User:Kleinzach/Genres

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Genre definition[edit]

This is a List of European musical genres used in art music from medieval to modern times.

A 'musical genre' is understood, for the purposes of this list, as a conventional category or description, usually given by the composer, for an entire work that is composed in a particular form, often in a distinct style. A music genre is thus different from a 'musical term' (which can include, very broadly, any word or words used in a special musical context), a 'musical style' (which can refer to a part of a work or multiple works) or a 'musical instrument' (even if certain genres are exclusive to particular instruments or voices).

The ultimate authority for genre will always be the composer (usually the first published version of his work). If the composer calls his work a aubade then it's a aubade, even if it's all about the dark side of the moon. (Some composers are notable for inventing fanciful names). If there is any ambiguity about usage, original languages names (again as used by the composer or publisher), are preferred to approximate English translations.

  • Green, Douglass M. (1965). Form in Tonal Music. Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, Inc. p. 1. ISBN 0-03-020286-8.

Music genre article definition[edit]

1. A music genre is a conventional category that identifies pieces of music as belonging to a shared tradition or set of conventions.[1] It is to be distinguished from musical form and musical style, although in practice these terms are sometimes used interchangeably.

2. Music can be divided into different genres in several ways. The artistic nature of music means that these classifications are often arbitrary and controversial, and some genres may overlap. There are several academic approaches to genres.

3. In his book Form in Tonal Music, Douglass M. Green lists madrigal, motet, canzona, ricercar, and dance as examples of genres from the Renaissance period. According to Green, "Beethoven's Op. 61 and Mendelssohn's Op. 64 are identical in genre – both are violin concertos – but different in form. However, Mozart's Rondo for Piano, K. 511, and the Agnus Dei from his Mass, K. 317 are quite different in genre but happen to be similar in form."[2] Some, like Peter van der Merwe, treat the terms genre and style as the same, saying that genre should be defined as pieces of music that share a certain style or "basic musical language".[3]

4. Others, such as Allan F. Moore, state that genre and style are two separate terms, and that secondary characteristics such as subject matter can also differentiate between genres.[4]

5. A music genre or sub-genre may be defined by the musical techniques, the styles, the context, and content and spirit of the themes. Geographical origin is sometimes used to identify a music genre, though a single geographical category will often include a wide variety of sub-genres.

Medieval/Renaissance[edit]

The main type was the German lied, and the Spanish villancico. Secular vocal genres included the Italian madrigal, the Italian frottola, the caccia, the French chanson in several forms (rondeau, virelai, bergerette, ballade, musique mesurée), the canzonetta, the villancico, the villanella, the villotta, and the lute song. Mixed forms such as the motet-chanson and the secular motet also appeared.

  • Instrumental:

Common genres were the toccata, the prelude, the ricercar, the canzona, and intabulation (intavolatura, intabulierung). Instrumental ensembles for dances might play a basse danse (or bassedanza), a pavane, a galliard, an allemande, or a courante.

Baroque[edit]

chorale melodies into numerous of their major works in such genres as the cantata, chorale prelude, chorale fantasia, chorale fugue, chorale motet, chorale variations, oratorio, and Passion

Vocal[edit]

Instrumental[edit]

Classical[edit]

Romantic[edit]

Orchestra

Chamber

Dance

variation (music)

Song

Church

Opera genres lacking entries[edit]

Main page


Italian

  • Alessandro Scarlatti: dramma sacro per musica, opera drammatica (2), favola boschereccia (2), tragedia in musica (2)
  • Hasse: favola pastorale (2), intermezzo tragico
  • Gluck: tragedia,
  • Tommaso Traetta: tragedia, semiseria e bernesca, azione drammatica, pastorale
  • Giuseppe Sarti: pastorale eroica, dramatic cantata
  • Giovanni Pacini: eroico (2), tragico (3), romantico (3), opera storica, tragedia lirica (7), melodramma tragico (2), dramma lirico (3), commedia lirico, opera fantastica
  • Amilcare Ponchielli: scherzo comico, dramma lirico (4)
  • Gaspare Spontini: melodramma buffo (2), farsa giocoso per musica
  • Simon Mayr: farsa giocosa (2), dramma serio eroico per musica, dramma eroicomico per musica (2), dramma eroica(o) per musica (2), melodramma eroicomico, dramma sentimentale per musica, dramma serio per musica, farsa sentimentale (2), melodramma eroico (4), azione eroica per musica, azione seria drammatica per musica, melodramma tragico, dramma semiserio per musica, tragedia lirica
  • Gioachino Rossini: farsa comica (2), dramma serio (3), dramma con cori, melodramma giocoso (2), melodramma eroico, dramma (8), azione tragico-sacra, azione tragica, melodramma tragico
  • List of operas by Salieri: pastorale, divertimento teatrale, azione pastorale, opera comica, divertimento teatrale,

