Mediant Relations 7. Tonal Coherence in Rossini’s Italian Operas Semiramide, Finale primo Tonal Coherence in La donna del lago Pathways through Otello, Act 3 Fusion of Numbers 8. Guillaume Tell Rossini in Paris Overture and Act 1 Act 2 Act 3 Act 4 PART III: BETWEEN ROSSINI AND VERDI 289 9. Bellini and the New Diatonicism Textual Issues Recitative and Scena Characteristic Foreground Techniques Supplenti Local Techniques with Large-​Scale Consequences Long-​Range Linearity: The Scena of the Adalgisa–​Pollione Duet Tonal Pairing: The End of La straniera Tonality and Sonorità: The End of Norma 10. Meyerbeer and the New Chromaticism 11. Around 1840: Mercadante and Donizetti Mercadante’s Operas, 1837–​1840 Il giuramento, Act 3 Donizetti’s Operas, 1838–​1843 La favorite, Act 4 The End of Maria di Rohan PART IV: VERDI’S SEDICI ANNI 403 Verdi’s Chiaroscuro Gisi and Verdian Tonality 12. Ernani to Attila (1844–​1846) Ernani Giovanna d’Arco, Act 3 Attila, Prologue 13. Rigoletto and Il trovatore (1851–​1853) Verdi and Meyerbeer Rigoletto and Il trovatore Compared Some Aspects of Rigoletto Tonality in Rigoletto: Static or Kinetic, Ontic or Gignetic? Tonality in Il trovatore Analysis of Il trovatore, No. 3 (Scena, Romanza, e Terzetto) 14. Les vêpres siciliennes to Un ballo in maschera (1854–​1859) Les vêpres siciliennes, Act 2 Simon Boccanegra (1857), Prologue Lyric Form in Simon Boccanegra Boccanegra, Ballo, and the Diminished Seventh Un ballo in maschera, Act 2 Afterword: Verdi and his Predecessors Selected Bibliography Index of Names and Works General Index "Though studying opera often requires attention to aesthetics, libretti, staging, singers, compositional history, and performance history, the music itself is central. This book examines operatic music by five Italian composers - Rossini, Bellini, Mercadante, Donizetti, and Verdi - and one non-Italian, Meyerbeer, during the period from Rossini's first international successes to Italian unification. Detailed analyses of form, rhythm, melody, and harmony reveal concepts of musical structure different from those usually discussed by music theorists, calling into question the notion of a common practice"--Dust jacket flap The Musical Language of Italian Opera, 1813-1859 examines operatic music by five Italian composers--Rossini, Bellini, Mercadante, Donizetti, and Verdi--and one non-Italian, Meyerbeer, showing how certain recurring principles define a distinctively Italian practice that left its mark on the German repertoire more familiar to music theorists