Armide from the Praise and Criticism of French Opera Jean-Baptiste Lully’s Armide consists of five acts and a beginning overture, called a prologue. This is in conformity to the Aristotelian ideal of length in the opera as a musical genre and in contrast to the Italian practices of the time. The French recitative and aria are the focus of Raguenet and Lecerf’s criticism and praise of French opera. This section will evaluate one of the Armide’s recitatives and arias in light of Raguenet and Lecerf’s arguments over French opera. In order to create a French recitative, Lully had to adapt the music to the French language. This adaptation resulted in a recitative with meter changes between duple and triple as needed to allow for the …show more content…
As King Louis XIV and Jean-Baptiste Lully had a close relationship, Lully’s goal was to respect and obey King Louis’s demands upon the arts. Because Lully was King Louis XIV’s favorite court musician, it was with his permission and support that Lully created a French style opera. In obedience to the crown and to France, Lully “reconciled the demands of drama, music, and ballet in a new French form of opera” (Burkholder, et al. 361). One of the elements of the new French opera that shows the influence of King Louis XIV on Lully’s Armide was the overture at the beginning. As this overture was in welcome of the king, its sound was appropriately majestic in keeping with King Louis’s use of the arts as propaganda. Not only did the music praise the king, but also the text. Quinault used the opera as an opportunity to glorify France and admire its king. “His texts were overtly and covertly propagandistic” and they celebrated the king in literal terms or in allegory (Burkholder, et al. 361). King Louis XIV’s influence can be seen most prominently in Armide’s grand French overture, but also within the undertones of the
With regard to the overall excerpt, does Duc de Saint-Simon’s portrayal of Louis XIV appear admirable, critical, balanced, or analytical? You may also choose your own description. Use some passages to build your support. According to Duc de Saint-Simon Louis XIV was a person with a great mind but was more focused on a small things like “…the dress and drill of his soldiers.”
This author does many things well in his description of this French class these include: use of detailed descriptions, real life examples, and purposeful misspellings of the teacher’s dialogue. All of these literary devices help to enhance the author's work and provide an almost surreal tone to the author’s work. A weakness of this article is that the purpose of these techniques does not truly present itself until the
Following Charles II’s coronation, there was an artistic renaissance in England with a preference for “scenery to poetic illusion, heroic couplets to blank verse… They demanded music, dancing and masques in the latest French styles.” To this end, The Fairy Queen was created, a semi-opera with “singing, dancing and machines interwoven, after the manner of an opera.” To clarify, a ‘semi-opera’ is a term which was used to apply to Restoration pieces which combined spoken plays with masque-esque episodes which employed the use of singing and dancing characters. When music occured in these masques, it was typically following either a love scene or that of the supernatural.
The role that King Louis XIV plays in Tartuffe, although not a character himself, affects the whole outcome of the play. King Louis XIV was an absolute monarch and was responsible for restoring order in society. The age of reason, 1660-1805, was a time to restore order while finding humor in those who stray away from order. King Louis was responsible for ensuring the safety and order of the country, and we come to learn that his power spreads much further than suspected. By divine right and being an offstage presence, King Louis XIV has the ability to control and assist everyone, whether it is warranted or not.
The orchestra maintained the musical score and provided ornamentation and emphasized the melodic contour of the singer’s vocal line. Without reading the subtitles, there is such emotion and energy in the male singer’s performance that it is easy to see, along with the physical positioning and facial expressions of the female performer, that there is an impassioned dialogue being given from him to
6. Take a single act from the Marriage of Figaro and, using particular examples, show how Mozart structures the act in terms key, form and texture. How does the opera critique the social order of the time? This essay looks at the first act of Mozart’s opera buffa ‘Marriage of Figaro’ in detail, specifically focussing on the key, form and texture used within this act.
