Sign Up Now
Get instant access to over 1 million+ study documents
OR
Already registered? click here to login
By creating your account, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and student honor code.
Flighty and flirty, Nerina is at once morally repulsive and enormously fun to watch (as so often seems to be the case with characters in popular entertainment), and this aria is no exception. She manages to flounce, pout, and prance her way through this song, describing the way she will use a false simplicity in order to woo the man and the life she desires (Seymour 2009). Though as one critic fairly aptly said of Haydn's work in general and this opera in particular, "there are enticing moments, but the listener's pulse never quickens," this aria has more than its share of enticement (Kennedy 1997).
The melody of this aria, however, is confessedly an exemplar of the type of enticing yet rather mundane quality of some of Haydn's work that Kennedy was peaking of. It is a very beautiful piece, and it flows quite well, but there is no real moment of surprising musical innovation on Haydn's part. Instead, the song slowly build to a climax that is noticeable only because of the way it is set off from the rest of the music -- pauses before and after a series of high notes (delivered with varying degrees of success by different singers) that Nerina sings at a crowd of listeners at the beach. She definitely does appear to be singing at rather than to them; this in keeping both with her character in general and with the substance of the aria she is singing, which places her in a class all her own.
This is perhaps the source of the greatest displeasure regarding this aria. The words themselves are witty and exciting, to a degree, and Nerina's thinking of herself as both witty and exciting is made demonstrably clear. The melody, however, does not bear either the wit or the excitement out, but rather seems to water down the substance of the aria with the predictability and straightforwardness of the melody. Again, it is not that the music is not beautiful...
The melody of this opera is so composed that it leaves no room for the character to show through in the notes. Still, it is -- to again use Kennedy's phrase -- an enticing song, and when well performed is a quite serviceable and even enjoyable opera. The actor in the role must share a great deal with the audience phsyically, however, as there simply isn't a way to show the full range of hilarity and raunchiness of Nerina's character through the music of this aria.
Conclusion
Franz Josef Haydn is better known for his symphonies and other orchestral works than for his operas, and possibly with good reason. As one of the progenitors of the modern conception of the operas, however, his work will always have a place in the operatic canon. Though his work might not be as soul-stirring or pulse-quickening as other operatic composers (such as Mozart, whom Haydn freely admitted was his better on this score), Haydn was quite original for his time, and dedicated to a perfection in his music that is certainly enjoyable today.
References
Classical Net. (2009). "Franz Joseph Haydn." Accessed 17 November 2009. http://www.classical.net/music/comp.lst/haydnfj.php
Green, R. (1997). "Representing the Aristocrayc." In Haydn and His World, E. Sisman, ed. Princeton: Princeton university press.
Kennedy, M. (1997). "Garden guerillas declare war." Daily telegraph. Accessed 17 November 2009. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/4709320/Garden-guerrillas-declare-war.html
Sadie, S. (1996). "Joseph Haydn." Accessed 17 November 2009. http://w3.rz-berlin.mpg.de/cmp/haydnj.html
Seymour, C. (2009). "Haydn's Le pescatrici at Bampton Classical Opera." opera today. Accessed 17 November 2009. http://www.operatoday.com/content/2009/09/haydn_le_pescat.php
They restated the chorale melody completely and had a different contrapuntal setting each time." Two famous variations artists in the Baroque era are George Frideric Handel and Johann Sebastian Bach (Wikipedia Online). In the Classical Era, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Joseph Haydn, Ludwig van Beethoven, and Franz Schubert, are among the famous variations artists. Following are the types of variations in the Classical Era. Penultimate Variation This variation works on a slow tempo with multi-movements. Final
It seemed less a powerful expression of creative energy than simply a quality piece of music performed to perfection. One section I did not particularly care for was Tuba Mirum. This section chronologically follows the powerful Dies Irae section, and does so a little weakly, in my opinion. I enjoyed the tenor solo in this section, but felt that overall it was too restrained, and too anticlimactic coming on the
Minimalism, "Like serialism, this style uses repeated patterns and series and steady pulsation with gradual changes occurring over time. But whereas serialism is usually atonal, minimalism is usually tonal and more harmonic" (Spielvogel, 942). One could say that minimalism was a reflection of the hippie sixties that rejected the acquisitional tendencies of one's parents in favor of a more streamlined and strategically stark composition. The advent of modern classical music
joy of attending the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra concert at Lincoln Center. The Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra performed a total of two pieces. The first of the two was the Violin Concerto No.3 in G. major, K.216(1775) and the second was Symphony No.41 in C. major, K.551("Jupiter"). Louis Langree was the conductor of the performance and Simone Porter was the featured violinist. In spite of the hot weather (86
Baroque vs. Classical Music Although music from the 17th, 18th, and 19th century is all often grouped under the designation of 'classical' music today, the Baroque and the Classical periods have distinctive features and stylization that are immediately apparent when listening to the great composers of both eras. When listening to a Baroque work, the contrast between different 'movements' is quite notable. The celebratory Baroque work Handel's Water Music, for example,
Classical Symphony Music, like other forms of art, evolved from numerous traditions that, when taken together, formed a new way of thinking about, and performing, certain types of works. Audiences change over time, and certain musical compositions that sound odd or strange to one audience are often accepted by others (e.g. The rioting during the premier of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring). When people think of classical music, for instance, they tend