French

  • Gluck: drame-héroïque
  • Gretry: comédie-parade, drame burlesque, drame, comédie mise en musique, drame mise en musique
  • Lecocq: opérette de salon, folie parée et masquée, scène, bluette bouffe, 'féerie', opéra monologue, vaudeville-opérette, comédie musicale
  • Rameau: comédie-ballet
  • Offenbach: tableau villageois, légende bretonne, légende napolitaine, piéce d'occasion (2), bouffonnerie musicale (3), anthropophagie musicale, chinoiserie musicale, comédie à ariettes, opérette fantastique, revue, conversation alsacienne, fantasie musicale, opéra bouffe féerie, valse
  • Gaspare Spontini: comédie en prose mêlée de chants,
  • Méhul: comédie mise en musique (2), comédie mêlée de musique (4), comédie héroïque, opéra héroïque, drame mêlé de musique, comédie-parade, comédie mêlée de chants, drame mêlé de chants
  • Massenet: opéra romanesque, opéra légendaire, conte de fées, miracle, comédie chantée, drame musical, comédie héroïque, opéra tragique, haulte farce musical

German

  • List of operas by Johann Adam Hiller: comische Oper (10), romantisch-comische Oper, Nachspiel, comische Operette, Operette für Kinder, ländiches Schauspiel für die Jugend mit untermischten Gesängen
  • List of works for the stage by Reichardt: komische Oper, Melodram (2), musikalisches Drama, tragedia per musica, tragedy, comedy
  • Wenzel Müller: große Pantomime, heroisch-komisches Singspiel, Karikaturoperette, Melodram, komische Oper, Zauberspiel (2), romantisch-komisches Zauberspiel
  • Ferdinand Kauer: comedy with machines and music, Kinder-Operette, Schauspiel (5), romantisch-komisches Volksmärchen (3), travestirtes Singspiel, Lustspiel, Karikatur, mythologische Karikatur
  • Gaspare Spontini: lyrisches Drama (2),
  • Peter Josef von Lindpaintner: komische Oper (3), romantisch-komisches Volksmärchen, große heroische Oper, große Oper (2), große romantische Oper (2)
  • Otto_Nicolai#Operas: tragische Oper, komische-fantastische Oper
  • Johann Strauss II: burleske Operette, komische Operette (6)
  • Ziehrer: Burleske-Operette (3), fantastic burlesque, indianisches Lagerbild, Vaudeville-Operette
  • Millöcker: Volksoper
  • Lehar: Zaubermärchen, romantische Operette (2), musikalische Komödie, romantische Singspiel
  • R Strauss: Singgedicht, Tragödie, Komödie für Musik, ürgliche Komödie mit sinfonischen Zwischenspielen, lyrische Komödie, komische Oper, bukolische Tragödie, heitere Mythologie, Konversationsstück für Musik, Komödie
  • Paul Hindemith: Sketch mit Musik, lustige Oper, 'music theatre work'
  • Ernst Krenek: szenische Kantate, komische Oper, Schauspiel, musikalische Komödie, tragische Oper, burleske Operette, grosse Oper, Satire mit musik, Bühnenwerk mit Musik, fable, drama with music, komische Kammeroper, television opera

For discussions with Jeanambr about genres[edit]

Tragédie (mise) en musique, tragédie lyrique, drame-lyrique, drame-héroïque, opéra-tragédie, tragédie-opéra[edit]

I have ordinarily reported the designations used by http://operabaroque.fr/Cadre_baroque.htm, which very often correspond to Amadeusonline’s : see, for instance 1705 ‘Philomèle’ by Louis de La Coste, labelled by both sources “tragédie lyrique” (translated into “tragedia lirica” by Amadeus) whereas the 1784 libretto title page reproduced on the same site of “Le magazine de l'opéra baroque” simply names it “tragédie”. In fact, I can remember reading (don’t know where, now) that “tragèdie lyrique” was a very late variant for “tragédie (mise) en musique” and thus most unlikely to have already been used in 1705. Anyhow, I think I have no alternative but not stray from the source available. Should I come however across reliable examples of the use of alternative names I’ll let you know so that you can cite them in the article about opera genres.

