USAR02: Music and Technology

The Aesthetic and Technological Development of Opera through the Ages.

Chen Ee Ting, Jennifer. USAR02 ["Music And Technology"], University Scholars Programme, National University Of Singapore.

Opera is the unfolding of drama in the form of music and drama. According to Robert Donington, opera is in a sense the portrayal of real life as 'opera is concerned with inner realities to which the outer situations and characters are to some extent pointers rather than literal equivalents.' (The Opera, p1) The unique relationship between poetry, music and opera is seen in how poetry and music are qualities and factors which do not allow for opera to be viewed realistically, yet they are also the very qualities that aid the opera in conveying and reaching into the audience's inner feelings and thoughts. Music can be said to be the very essence of opera. Music has the amazing aesthetic quality of being able to reach into one's soul on individual levels and is able to touch different individuals in different ways. There does not seem to be any time where there was no form of opera. Music-drama has been an essential part of man's life through the ages and a 'music-drama communicates indefinable experiences to us in definable ways; viewed at a much lower level, every musical sound, every word, every implied meaning which we cannot easily explain', and thus the power of music-drama lays in its very ability to generate responses from every single one of our faculties. (Drummond, p28) The importance of opera, or music-drama, cannot be further emphasized, and this is an indisputable reality that can be easily concluded when one views the development of opera through the ages, paying special care and attention to the aspects of music and technology. And in the process, one would be able to trace the developments of the operatic personality with respect to its generic background and the 'particular qualities of its environment'. (Drummond, p13)

The Origins

According to Drummond, 'we do not know when music-drama began, because we do not know of a time when man had no music-drama.' (Drummond, p 15) The earliest point of reference which we can possible begin to trace back to, is the time of the Neanderthal Man who inhabited Earth some two hundred thousand years ago. There is little to be deduced about the Neanderthal culture, but looking at the relics and remnants left behind, we can see the importance which they placed on rites such as burial. Rituals were performed to reflect the most intense and valued experiences of life such as life, death, spiritual rebirth, initiation etc. The rituals are also associated with the attempt to remove the permanence of death by evoking imagined images that trespass the physical limitations of humans. 'The images in music-drama can, therefore, be regarded as reality transformed.' (Drummond, p25) The performer controls this transformation and helps the audience to see the meanings within the images with the activation of its imagination. There are no props, no sophisticated lighting and sound effects. However in this transformation of reality, 'the theatre itself...becomes more than a building; as with the tribal dancing ground, the reality of bricks or mud is capable of being transformed into a world of images.' (Drummond, p25) The only form of technology involved in this music-drama experience was merely that of the tribal dancing ground, and the clever usage of our imaginations. Musical images however, have no specific meaning or interpretation in themselves. Musical images evoke a special brand of magic and mystery, which leads the audience beyond the written words to envisage what lies in the deepest meaning of music. Even though the Neanderthal Man had no specific musical instruments that we can relate of, we know that they had the basic awareness of pitch and rhythm, as seen in the making of tools and weaponry through the chipping of flint and stone. It is thus highly possible that some form of music-drama had taken roots with the Neanderthal Man's rituals and rites, and which were a unique composition of music and imagination.

