Opera, ballet, musicals entered our life so firmly that it began to seem to us that they always existed. But this is not so. Some music genres are relatively new to world culture. In this article we will consider in which country and when the opera appeared. This word itself has Latin roots. The word "opus" means "work", "deed", "composition." Since the Florentines invented the musical genre, the works began to be called in Italian - operas. When did this creation first sound, and for whose ears it was intended? Who was the author of the world's first opera? Read about it below.
Academies and Cameras
During the Renaissance, there was a general preoccupation with ancient culture. From the attempt to “revive” the ancient heritage, the whole historical era was named. This fascination with antiquity reached a particular scale in the "homeland" of the once powerful Roman Empire, in Italy. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the so-called academies began to appear everywhere - cultural and scientific communities, which were completely free from the influence of the Church. It would seem that what does the above information have to do with the question of which country the opera appeared in? The most direct. At academies, poets, musicians, scientists, and simply rich and enlightened people were engaged in the so-called secular art. And the opera, as you know, has never been akin to the Benedictine chapel or church oratorio. Cultural circles (academies and camerats) were sponsored by secular rulers and wealthy philanthropists. The main goal of these communities was to develop and promote the sciences and arts.
Florentine Camerata
In Italy at the end of the sixteenth century there were about a thousand such academies. Florence was lucky more than other cities. All the rulers of this republic considered it their duty to patronize creative people and generously give them gifts. Therefore, the talents of all Italy gathered in Florence. In 1580, Giovanni Bardi, who held the title of Count Vernio, initiated the creation of the camerata. And now this circle has the most direct relation to the country in which the opera appeared, since its goal was “the revival of ancient music”. How the songs and melodies sounded in ancient Rome, none of the members of the Florentine chamber know for sure. But the members of the cultural community were scientists and creative people: Jacopo Peri, Cristofano Malvezzi, Girolami Mei, Ottavio Rinuccini, Pietro Strozzi, Giulio Caccini, Jacopo of Korea and the father of a world-famous astronomer Vincenzo Galilei.
In what country did opera appear in music and what was its name?
The composers, who were part of the chamber of Florence, came to the conclusion that in ancient Rome they declared ancient drama to music. Jacopo Peri seriously decided to revive the forgotten art. As a result, a monody was born - a new type of solo singing, performed in a free rhythm to a simple accompaniment. This creation, the composer - the inventor of the genre - called drama per musica (drama through music). So, we already understood in which country the opera first appeared. What was she called? And when was it written? It was composed by Jacopo Peri in 1598. But, unfortunately, the very first opera in history cannot be heard now. The score of this work, alas, has not been preserved. We only know what it was called "Daphne."
In which country did opera No. 2 appear?
Well, where did the first score come down to us? Again, in Florence. And it was created by the same author, Jacopo Peri. But this time co-authored with the libretist Ottavio Rinuccini. In this opera, members of the Florence Camerata presented in music and solo singing the mythological story of Orpheus and Eurydice. This work consisted of “arias” read by a recitative to the accompaniment of an ensemble of seven instruments. The opera Eurydice was a bespoke creation. She wrote to a significant event - the marriage of a native of Florence, Maria Medici, with the King of France, Henry the Fourth. The opera was presented at a wedding in the Pitti Palace on October 6, 1600. By the way, at the same time, another piece of music appeared, with the same name and the same plot. The author of this opera Eurydice is a member of the Florentine chamber, Giulio Caccini.
The triumph of the musical genre
“Drama through music” was very popular with music lovers. And opera as a genre began to develop rapidly. The first creators continued to be Italian composers. But gradually the opera “crossed” the Alps and began its victorious march through Europe. In each country, she gained national traits.
In Germany, Italian passion was replaced by patriotic pathetics. French opera is more lyrical. Having clarified the question in which country the opera appeared, let's think about which work of this genre first appeared in Russian. It is known that already in the 1730s at the imperial court they listened to singers performing arias. But they were foreigners, mainly from Italy. In the second half of the eighteenth century, a fashion appeared for private theaters, the troupe of which were serfs. The first opera, the libretto of which is written in Russian, is considered to be a household comedy with the arias “Miller - a trickster, a sorcerer and a matchmaker” by composer M. M. Sokolovsky to the text by A. O. Ablesimov (1779).