BTW: we usually report in Wikipedia articles this address http://pagesperso-orange.fr/jean-claude.brenac/Cadre_baroque.htm for “Le magazine de l'opéra baroque”: I’ve just noticed, however, that this is an old address no longer updated and that the right one is today the following: http://www.operabaroque.com or http://operabaroque.fr/Cadre_baroque.htm--Jeanambr (talk) 07:49, 18 February 2010 (UTC)

Regarding Tragédie (mise) en musique etc. we follow Grove or rather the experts that Grove employed. They follows the designation given by the composer (in the original language) without questioning it and I think that's the safest way for us. (Normally operabaroque.fr will agree with Grove, but it's a less reliable source. I don't think Amadeus is reliable, especially as it translates into Italian.) The original libretto title page can of course be regarded as authoritative - and it should match Grove. --Kleinzach 07:03, 18 February 2010 (UTC)

Opéra de chambre[edit]

This phrase is reported to have been used for Charpentier’s “Les arts florissants” and “La descente d'Orphée aux enfers”. Is it a genuine genre with its own style and tradition and multiple examples? Maybe it isn’t so (or it’s only in a very broad sense). I therefore suggest that it be not added to the List of opera genres and that I link the phrase to the existing dedicated article.--Jeanambr (talk) 07:49, 18 February 2010 (UTC)

Which dedicated article are you referring to? BTW do you have access to the Grove opera? Most of us regard it as essential for our work.--Kleinzach 07:03, 18 February 2010 (UTC)
I'm referring to the English Wikipedia article Chamber opera. I've at home the four volumes of "The New Grove Dictionary of Opera" edited by Stanley Sadie in 1992.--Jeanambr (talk) 07:49, 18 February 2010 (UTC)
Should Opéra de chambre be a redirect to Chamber opera? --Kleinzach 08:59, 18 February 2010 (UTC)
I don't think it necessary, if Opéra de chambre is not (correctly) hold to be a genre: in my article about hautes-contre I'll link the phrase directly to Chamber opera. --Jeanambr (talk) 21:43, 19 February 2010 (UTC)

Ballet (pure e simple)[edit]

This term was generally used at the time for the theatre genre combining elements of both opera and dance. Modern scholars prefer opéra-ballet to distinguish the type from the laterballet d’action (namely the ballet in the modern acceptation) [Barthlet – ‘Opéra-ballet’ – Grove].

Therefore, ballet ought not to be considered an opera genre, and when used, it may mean opéra-ballet, but also ballet heroïque, comédie lyrique and other kinds of light operas including large amounts of dance.--Jeanambr (talk) 07:49, 18 February 2010 (UTC)

I agree. No problem I think.--Kleinzach 07:03, 18 February 2010 (UTC)

Opéra-ballet – Ballet à entrées[edit]

Hardly any problems! Bartlet, too, agrees that ‘L’Europe galante’ had “a few antecedents during the previous decade” and I have better checked that the term “ballet à entrées” is not actually reported for any of the operas listed in my haute-contre repertoire. I don’t have any major significant source about the term ‘ballet à entrées’ but the French Wikipédia, which cites no sources, and Pitou, according to whom “Opéra-ballet was a musical form of theatrical entertainment that grew out of the ballets à entrées of the early seventeenth century”; that’s all!--Jeanambr (talk) 07:49, 18 February 2010 (UTC)

OK. I think we'll have to leave 'ballet à entrées' until we have a better source.--Kleinzach 07:03, 18 February 2010 (UTC)

Ballet heroïque[edit]

No problems, as well.--Jeanambr (talk) 07:49, 18 February 2010 (UTC)

Ballet lyrique etc[edit]

Ballet lyrique (which literally means the same as opéra-ballet), ballet comique and ballet bouffon (used by Rameau for “Platée”, which was also designated, however,comédie-lyrique), they do not seem to mean specific genres, but different operas styled by those phrases are to be classed, depending on their actual structure, either opéra-ballet orcomédie lyrique or even ballet heroïque. So, acconding to “Le magazine de l'opéra baroque” , 1713 “Les amours déguisés” was styled “ballet lyrique”: since the opera is formed, in actual fact, by a prologue and three entrées with not communicating mythological/heroic plots, I think it really belongs to the ballet heroïque genre, and I purpose to state it between brackets after the original styling “ballet lyrique”. Let me know if you don’t agree.--Jeanambr (talk) 07:49, 18 February 2010 (UTC)