The Music-drama of Ancient Greece

The Classic Greek tragedy of the fifth century B.C. can be said to be 'the link between the music-drama of primitive man and Western European opera'. (Drummond, p38) In a sense, the 'old Greek dramas were...the earliest operas' (Osborne, p33) Not much is known of the time between primitive man and fifth century Greece, and in the sudden seemingly sudden flowering of tragic music-drama, much must be owed to the predecessors of Classical Greece. The Greeks' attitude to their gods was an important element in the music-drama of Greece. The 'blend of belief and cynicism, of serious ritual and delighted mockery' (Drummond, p46) enabled a humanizing of the relationship between man and the gods, which are sentiments expressed and shared during the Renaissance of Western Europe. Myths were presented in music-dramas with the audience literally participating in the mythic experience in festivals and rituals that celebrated, as the primitive man did, the subject of death and rebirth. Instruments such as 'pipes of the flute and oboe type, drums of all kinds, stringed instruments (plucked rather than bowed) and metal and wooden trumpets' were already used by the Babylonians after about 2250 B.C. (Drummond, pp39-40) The tetrachord, diatonic genus, chromatic genus, enharmonic genus and the Dorian scale made up the basic elements of Greek music. The Greeks believed that 'earthly music is an imitation of the music of the spheres': the harmony of the heavenly spheres. (Lippman, p7) The rhythmic rise and fall of the pitch in Greek music allowed for different expressions of mournfulness, plaintiveness and majesty to be projected onto the minds of the listener, and thus the association between particular musical sounds and moral, political or religious values was made.

The Greek tragedies involved an orchestra, which was a semicircular area where the chorus performers sang and danced whilst the audience watched from a grandstand of wooden seats. The earliest music-dramas seemed to be performed by male chorus only, as ascertained by the strong Greek tradition for choral music. During the fifth century, the importance of the chorus declined and solo performances by both sexes were being encouraged. The chorus symbolized the community and 'provided a bridge between silent spectators and the characters in the drama' as they interpreted and commented on what happens on stage (Drummond, p53) while the solo actors represented individual personalities. Technology such as the usage of masks and costumes began to be used to aid the performer in transforming reality and getting into the character of the role which he was playing. Masks and costumes were also adopted for practical purposes: small facial expressions were invisible from a distance and with the use of those props, the audience were able to see a clear image.

Rome and the Middle Ages

Greek music-dramas soon spread to Rome, where unlike in Greece, the performance of music-drams were part of festivals dedicated to other activities, and not for festivals devoted to music-dramas. Music-dramas were not as popular as the gladiatorial contests, which were established in 264, and the three stone theatres built could only accommodate 30,000 people, as compared to the Colosseum, which could house 45,000. With the collapse of the Roman empire, Christianity took over as the religion of Rome to form the period now known as the Dark Ages, and a strict distinction was made between 'music used in the theatre, which was effeminate and sensual, and music appropriated for Christian worship, which must be moral and properly regulated.' (Drummond, p77) Wind instruments such as the syrinx, which was a flute with two pipes, was rejected, instrumental music totally banned from Christian rituals and the organ was introduced into the Church, where vocal music had been established as the 'proper means' to worship the Lord. (Drummond, p78) In the 11th century, the central ritual of the Catholic Church, the Mass, had strong theatrical elements and contained the basic elements of music-drama: 'solo performers, chorus, audience, representational physical movement, characters, verbal and musical texts.' (Drummond, pp78-79) The 'idea of sacrificial death leading to rebirth, which lies at the heart of the Christian faith, is symbolically expressed in the visual, textual and structural content of the Mass.' (Drummond, p79) The solo actor has to go through rituals of mental, spiritual and physical preparation, which are similar to the preparations of an actor about to go onto the stage. The stage, which the solo actor is to perform on, is the altar area, and with symbolic importance being attached to the different areas around the altar, the movements of the actors upon the stage would therefore take on visual symbolic importance.

Music-drama began to occupy an important place in the church's liturgical activities from about the 1oth century onwards. 'This ecclesiastical music-drama developed quite naturally as an acting-out of the moments of mystery in the Christian story' (Drummond, p85) and initially, such ecclesiastical music-drama retained its religious function, where the characters involved were treated symbolically, performance took place in the church as part of the liturgy, the text was in Latin and the music was strictly church-style. Soon, secular elements began to exert stronger influences in the dramatic techniques employed, such as the appearance of secular musical styles, and the staging of performances outside the church. The Mystery Plays not only retained its religious functions, but also began to appeal largely as secular popular entertainment. Despite being termed as a Dark Age, the medieval period was a time of considerable vitality in music-drama. There were the dance-songs and mime-songs of folk ritual, and also the liturgical drama sung in Latin, which together encompassed the world of the court, which drew its source of entertainment from folk songs and dances and also in the creation of courtly love in music-dramas. 'Across the spectrum flow the lines of influence between sacred and secular, Latin and vernacular, to create an astonishing variety of spoken dramas and sung dramas...gradually more sophisticated techniques are being developed, in the use of the stage, the structuring of dramatic material, and not the least in the world of music, where complex polyphonic textures are now being used alongside simpler ecclesiastical and secular forms.' (Drummond, pp88-89)

