Comparison of Italian and German Opera

By the 19th century, opera had become one of the most popular musical genres. Italy had been the birthplace of opera in the 17th century, however, other European countries such as Germany began to produce their own operas during the Classical period. For most of the 19th century, Italy and Germany were comprised of smaller states and had not yet fully unified into one nation. The desire for individual unification by both Italy and Germany created fervent nationalism. Between 1800 and 1914, Italian and German opera developed in different ways and became distinctly unique styles of opera. This is due to the promotion of different cultural and religious values and was often reflected in operatic music from this era. This essay will compare Italian and German opera, by looking at how the musical and cultural traditions of Italy and Germany influenced the development of opera in the 19th century.

The process of producing an opera and finances behind operas greatly differed between Italy and Germany. Operas were large scale productions, requiring organisation from many different people including composers, performing musicians, stage crew and lighting. Despite this, most people involved in the production typically had to follow the orders of whoever was funding the production. According to ‘The Cambridge History of Nineteenth-Century Music’, “Traces of what might loosely be called ‘court’ opera in the seventeenth- and eighteenth-century sense (the theatre controlled and financed by a ruling aristocratic house) occasionally survived into the early nineteenth century (most often in Germany and Austria)”. Whilst Germany retained this tradition, Italy broke away from this practice and replaced this system with impresarios. Impresarios were businessmen who could produce their own operas without the need for an affiliation to any local government authorities. This gave impresarios immense power: initially, many impresarios had total control over the production of early 19th century Italian operas and entitled them to ownership over all compositions. The role of the composer drastically changed during the Romantic era: composers began to rebel and demand copyrights later in the 19th century. By the 19th century, the focus of opera moved away from the libretto and the overall plot of the story. Instead, the message of opera is not the plot, it is the plot as manipulated by music. Musical meanings in opera trump verbal meanings (as well as directorial interventions); the music of an opera transforms the plot. It transforms the libretto. This made the operatic composer in the 19th century far more prominent than operatic composers from the Baroque era.

The librettos of 19th-century Italian operas largely took inspiration from French literary works, and librettists were often required to adapt existing works for stage productions. Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901) composed the music to the opera ‘La Traviata’ (1853). This opera was based on the play ‘La Dame aux Camellias’ by the French writer Alexandre Dumas the Younger (1802-1870). Francesco Mario Piave (1810-1876), the librettist for ‘La Traviata’, keeps the original plot from Dumas’ play. However, Piave gave the characters in Verdi’s opera Italian names and wrote the libretto in Italian. The name ‘La Traviata’ means ‘The Woman Gone Astray’ and this reflects Violetta’s passionate love for Alfredo despite her relationship with Baron Douphol. Another example is Verdi’s opera ‘Rigoletto’ (1851), which takes inspiration from Victor Hugo’s play ‘Le roi s’amuse’. According to the Paris Opera, “Just like Victor Hugo’s play, on which its libretto is based, Verdi’s ‘Rigoletto’ was censored when it first appeared. Whereas Hugo decided to abandon the fight with the authorities following the publication of his celebrated text in defense of freedom of speech, Verdi agreed to transpose the action of his opera and modify the plot to ensure that his masterpiece would be performed”. Piave’s adaptation of the plot focused on the themes of ‘jealousy, vengeance and sacrifice’ and moved away from the original political undertones of the play. Overall, Italian librettos are largely inspired by romantic relationships, and many operatic works blend this with inspiration from French literature to create the foundations of their operas.

In contrast, the libretto for German operas drew upon more nationalistic roots than Italian librettos. Librettos for German operas had plots drawn from medieval history, legend, fairy tale, humble village life, country life and supernatural incidents intertwined with human protagonists. Many German citizens were familiar with these stories, making German not only more accessible to its audience, but also promoting a uniquely German style. A key example of this is the opera ‘Der Freischütz’ (1821) by Carl Maria von Weber (1786-1826). The libretto, by Friedrich Kind (1768-1843) draws upon a German fable and utilizes a variety of supernatural elements. This has been described by Opera Online as including “tests of skill, folklore and hunts. Lurking in the background are the troubling forces of nature, governed by unearthly powers”. The use of popular folk tales combined with supernatural elements within the libretto make this piece distinctly German in style, and vastly different to the contemporary Italian operas of the time.