What is 'Les amours déguisés'. I can't find this. Who wrote it?--Kleinzach 07:03, 18 February 2010 (UTC)
It was written by some Thomas-Louis Bourgeois (see: fr:Thomas-Louis Bourgeois) who is of some major interest in my article as he was himself a haute-contre. His opera was styled “ballet lyrique” according to both “Le magazine de l'opéra baroque” and Pitou (...was billed as a lyric ballet in three entrées and a prologue), but I discovered just now that there is a specific entry (“Amours déguisés, Les”) for it in the Grove Dictionary as well, where Jérôme de La Gorce calls it an “opéra-ballet” (as Amadeusonline also does, even if as usually translated into Italian).
It’s my impression (and I’d be willing to bet) that it was originally styled “ballet lyrique”.--Jeanambr (talk) 07:49, 18 February 2010 (UTC)
How about starting an article on 'Les amours déguisés'? That may be the way forward here. --Kleinzach 08:57, 18 February 2010 (UTC)
It might be good, but we should try and set tasks in a file, for work is growing hard and "comédie lyrique", "comédie-ballet", "entrée (de ballet), "Edipo a Colono", seem perhaps more important: I have, moreover, to attend to articles being transferred into the Italian Wikipedia, too.--Jeanambr (talk) 23:40, 19 February 2010 (UTC)

Comédie-ballet[edit]

If I’ve well comprehended (and I’m not completely sure), this phrase mainly refers to a non-operatic genre (Moliere’s plays with spoken dialogues and music by Lully or Charpentier, or Voltaire’s “La princesse de Navarre” with music by Rameau),although it was also used by 18th-century authors to designate a type of opéra-ballet that were not composed of separate entrées with different plots, but had, on the contrary, a continuous, though dramatically slight, plot and the same principal characters throughout [cf. Bartlet – ‘Comédie-ballet’ – Grove]. I fear, however, that adding the entry comédie-ballet to the List of opera genres (even with a warning like: non to be confused with the non-operatic genre) would only create more confusion.--Jeanambr (talk) 07:49, 18 February 2010 (UTC)

What exactly does Bartlet say about Comédie-ballet? (I don't have access to the relevant section of Grove)? --Kleinzach 07:03, 18 February 2010 (UTC)

As to “La princesse de Navarre” in my article about haute-contre repertoire, since there doesn't esist an article "Comédie-ballet" to be linked to, I purpose to briefly explain in a note what is meant by that phrase.--Jeanambr (talk) 07:49, 18 February 2010 (UTC)

Good. --Kleinzach 07:03, 18 February 2010 (UTC)

The Wikipedia article referring to this work of Rameau’s states, however, that it is “an operatic work”, which does not seem correct to me.--Jeanambr (talk) 07:49, 18 February 2010 (UTC)

Agreed. I didn't do that article.--Kleinzach 07:03, 18 February 2010 (UTC)

BTW: while dealing with this genre, there occurred to me the “musiche di scena” (incidental music) written by Rossini for Sophocles’ “Oedipus at Colonus” (see it:Gioachino_Rossini#Composizioni and it:Edipo a Colono (Rossini)) which I didn’t succeed in finding in the Lists of Rossini’s works in the English Wikipedia.--Jeanambr (talk) 07:49, 18 February 2010 (UTC)

Yes, worth adding.--Kleinzach 07:03, 18 February 2010 (UTC)

Entrée [de ballet][edit]

I agree that a dedicated article is wanted (just a stub would be more than enough) and I’ll, meanwhile, efface the link to opéra-ballet--Jeanambr (talk) 07:49, 18 February 2010 (UTC)

Good.--Kleinzach 07:03, 18 February 2010 (UTC)

Tragédie biblique, opéra sacré[edit]

The phrases tragédie biblique and opéra sacrée were used for Charpentier’ “David et Jonathas” and for Montéclair’s “Jephté” [source: Le magazine de l'opéra baroque]. In the Wikipedia articles concerning the two operas, User:Folantin correctly writes they are tragédies en musique, but that, because of their religious subject matter, they were also styled as above. Can we then properly refer to a religious genre of operas? I doubt it is thoroughly correct, but The New Grove Dictionary has got such numerous entries as “Azione sacra”, “Sepolcro”, “Rappresentazione sacra”, “Sacred opera”, “Jesuit drama” (Charpentier’s opera is a like work), and I think that also the two French mentioned operas deserve to be, somehow or other, included in the sacred genre.