The Classical Age

The reawakening of interest in Classical Greece was a general one in the Middle Ages, and was one of the driving forces in the 'creation of Renaissance culture.' (Drummond, p98) The Classical Age was one shaped by Renaissance (re-birth) and Reformation (re-shaping). Humanism, defined as 'an attitude which places emphasis upon this world, and upon man in this world' (Drummond, p99), and the split of the church due to the reforms of Martin Luther laid at the foundation of the Renaissance of the arts in Europe. 'Although the cultural rebirth of the Renaissance occurred throughout Europe, the important developments in relation to music-drama took place in Italy.' (Drummond, p104) Audiences began to attend tragedy plays less so for the drama, but more for the spectacular interludes of music and dance between the acts. In the beginning of the 16th century, the frottola, which was a simple part-song either to be sung by four voices or by one voice with instruments playing the other lines, began to be particularly practiced. The frottola developed into the madrigal in the second quarter of the century, which developed in intensity and complexity and was usually sung in five parts. Madrigal-cycles or madrigal-comedies were written and this marked the move in the direction of drama. Music-drama was constantly on the verge of rebirth in 16th century Italy and was revived at the end of the sixteenth century by the Camerata, which was a group of Florentine scholars, poets and musicians. The group began to experiment in the setting of words to music for dramatic purposes and 'short cantatas, compositions for solo voice accompanied either by one instrument or by a small group of instruments, were the first works to appear.' (Osborne, p34) The Camerata developed a musical style in which the speech had the important role of setting the rhythm and variations of pitch for emphasis. The orchestra was a small one and the focus was centred upon the human voices and upon the characters of the drama. Performances were staged on temporary stages in the houses of the aristocrats. The music was mostly in a recitative style, where 'the characters declaim speeches or dialogue in a kind of heightened speech or chant which has no melodic interest' and 'its rhythms follow those of natural speech, and so, to a certain extent, do the rise and fall of its notes.' (Osborne, p35)

Opera Seria

'Music historians customarily call the period from about 1600 to about 1760 the Baroque era, and the period from about 1760 to about 1800 or 1820 the Classical era.' (Drummond, p137) However both periods had elements of the other present and are not to be seen as entirely distinct and separate from each other. During the 17th and 18th century, theatrical activity of all kinds began to occupy an increasingly important position in courtly and public life, and thus more and more permanent stone theatres and opera houses were built. Initially, the permanent theatres were modeled after the typical Roman theatres where the seats were arranged in rising tiers in the semi-circular amphitheatre style, and the stage itself was broad and shallow. There was a deliberate intent to blur the distinction between the stage and the auditorium, however there was no way that the 'dramatic spectacle in the auditorium could compete with that on the stage.' (Drummond, p144) The stage contained all the necessary machinery to generate storms at sea and descent of gods and goddesses in chariots. Also, the actors on stage were virtuoso singers where they were able to perform their singing skill better than ordinary people and were able to impress others by this technical mastery also.