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Italian and German opera characterized vocal and instrumental music through various musical elements to help enhance the plot. Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868) is credited for pioneering developments in sonority, melody, and structure. Rossini is known for successfully blending the opera seria and opera buffa styles. Previously divided as serious or comedic genres, Rossini unites these two genres by capturing elements of both musical styles alongside the complex plots of French literature used to inspire his libretti. Rossini employed the bel canto singing style, which requires singers to sing in a legato and beautiful manner. In the Romantic era, this extended to also include vibrato. An example of bel canto singing can be seen in Rossini’s aria ‘Una Voce Poco Fa’, from the opera ‘Il Barbiere de Siviglia’ (1813). Translated as ‘a voice just now’, the singer is required to sing extended legato passages, even across repeated semiquavers and ornamentations. On longer notes, the singer typically uses vibrato to add more colorful expression to the piece. Bel canto singing has also been used to describe polyphonic singing. This is in stark contrast to the Italian Baroque operas, which promoted the monodic style of single line singing with simple accompaniment. In the Romantic era, polyphonic bel canto singing is typically used when three or more main characters are singing together.

An example of this is Verdi’s quartet, from the third act of ‘Rigolett’. The quartet begins with individual singers taking it in turn to sing their parts in a call and response manner, however, this then shifts when all four singers sing together. Each singer has very different melody lines some of the melodies are very conjunct, whilst the female melody is much more disjunct and disrupted with rests. This reflects the busy nature of the scene as different events occur simultaneously and capture everyone’s mood effectively. Rossini is also credited for creating the ‘Rossini crescendo’. This was an orchestral technique, whereby the orchestra would crescendo through a repeated phrase to heighten the drama of the music. This can be seen in ‘Gioacchino Rossini’s oventure ‘Il barbiere di Siviglia’. Overall, Italian opera became unique through its developments in sonority for both the orchestra and opera singers. Its fusion of styles and break away from monody further creates a sense of innovation and unity.

In contrast, German opera was rooted in musical traditions closer to home. Firstly, Singspiel became the foundation of German opera. Whilst singspiel is light in nature, it is differentiated from the Italian opera buffa through its use of distinctly German folk melodies which are sung in German. Singspiel also took inspiration from the firmly established Lied tradition, which reaffirmed a sense of nationalism within German operas. Richard Wagner (1813-1883) is acclaimed for innovating the leitmotif. Commonly used today in film music, the leitmotif is a recurring motif used for one character. Wagner employs leitmotifs in the vocal writing for the character Tristan in his opera ‘Tristan und Isolde’ (1859). German opera also pushed the boundaries of harmony and tonality. German opera is credited for giving the orchestra a more equal role and for fully employing the orchestral colors, unlike Italian orchestras which largely provided accompaniment. German operas typically use chromatic harmony, allowing for a wider range of orchestral colors to be explored. This can be seen in Wolf Glen’s scene from the finale of Act II, ‘Der Freischütz’ by Weber, as it centers around the unstable diminished 7th chord, adding tension. Finally, Richard Wagner (1813-1883) uses a new chord, the Tristan chord, in his opera ‘Tristan und Isolde’. This chord uses three augmented intervals above the bass note and can be heard as part of Tristan’s leitmotif. In summary, German operas utilize both the melody and harmony to achieve a distinctly German sound.

In conclusion, Italian and German operas developed greatly as unique operatic forms between 1800-1914. The Italian style broke away from the limited monodic style in favor of the new bel canto style and gave singers more lyrical melodies. On the other hand, German operas maximized on their own musical heritage to create music accessible to its audience and to promote nationalism.