Well, we are including sacred operas in the List of opera genres, so I don't think that's an issue. Should we make tragédie biblique and opéra sacrée into List of opera genres entries or redirects? What do you think? --Kleinzach 09:10, 18 February 2010 (UTC)
To tell the truth, I feel awfully uncertain. In my opinion, on drawing up a list of opera genres, one ought to act according to quite an unchanging pre-established principle: an extreme formal one could consist in inserting in the list all names ever anyhow used to style an opera, and in tracing each of them back, as variants, to a main genre (that’s how the term “tragédie-opéra” has, for instance, been actually handled: it appears in the List of opera genres as an alternative name for and is linked to tragédie en musique); the opposite substantial principle (which would be more accordant with my attitudes) could instead consist in just listing the fundamental genres, specifying within each of them the main variants occurring, and linking to the fundamental genres the varied makeshift terms one meets with, in the long history of opera. As the first principle seems to have been adopted from the beginning, in order to be strictly consistent one ought maybe to insert in the list both “opéra sacrée” and “tragédie biblique” (and azione tragico-sacra, too), even though, so long, a main genre to trace them back to does not seem to have been listed yet, and, anyhow, following this way might lengthen the list to infinity. The way out à l’italienne (namely, the expedient of establishing a principle and hardly taking any notice of it when you have got to face major difficulties) could be something alike what I’ve suggested for the term “ballet”: one could expand the entry Azione sacra, by saying that besides Viennese usage, sacred operas used to be given as well, throughout the rest of Europe, mainly, but not only, in order to bypass prohibition against staging theatrical performances during Lent. Then, both Jephté’s "opéra sacrée", and David et Jonathas’s "tragédie biblique", and also Mosè in Egitto’s "azione tragico-sacra" could be properly linked directly to the List’s entry “Azione sacra”.
Of course, you have been working so long at the article and are the best qualified do decide what to do.--Jeanambr (talk) 15:02, 19 February 2010 (UTC)


Btw: had you noticed that Rossini’s “Mosè in Egitto” is styled ‘azione tragico-sacra’? It’s the main example first occurring to me, of religious subject matter being used in order to bypass prohibition against staging theatrical performances during Lent.--Jeanambr (talk) 07:49, 18 February 2010 (UTC)

OK. But what genre should it come under in your opinion? I think it's unique. Also note that Rossini had an ‘azione tragica’. Also Simon Mayr had various kinds of 'azione'. --Kleinzach 09:10, 18 February 2010 (UTC)
No, I don’t think Mosè in Egitto can be considered unique, at least from the genre point of view. Howard E. Smither writes (and I can't help but agree) in The Grove Dictionary (article:’Azione sacra’): “ From the 1780s to about 1820, the theatres of Naples often presented staged oratorios during Lent and usually designated them azione sacra. Such works differed little from opera seria of the time, except for their subject matter ... P. A. Guglielmi’s Debora e Sisara: azione sacra (1788, Naples) was favoured by numerous performances ... throughout Europe, as was Rossini’s Mosè in Egitto ...”. Ciao.--Jeanambr (talk) 15:25, 19 February 2010 (UTC)

Comédie lyrique[edit]

The Grove article’s got this title: Comédie lyrique (comédie en musique; comédie mise en musique). I think it’s enough to warrant two new entries being added to the List of opéra genres.--Jeanambr (talk) 07:49, 18 February 2010 (UTC)

Can you explain more? Would you be able to draft a short article on Comédie lyrique? At the moment it is an entry in the List of opera genres but it doesn't have an article. --Kleinzach 07:20, 18 February 2010 (UTC)
Even though the comédie lyrique had much less spreading than the tragédie lyrique, I suggest that, likewise, two new entries might be added to the List, as alternative names for it: "comèdie en musique" and "comédie mise en musique" (M.E.C. Bartlet, “Comédie lyrique”, in Grove, I, p. 910). As for the short article, I think I could try and draft it, but I would remind of what I wrote above in the section about Ballet lyrique etc.--Jeanambr (talk) 23:44, 19 February 2010 (UTC)
Hi. I have drafted two stubs in Italian on 'Comédie lyrique' and 'Comédie-ballet'. Since you can read French, I suppose you should be able to read Italian, too (at least, I hope so!). You can find them below in two dedicated sections. Ciao. --Jeanambr (talk) 11:03, 22 February 2010 (UTC)
Before moving them to the mainspace and setting about English translation, I had hoped you might take a quick look at the two stubs. If you can’t read Italian or you have no spare time, no matter: I’ll edit them in the Italian Wikipedia all the same, and I’ll later translate them into English, as soon as possible. There will still be a chance of improving them also after being edited! Ciao.--Jeanambr (talk) 23:39, 5 March 2010 (UTC)