However, the audience paid little attention to the events upon the stage and the opera house was a place of entertainment for the audience where dinner was served and gaming tables were set up. A curious relationship soon evolved between the audience and the performance in baroque music-drama. 'On the one hand there is evidence that performances of a form of music-drama so close to life provoked deep emotional involvement in the audience, which was both delighted and moved. On the other hand there is also evidence that performances were treated as if they were part of everyday life, with little attention paid except at the more delightful moments.' (Drummond, p145) This reaction of the baroque audience reflected the mindsets of opera audiences today, where they comprised of those who go to see and those who go to be seen. Opera seria is said to blend the basic ingredients of opera in its own way, where not only is the baroque music-drama humanistic and concerned with human emotions and decisions, the element of pretence, implicit in all music-dramas, is also being brought out into the open more clearly than in any other form of Western European opera. However, opera seria was considered to be 'over-stylized and lacking in immediate dramatic impact' (Drummond, p164) Classicism then emerged to break free of the Baroque period. The emphasis was now on truth, reason and simplicity and there was an 'interest in musical expression as a developing continuum rather than the structural isolation of expressive moments' in opera seria. (Drummond, p166) As contrasted to Baroque music-dramas which have been criticized to have strayed too far from the original Greek music-dramas, there is now a 'recurrence in the opera of choruses and ballets which have the function of universalizing, as did the choral singing and dancing in Greek tragedy.' (Drummond, p167)

Comic Opera

During the 18th century, a genre of comic opera became popular and was found to be a 'delightful and much needed change from the stately grandeur'. (Osborne, p54) Both masks of tragedy and comedy are images aimed to transform reality, doing so 'in order to explore the same essential human problems that drama and music-drama have always explored.' (Drummond, p173) There is a thin line between tragic and comic, and it is simply a matter of how our emotions are engaged or disengaged. The use of more complicated sounds and textures of music are more difficult to relate to in the world of comedy. Music's role has to be 'restricted to moments where an alternative reality asserts itself, and has time to assert itself', just as music in itself is considered the 'language of an alternative reality'. (Drummond, pp179-180)

Romantic Opera

There was a gradual change in the thinking and mindsets of the people beginning the latter half of the 18th century. The French Revolution for example, exemplified the new spirit of the age, where men were now fighting for their own individual rights and happiness. Beethoven was one musician who expressed in his music, a 'reflection of the ideas of the age in its assertion of individuality against traditional systems' and used his musical resources to create a type of music-drama that could reflect the new spirit of the age. (Drummond, p225) The music-dramas of that period depicted Romantic attitudes, where emphasis was placed upon emotions, the supernatural and the theme of salvation through love, as shown in music-dramas such as Goethe's Faust Part 1 and 2. ' As nationalism took a hold and as republican ideas advanced, a number of national differences in musical and operatic style began to emerge and the history of opera at this point begins to produce branch lines.' (Osborne, p61) Italy began to embark on the age of bel canto, of beautiful singing. Choruses and audiences grew more important and music-dramas were expanding into more large-scale patterns. Harmony was now much simpler in order to allow the solo voices to 'soar in melodies with poignant chromatic inflections or to leap in dazzling displays of 'bel canto' ornamentation.' (Drummond, pp226-227) Rhythms, especially in the orchestral accompaniment, were also becoming simpler to allow a larger context for the individualistic expression of the human voice. '...The Italians were maintaining the supremacy of vocal melody, their chief contribution to European music-drama.' (Drummond, p227)

In Romantic opera, it is seen that the characters are more motivated by their emotional attitudes rather than by reasoned judgments. French Grand Opera was developed, which was 'anti-classical, pro-Shakespearean, and advocating a drama which heightens reality, blending comedy and tragedy, and in which action results from high-powered emotion.' (Drummond, p231) There were 'thrills, sensations, extravagance, spectacle, intense emotion' (Drummond, p231) and these were elements of opera which made it commercially acceptable. The growth of German Romantic Opera is said to have been influenced by Italy and France, and it was in Germany that the Romantic Movement had its strongest impact on opera. The interest in the supernatural stemmed from a growing nationalistic movement as can be seen in Goethe's Faust Part 1 and 2. There was a greater emphasis placed on the orchestra rather than on the human voice, and it is this that distinguishes German from Italian opera. Wagner's orchestra score for Tristan und Isolde (1865) had a 'heavily sensuous quality and the ecstatic richness of the orchestration give the work a curious psychological strength.' (Osborne, p67) Many particular characteristics of Romantic opera has come to be regarded as typical of opera as a whole: 'emotionally exciting music, historical plots in spectacular setting, a large orchestra and chorus, and virtuoso singing.' (Drummond, p273)

