Lettura del Libretto d’Opera

(WITH REFERENCE TO THE SHEET MUSIC)

Duration: 2 lessons / day – 1 lesson: 60 min.

6 lessons per week

The analysis of the Libretto is a special class given by a Professor of the Conservatory “Rossini” (Pesaro). The lessons may vary depending on the type of students:

• Workshop for Opera singers: the approach is more connected to the score and the terminology used is specialized.
• Seminar for fans of “Bel Canto” : approach is more didactic and the terminology is  simplified.

The lessons are divided into 3 parts:

I part.

Historical overview on the Italian opera music in the eighteenth century (Pergolesi, Scarlatti, Cimarosa, Pisiello, and others), and nineteenth century ( from Rossini,Donizetti and Bellini, to Verdi, Puccini, Mascagni, Leoncavallo, and others): the so-called “classical era” of bel canto:

• Forms (Air,Recitative, the ensemble piece – Duet, Trio, etc. -, Choir, the ensemble, etc..);
• Style and vocal technique (the ornamentation, the virtuosity, the cadence, the “messa di voce (placing the voice)”, the “falsetto”);
• The characters design and stereotypes (usually in the “serious” and the “comic”);
• The construction of the libretto: metric, rhymed verse, verse (and their relationship with musical accent), metric topoi (quinary, octosyllabic, hendecasyllable, etc..).

II and III parts.

Analysis of the Libretto (and review of the musical part) of one or more particular works, taking into account the most representative “Arie” or episodes.