Comédie persane[edit]

Surely, the comédie persane is not an opera genre at all! It’s just the name that was given to Jacques Aubert’s “La reine des Péris”, in 1725, only to entice the public into the theatre taking advantage of the raging fashion of the turquerie, that is to say the passion for everything that came from, resembled or reminisced about the mysterious Orient. As you can see in the corresponding entry in my Sandbox article, since “La reine des Péris” is structurally a comédie lyrique I have linked the word 'comédie' to the entry “comédie lyrique” of the “List of opera genres”, and since the word 'persane' (meaning Persian) refers to the historical phenomenon of turquerie, I’ve linked it to the Wikipedia article “Turquerie”, and especially to its section dealing with opera. It may not be a scientific criterion, but I hoped it could help readers understand how on earth one can have conceived the idea of styling an opera “Persian comedy”. If you deem improper such linking, I’ll efface it straight off.--Jeanambr (talk) 07:49, 18 February 2010 (UTC)

That sounds all OK. --Kleinzach 07:22, 18 February 2010 (UTC)

Divertissement[edit]

Charpentier’s “Les plaisirs de Versailles” [source: “Le magazine de l'opéra baroque”] and Lully’s “L’eglogue de Versailles” [source: Pitou] were styled divertissement, whereas Lully’s “Cariselli” was styled, without any different meaning, “divertissement comique” [Pitou]. I’d be inclined to think that, besides a more general term, divertissement (comique) may be the French counterpart of “divertimento giocoso”. You can take a look at Grove’s article “Divertissement”, and specially at its last part. You can’t compare it with “divertimento giocoso” because Grove has got no entry for it!--Jeanambr (talk) 07:49, 18 February 2010 (UTC)

Divertissement is a redirect to Divertimento but I don't think that's really correct. I'll do a short article for divertissement based on Oxford. (I don't have access to the Grove “Divertissement”. (Neither Charpentier or Lully have full opera lists on WP.) Cariselli is not listed in List of compositions by Jean-Baptiste Lully. --Kleinzach 07:48, 18 February 2010 (UTC)
I've now done the article. It's very tentative. Please add to it. --Kleinzach 08:32, 18 February 2010 (UTC)
Maybe "Cariselli" was only erroneously attributed to Lully. That's what Le magazine de l'opéra baroque writes apropos (in the page about the ballet FRAGMENTS DE M. DE LULLY - 10 septembre 1702; I suppose you can read French: could you not, I'll translate it for you, as far as I can undertand it myself):
Le ballet resta à l'affiche pendant huit mois pendant lesquels on y ajouta le Divertissement comique de Cariselli (*), de Robert Cambert, ainsi que des entrées composées par Campra ...
(*) A l'origine, Cambert avait composé le Trio italien burlesque de Cariselli pour une comédie de Guillaume de Marcoureau, sieur de Brécourt, Le Jaloux invisible, représentée en août 1666, au théâtre de l'hôtel de Bourgogne, qu'il avait adaptée d'une nouvelle espagnole El Zeloso inganado.
Le Trio de Cariselli fut attribué à Lully, et donna naissance à une curieuse anecdote : Cariselli, musicien italien, serait venu en France pour offrir ses services à Louis XIV. Mais aussitôt qu'il parut dans la cour du château de St Germain-en-Laye, trois musiciens choisis pas Lully le saluèrent en chantant le « Bon di Cariselli » que Lully aurait composé pour la circonstance. Piqué au vif par cette plaisanterie, Cariselli, qui était bègue [stammered], serait parti sans demander son reste. --Jeanambr (talk) 10:00, 18 February 2010 (UTC)
Thanks. My French is not great, but I can get the gist of it. --Kleinzach 13:55, 18 February 2010 (UTC)

Intermède[edit]

