Romantic
Opera
Grade 9 Music
Learning Objectives
Identify male voices from female voices;
Discuss the characteristics of Romantic opera;
Appreciate Romantic Opera through singing;
Perform a composed song with improvised
musical instrument as accompaniment.
Lesson 1:
COMPONENTS OF
ROMANTIC OPERA
● Opera became increasingly popular during the
Romantic period.
● Opera is a musical composition having all or most
of its text set to music with arias, recitatives,
choruses, duets, trios, etc. sung to orchestral
accompaniment.
● It was usually characterized by elaborate costumes,
scenery, and choreography.
1. LIBRETTO
-The text of an opera.
-The librettist and the
composer work closely
together
to tell the story.
2. SCORE
the book that the composer
and librettist put together.
The score has all the musical
notes, words, and ideas to
help the performers tell the
story. Often, there are operas
with overtures, preludes,
prologues, several acts,
finales, and postludes.
3. RECITATIVE
Declamatory singing, is used in the prose parts and
dialogue of opera. Different roles in operas are created
taking into account different types of voices. Each role
requires a different type of singer, not only able to sing a
given vocal range but also with certain voice
characteristics, color, and power.
3. RECITATIVE
4. ARIA
An air or solo singing part is
sung by a principal character.
This song is what the public
will remember best when
leaving the opera house.
Properly and well sung, a
beautiful aria can bring an
audience to its feet and decide
the fate of an entire opera.
Different Types of Male
Voices
1. TENOR - Highest male voice. The highest paid, highest
singing male voice. Plays the hero or the lover.
2. BARITONE - middle male voice, lies between Bass and
Tenor voices. It is the common male voice. Usually plays
the villain, evil prison wardens, or other antagonists.
3. BASS - lowest male voice. Plays priests kings, fathers,
and sometimes the Devil.
Different Types of Female
Voices
1. SOPRANO- highest female voice. These women sing
the highest notes, play heroines and sweet things, and
get paid the most.
2. COLORATURA- Highest soprano voice
3. MEZZO-SOPRANO- most common female voice; strong
middle voice, the tone is darker or deeper than the
soprano. A slightly lower women’s voice. Plays evil
characters, seductresses, and sometimes teenage boys.
Other female voice:
a. Lyric- bright and full sound
b. Dramatic- darker full sound
c. Duet, trio, and other small ensemble
d. Chorus
e. Orchestra
f. Acts- main divisions of an opera
g. Scene- setting or place
Composers like Verdi, Puccini, and Wagner saw the
opportunity to explore ways to develop the vocal
power of a singer. Greater range of tone color,
dynamic and pitch was employed.
Dynamics and vocal embellishments were used to further
affect the way singers sing. Some musical terms are used
like:
● A Capella- one or more singers performing without
instrumental accompaniment.
● Cantabile- in a singing style
● Capo- head, the beginning
● Coda- closing section appended to a movement or
song
● Dolce- sweetly
● Falsetto- a weaker and more airy voice usually in the
higher pitch ranges
● Glissando- sliding quickly between two notes
● Passagio- parts of a singing voice where register
transitions occur
● Rubato- slight speeding up or slowing down of tempo
of a piece at the discretion of the soloist
● Tessitura- the most comfortable singing range of a
singer.
● Vibrato- rapidly repeated slight pitch variation during
a sustained note, to give a richer and more varied
sound
adame Butterfly
● MADAME BUTTERFLY is a famous opera of the
romantic period by Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924)
● Libretto in Italian by Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Ilica.
From the short story by John Luther Lung, derived
from Pierre Loti’s tale Madame Chrysantheme.
● Romantic tragedy. Set numbers; recitative. Setting:
Nagasaki, Japan, at the beginning of the 20th century.
Two acts; Act 2 with two parts
Synopsis
When American naval vessels frequented Japanese
seaports, American Lieutenant Benjamin Franklin
Pinkerton rented a Japanese house and part of his
rental package is his “betrothal” to Cio-Cio-San.
Treating the marriage merely as a casual affair,
Pinkerton returns to America after the wedding leaving
Cio-Cio-San loyally waiting for his return. He marries
an American woman named Kate. When he returns to
Japan three years later with his American wife, he learns
that he bore a son with Cio-Cio-San.
Upon learning that Pinkerton had married another
woman, Cio-Cio-San kills herself to make sure that
Pinkerton takes their son with him.