This piece consisted of two different movements. The second part of it was a lot more allegro, upbeat, and energized. It symbolized the eternal love that no one, not even a powerful king, could take away. The whole orchestra had more active roles and a polyphonic texture. Together they made a beautiful
But the fact that Stravinsky’s music used similar melodic, orchestrational, and harmonic techniques of pieces written before, brings up the question: Why did the audience react the way that they did? Stravinsky’s music reflected his early life experiences. Consequently, Stravinsky was not, in fact, the first composer who was “committed” with composing such controversy, so again: were riots necessary? The result of the audience’s reaction caused by the ballet has not happened before. “Le Sacre du Printemps” (the original name) was one of the utmost contentious ballets in history.
The Baroque period was identified as the “Age of Absolutism” because it was a period where rulers practiced their full power to control subjects. Also during the Baroque time frame music became more leant about where it was played. Instead it only being played at churches and occasionally in some courts, it was being played at specific functions and operas. It was at this time that operas were established for the first time in history. Musicians at this time were employed for aristocrat’s courts, churches and operas although they were considered high positions yet still viewed as servants.
La Chanson de Roland is a poem based on the battle of Roncevaux, which saw Charlemagne fighting against the King Marsile of Saragossa. It is a work of great importance with regards to French literature, being widely taught until present. The first part of the essay will be analysing the way in which Roland portrays his love for his country, comparing to the love for his own image. In the fourth and fifth section, there will be a contrasting analysis of Ganelon relation with love. Finally, this essay will explore Charlemagne’s demonstrations of love and will investigate how honour and religion lead to excessive love.
INTRODUCTION Debussy and his love for the mysterious realm of the antique are epitomized in his piano duets Six Épigraphes Antiques. The work evolved over an extended period to become a prime example of his style of composition. The poems Chansons de Bilitis written by his close friend Pierre Louÿs (1894) inspired Debussy to compose firstly Trois Chansons de Bilitis (1898) three songs for soprano and piano, then Chansons de Bilitis (1901) instrumental music to accompany the reading of a selection of Pierre Louÿs poems, and finally Six Épigraphes Antiques (1914) for piano four hands and eventually reduction for solo piano. These works contribute to a musical language that continues to influence and shape music today. Debussy was originally
“La Mer” is a classical French piece of music that was written by Debussy in the twentieth century. The song begins with a disjunct sound caused by the different melodies and harmonies being played by different sections of the orchestra. Slowly out of the chaos brings a light, airy feeling that was accomplished by the help of a flute and violin solo. The excitement again grows causing a repetitive feel, but this time it is cultivated by the brass and the percussion sections that cause a tremendous increase in the volume of the piece. The song is halted, and proceeds as the cellos crescendo which seems to have a direct correlation to an increase in tempo.
The principal themes in this narrative are centred around grief, betrayal and murder, although themes of suspense and mystery are also frequently recurring. Although I wrote this story in third person, the predominant focus of the narrative is Clère, with only her emotions and thoughts being communicated. I feel that the themes included in this story are significant, as they portray a story of loss and betrayal, as well as realistic examples of the historical French culture, and a realistic portrayal of possible events in this time period. Although there is minimal dialogue in the narrative, I frequently used imagery and described body language to convey what dialogue couldn't. The tone of the story is consistently sombre, as the story is designed to be emotional and suspenseful.
Claude Debussy was a stout Wagnerian earlier in his life but he later changed his view to a more anti-Wagnerian one. I argue that while Debussy resisted Wagner’s theory of opera, his use of the orchestra, and his operatic practice, we can still see Wagner’s influence on Pélleas et Mélisande through the similarities of the opera’s plot line, the use of symbolism, and symphonic developments. I will discover the reasons behind these questions by researching various books, journal articles and scores to find out the
There are several theories that regard where and when the music originated. The historiographers pointed out that there are different periods of music with each period having its own characteristics, its composers, its instruments, its rhythm and significance to the existing music today. The first three periods; Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque are expounded in this essay. The periods span through different times albeit some overlapped one another. The essay also focuses on the common factor that triggered the existence of the music periods and its impacts on each period.