Rousseau’s “Le devin du village” was styled “interméde” (or “opéra pastorale”): according to Grove’s article “Intermède”, the term is nothing so different from a translation of the Italian “intermezzo”, and also the English Wikipedia already redirects from intermède (written interméde with a wrong accent that I don’t know how to correct) to intermezzo.--Jeanambr (talk) 07:49, 18 February 2010 (UTC)

Intermède is now another redirect. What else do you suggest? --Kleinzach 07:36, 18 February 2010 (UTC)
How about inserting another new entry in the List stating that “intermède” is the French “counterpart to the Italian intermezzo” (M.E.C. Bartlet, “Intermède”, Grove, II, p. 804) or something alike?. Ciao.--Jeanambr (talk) 23:46, 19 February 2010 (UTC)

Le cadi dupé[edit]

I've just noticed that Grove styles "haute-contre" many of the tenor roles in Gluck's Viennese opéras-comiques and, while checking around, I've come across the article Le cadi dupé whose reported cast includes a female soprano role, "Omega", whereas Grove (Bruce Alan Brown, article: "Cadi dupé, Le", I, p.675) asserts a tenor role en travesti, 'the hideous dyer's daughter Ali' (sic). Just for future controls!

BTW The haute-contre role should be Nouradin. Ciao--Jeanambr (talk) 17:48, 21 February 2010 (UTC)

Comédie lyrique (stub in Italian)[edit]

La comédie lyrique (commedia lirica), detta anche comédie [mise] en musique, è un genere di opera francese introdotto a cavallo tra il XVII e il XVIII secolo, a fianco della più elevata tragédie en musique e della tipologia di festa musical-danzante, poi conosciuta come opéra-ballet. Pur mancando di contorni così definiti come le sue consorelle maggiori, essa si contraddistingue per la trasposizione nel teatro musicale dei caratteri, del tono e degli argomenti della contemporanea commedia in prosa.

Storia e caratteristiche[edit]

La denominazione di "première comédie françoise en musique" fu utilizzato già nel 1659 per uno dei primo esempi di messa in musica in Francia di una pièce teatrale, la "Pastorale d'Issy", su testo di Pierre Perrin e musica del fondatore dell'opera francese, Robert Cambert. A parte tale precedente, nel XVIII secolo la denominazione di comédie lyrique fu applicata soprattutto ad opere comiche rappresentate dall’Académie Royale de Musique, mentre quella di comédie en musique interessò particolarmente l’opéra comique, dove venne utilizzata a scopo di distinzione nei confronti delle più corrive comédies mêlées d’ariettes.

Il genere si caratterizzò per la trama unitaria che abbracciava l’intera opera e che la distingueva, oltre che per un minor sfoggio di pezzi danzati, dall’opéra-ballet, dove ogni atto (entrée) aveva normalmente un proprio particolare intreccio del tutto slegato dagli altri, o comunque soltanto molto blandamente collegato da un tenue filo d’insieme. Gli argomenti delle trame erano in genere contemporanei od esotici, anche se non mancarono quelli di carattere eroicomico. Alla denominazione di comedié lyrique ne furono spesso preferite (o affiancate) altre, come “ballet”, “ballet bouffon”, e soprattutto “comédie-ballet” (con l’inevitabile conseguenza di una certa confusione terminologica)[1].

Nel XIX secolo il termine fu quasi sistematicamente sostituito da quello, generico, di "opéra", ma non mancarono esempi di successivo utilizzo dello stesso, come nella Thaïs di Massenet od anche in opere novecentesche.

Esempi di comédie lyrique[edit]

Fonti[edit]

  1. ^ un caso clamoroso, ma non poi così eccezionale, è quello di Les amours de Ragonde, che pur essendo una genuina comédie lirique, «viene definita "comédie-ballet" nella partitura a stampa, "comédie en musique" nel libretto del 1742, e "divertissement comique" nell'Approbation in calce al libretto» (James R. Anthony, "Amours de Ragonde, Les", in The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, I, pag. 113). Come se non bastasse, secondo Le magazin de l'opéra baroque, nell'edizione originale rappresentata a Sceaux nel 1714, e della quale non è stata tramandata la musica originale, era stata usata la variante ulteriore di "divertissement pastoral"
  • (in English) Bartlet, M. Elisabeth C., “Comédie lyrique” e “Comédie-ballet”, in Stanley, Sadie (a cura di), The New Grove Dictionary of Opera (I, pagg. 910 e 909, rispettivamente),
  • (in French) Le magazin de l’opéra baroque

Comédie-ballet (stub in Italian)[edit]

Con il termine comédie-ballet furono inizialmente definite in Francia, nella seconda meta del ‘600, le commedie teatrali che venivano rappresentate con intermezzi musicali e coreografici, più o meno integrati con il resto della trama,.