Operetta and Musicals

'19th century operetta was a combination of a sentimental or romantic story told in spoken dialogue, music and dancing, which aimed to divert rather than to edify.' (Orrey, p201) The distinction between opera and the lighter operetta only became clearer in Jacques Offenbach's time (1819-80). He was composer, conductor, copyist, stage manager and impresario all at once as he battled against the establishment and earned his first success in a 'theatre' that consisted of a tiny wooden structure. Soon, Offenbach's brand of music spread beyond Paris and came to Vienna, the 'city that was to become the home of operetta par excellence.' (Orrey, p206) The principal English contribution to operetta came in the form of the operettas with texts penned by W.S. Gilbert, whose 'comedy was verbal; the absurd situations in which his characters found themselves would be underlined by the apt word or the pointed phrase' and with music by Sir Arthur Sullivan, who 'brought a lightness of touch and a transparency of texture' to their work. (Orrey, p209) The operetta experienced a 'transatlantic metamorphosis' after the Second World War as 'a new self-confidence and a more virile optimism replaced the febrile gaiety and the nostalgic harping on an imaginary past Golden Age; the American musical was born', and the influences that operetta had on the composers of early 20th century American musicals was undisputable. 20th century Opera and beyond.

Modern, 20th century operas, which were distinct from 19th century operas composed in the 20th century, soon began to emerge. Freud stirred up a new interest in psychology, which could not be ignored by the arts. More and more music that are using new and sometimes previously untried techniques are now seeking to 'probe the hidden recesses of the mind.' (Orrey, p219) There is also a higher tendency among some modern designers to make full use of the height of the stage by building different layers to enable elevation and a greater variety of stage movements. Modern technology has also widened the horizons of opera by introducing new and different problems and opportunities with the 'achievements of acoustical and visual engineering, which have opened up the possibility of radically new concepts of both music and theatre.' (Orrey, p236) The gramophone made possible the dream of bringing the theatre back home, and the transmutation of opera into film has brought a 'new verve and zest to opera production, not of course without being accused of stressing the visual and active elements to the detriment of the music.' (Orrey, p237) Modern camera techniques also make possible illusions and magical transformations, thus offering an entirely new range of visual beauty, and the whole new range of sounds made possible by electronics and the tape recorder brought opera into another height. The modern scenographer's emphasis seems to be on the creation of a visual framework suited to the emotional and musical needs of the drama, and thus relying heavily on the play with colour and lighting.

Opera makes its way into the hearts of the audiences with the symbols: words, music and staging. According to Robert Donington, '...words are the most articulate component, music the most expressive and staging the most localizing...It is for the music to express what the words articulate and to this illimitable interface of words and music, staging brings a certain local and temporal stability.' (Opera and its Symbols, pp9-10) 'Some of the apparently disruptive elements at work today, which seem to challenge opera's most cherished conventions, from the art of singing to the validity of the opera house itself as a building, are in fact less symbols of decay than reassuring evidence that opera, far from being moribund, is as vital today as it has ever been.' (Orrey, p243) The most interesting modern operas are those that build upon the experiences of the past instead of rejecting it and attempting to start from scratch. Opera is alive today in a 'multiplicity of styles' and hopefully, the future of opera would be even more superior and majestic than its past. (Osborne, p82)

Bibliography

• Drummond, Jon D. Opera in Perspective. London: J.M.Dent & Sons Ltd, 1980
• Donington, Robert. The Opera. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1978
• ---. Opera and its Symbols: The Unity of Words, Music and Stage. New Haven: Yale University Press, c1990
• Orrey, Lesline. A Concise History of Opera. London: Thames and Hudson Ltd, 1972
• Osborne, Charles. How to Enjoy Opera. Loughton, Essex: Piatkus, 1983