Parallels in Opera and Other Musical Innovations

As I see it, the primary issue regarding the genesis of opera was that it was (for the most part) an attempt by a group of academics (Peri and company) to in some way resurrect the lost style of Greek tragedy. This in of itself does not seem like it should be such a revolution, as it was, ever since the fall of the Roman empire, Europe had lamented the loss of their idealized Eden; that of the Greek civilization. It seems though that opera’s major problem was that it had little to offer the Princes and Feudal patrons in the way of positive propaganda or placating of their subjects. For that purpose, the princes used intermedi for court celebrations.

It is very difficult for those of us growing up in the 20th/21st century to really understand how valuable entertainment can be to the popularity of an individual. In an age of video-games, internet, television, CDs, MP3 players, cell-phones, DVD/Blue-Ray players in cars and any other host of immediate diversions our modern society enjoys we have to imagine a place where the same kind of entertainment could only be offered by a handful of individuals. In a way, Duke Medici offering stunning Intermedi and Naval battles in his flooded court yard is analogous to a man who has a lot of friends because of his big-screen television. The author of Chapter One in “The Oxford History of Opera,” Tim Carter, states that without lavish spectacle and variety of scenery, the initial operas of Peri and Caccini were regarded as little more than academic fancy.

In thinking/reading about modern parallels to the birth of opera, I was pleased that Mr. Carter mentioned that Peri was well aware that he had not faithfully recreated the musical style of the Greek dramas and therefore understood the originality of the Recitative as well as having a new completely sung art form. It is interesting that the origin of Opera is very similar to the origin of Broadway musical theatre which has its beginnings in touring vaudeville spectacles just as the Intermedi proceeded Opera. In both cases we have an eventual mixing of what is considered to be “high art” (many composers for musical theatre such as Vernon Duke, Kurt Weil and Blitzstein were also composers of more “serious” concert music) and vernacular styles (the vernacular came later in opera in the form of the strophic aria). But if we were to look for an immediate severing with past styles (in the way that the Recitative broke with tradition from earlier song), I imagine it would be possible to draw a parallel with the Italian futurists who sought to make noise into a new viable musical language. As opera matured it became a standard genre exploited by composers, we cannot say that the futurists really matured, but their influence did which manifested itself in the composers John Cage and the other indeterminists such as Stockhausen.