Storia e caratteristiche[edit]

Il primo esempio del genere può essere considerato Les fâcheux, lavoro di Molière rappresentato, in onore del re di Francia, al castello di Vaux-le-Vicomte, residenza di Nicolas Fouquet, nel 1661, con musiche di Jean-Baptiste Lully, oltre che del grande coregrafo e suo collaboratore, Pierre Beauchamp. La comédie-ballet avrebbe poi visto numerosi ulteriori esempi, nati sempre dalla collaborazione tra i tre, i quali sarebbero culminati nel capolavoro del genere,Le bourgeois gentilhomme, nel 1670. Dopo la rottura con Lully, Molière si rivolse a Marc-Antoine Charpentier e la collaborazione tra i due, ancora con il concorso coreografico di Beauchamps, culminò nella “Comédie Melée de Musique, & de Danse”, “Le malade immaginaire”, nel corso delle cui rappresentazioni al Palais-Royal nel 1673, Molière ebbe un malore in scena che ne provocò poco dopo la morte.

Nel XVIII secolo il genere in quanto tale venne quasi completamente superato, ma lasciò una notevole eredità nell’usanza a lungo rimasta viva nel teatro francese, del largo utilizzo di musiche di scena (anche cantate). Un esempio tardo di vera e propria comédie-ballet (anche se con tematiche interne più simili a quelle della tragédie lyrique) è dato da La princesse de Navarre, di Voltaire, che fu rappresentata, appunto come comédie-ballet, a Versailles il 23 febbraio 1745: la rappresentazione era articolata in un prologo e tre atti, con l’aggiunta di una ouverture e di tre divertissements musicali per atto, composti da Jean Philippe Rameau, con pezzi vocali anche notevolmente difficoltosi, tra cui un insolito duetto tra hautes-contre.

Comédie-ballet e comédie lyrique[edit]

Anche se gli studiosi tendono a restringere l’uso del termine al significato descritto nella precedente sezione, nel XVIII secolo alcuni autori lo utilizzarono anche per caratterizzare lavori di tipo diverso: in particolare opere comiche, di solito in tre o quattro atti, senza dialoghi parlati, le quali, in quanto fornite di una trama unitaria e di interpreti principali unici durante tutto lo svolgimento, nonché spesso di maggiori tratti umoristici e satirici, si differenziavano anche dell’opéra-ballet e possono essere sostanzialmente ricondotte al genere della comédie lyrique. Comédies- ballets, in questa accezione, furono definite, ad esempio, Le Carnaval et la Folie di André Cardinal Destouches (1703) e La vénitienne di Antoine Dauvergne (1768), tarda riscrittura dell’omonimo ballet di Michel de la Barre andato in scena nel 1705. Un esempio opposto dell'uso del termine di "comédie-lyrique" per una sorta di reviviscenza moderna della comédie-ballet, è dato da Le piège de Méduse di Erik Satie, del 1913: si tratta in effetti di un pezzo teatrale in un atto con sette brevi danze composte originariamente per pianoforte.

Fonti[edit]

  • Bartlet, M. Elisabeth C., “Comédie lyrique” e “Comédie-ballet”, in Stanley, Sadie (a cura di), The New Grove Dictionary of Opera (I, pagg. 910 e 909, rispettivamente), Grove (Oxford University Press), New York, 1997 (ISBN 978-0-19-522186-2)
  • Sawkins, Lionel, "Haute-contre", ibidem (II, pp. 668-69)
  • Caruselli, Salvatore (a cura di), Grande enciclopedia della musica lirica (III, voce: “Lully, Giovanni Battista”), Longanesi & C. Periodici S.p.A., Roma
  • Le magazin de l’opéra baroque

Les élémens[edit]

As I think we had agreed, I have revised the article Les élémens and, BTW, I have expanded it. Since it is now much longer than beforehand and the rendering of the synopsis turned pretty laborious, I had unwillingly to insert the "copy edit template". Best. --Jeanambr (talk) 11:04, 26 February 2010 (UTC)

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