Baroque Opera
Located in 2 routes
Baroque Opera is built from recitative, aria, dance, continuo, and sharply profiled affects, with vocal ornament carrying as much drama as plotting. The sound can switch instantly from speech-like narration to suspended lament, martial brilliance, or dazzling da capo display, often led from the continuo rather than by later Romantic orchestral mass.
History
Beginning in Florence and maturing in Venice, Rome, Paris, London, and Naples, Baroque opera moved from early experiments in sung drama to a fully international theatrical system. Monteverdi, Cavalli, Lully, Rameau, Handel, and Vivaldi shaped its forms, while modern revival—especially through period ensembles and star singers of the late twentieth century—returned this once-neglected repertory to core operatic life.
Defining artists
Essential listening
- Lascia ch'io pianga — Cecilia BartoliSpotifyYouTube
- Vedro con mio diletto — Philippe JarousskySpotifyYouTube
- Agitata da due venti — Joyce DiDonatoSpotifyYouTube
- Piangero la sorte mia — Natalie DessaySpotifyYouTube
- Scherza infida — Andreas SchollSpotifyYouTube
- Se pieta di me non senti — Veronique GensSpotifyYouTube
Sources
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Opera” citeturn2search14
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Baroque music” citeturn1search1