Page 167 - ESSENTIAL LISTENING TO MUSIC

listening Cue
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Piano Concerto in C major (1786), K. 467
Second movement
Genre: Concerto
Form: Ternary (ABA) with coda
Download 27
what to listen for: How Mozart, through the use of light pizzicatos, gently pulsing triplets, and an endless supply of beautiful melodies, seemingly transports the listener to a world beyond—creating the greatest beauty from the simplest of materials
ReAD . . . a detailed Listening Guide of this selection online.
LiSTeN TO . . . this selection streaming online.
WATCH . . . an Active Listening Guide of this selection online.
DO . . . Listening Exercise 9.3, Mozart, Piano Concerto in C major, online.
Vocal Music: Classical Opera
When we consider the genres of vocal music of the Classical period, we turn first and foremost to opera. Then as now, the public embraced opera because, in ad- dition to beautiful music, it had glamour, star appeal, and all the excitement of the theater.
Opera is drama, yes, but drama propelled by music. In the Classical period, opera maintained the essential features it had developed during the Baroque era. It still began with an overture, was divided into two or three acts, and made use of a succession of arias and recitatives, along with an occasional choral number. And, of course, it still was performed in a theater large enough to ac- commodate both an orchestra and elaborate stage sets.
Central to the development of opera in the eighteenth-century was the rise of comic opera (opera buffa), a powerful voice for social change during the En- lightenment (see Chapter 7). The statue-like gods, goddesses, emperors, and queens of the old Baroque opera seria gradually departed the stage, making room for more natural, realistic characters drawn from everyday life—a barber and a maid, for example. Where Baroque opera posed magnificently, Classical opera moves fluidly. Arias and recitatives flow easily from one to another, and the mood of the music changes rapidly to reflect the quick-moving, often comic, events on stage.
Comic opera introduces a new element into the opera house, the vocal ensemble, which allows the plot to unfold more quickly. Instead of waiting for
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