- Recitative
Recitative IPA|/rɛsɪtə'ti:v/ (also known by its Italian name "recitativo" (IPA|/retʃita'ti:vo/)) is a style of delivery (much used in
opera s,oratorio s, andcantata s) in which a singer is allowed to adopt the rhythms of ordinary speech. The mostly syllabic recitativo secco ("dry", accompanied only bycontinuo ) is at one end of a spectrum through recitativo accompagnato (using orchestra), the moremelisma ticarioso , and finally the full blownaria or ensemble, where the pulse is entirely governed by the music.The term recitative (or occasionally liturgical recitative) is also applied to the simpler formulas of
Gregorian chant , such as thetone s used for theEpistle andGospel , preface andcollect s.Origins
The first use of recitative in
opera was preceded by the monodies of theFlorentine Camerata in whichVincenzo Galilei , father of the astronomerGalileo Galilei , played an important role. The elder Galilei, influenced by the writings of the ancient Greeks and wishing to recreate the old manner of storytelling and drama, pioneered the use of a single melodic line to tell the story, accompanied by simple chords from a harpsichord or lute.In the baroque era, recitatives were commonly rehearsed on their own by the stage director, the singers frequently supplying their own favorite baggage arias which might be by a different composer (some of
Mozart 's so-called concert arias fall into this category). This division of labour persisted in some ofRossini 's most famous works: the recitatives forThe Barber of Seville andLa Cenerentola were composed by assistants.ecco
Secco recitative, popularized in Florence though the proto-opera music dramas of
Jacopo Peri andGiulio Caccini during the late 16th century, formed the substance ofClaudio Monteverdi 's operas during the 17th, and continued to be used into the Romantic era by such composers asGaetano Donizetti , reappearing in Stravinsky'sThe Rake's Progress . It also influenced areas of music outside opera from the outset; the recitatives ofJohann Sebastian Bach , found in his passions andcantata s, are especially notable.In the early operas and cantatas of the Florentine school, secco recitative was accompanied by a variety of instruments, mostly plucked strings with perhaps a small organ to provide sustained tone. Later, in the operas of
Vivaldi andHandel , the accompaniment was standardised as aharpsichord and a bassviol orvioloncello . When the harpsichord went out of use in the early 19th century, many opera-houses did not replace it with a piano; instead the violoncello was left to carry on alone or with reinforcement from adouble bass . A 1919 recording ofRossini 's "Barber of Seville ", issued by ItalianHMV , gives a unique glimpse of this technique in action, as docello methods of the period and some scores ofMeyerbeer . There are examples of the revival of the harpsichord for this purpose as early as the 1890s (e.g. by Hans Richter for a production ofMozart 's "Don Giovanni " at the LondonRoyal Opera House , the instrument being supplied byArnold Dolmetsch ), but it was not until the 1950s that the 18th-century method was consistently observed once more.Accompagnato
Accompanied recitative, known as accompagnato or stromentato, employs the
orchestra as an accompanying body. As a result, it is less improvisational and declamatory than "recitativo secco", and moresong -like. This form is often employed where the orchestra can underscore a particularly dramatic text, as in "Thus Saith the Lord" from Handel's "Messiah";Joseph Haydn andWolfgang Amadeus Mozart were also fond of it. A more inward intensification calls for anarioso ; the opening of "Comfort Ye" from the same work is a famous example, while the ending ("The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness") is accompagnato.Post-Wagner uses
Later operas, under the influence of
Richard Wagner , favoredthrough-composition , where recitatives, arias, choruses and other elements were seamlessly interwoven into a whole. Many of Wagner's operas employ sections which are analogous to accompanied recitative.Recitative is also occasionally used in
musicals , being put to ironic use in the finale ofWeill 'sThe Threepenny Opera . It also appears in Carousel andOf Thee I Sing .Instrumental recitative
Recitative has also sometimes been used to refer to parts of purely instrumental works which resemble vocal recitatives. Perhaps the most famous of these occurs in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, at the beginning of the last movement, where Beethoven wrote (in French) "In the manner of a recitative, but in tempo."
Arnold Schoenberg labeled the last of his "Five Orchestral Pieces", Op. 16 "The obligato recitative" and also composed a piece for organ, "Variations on a Recitative" opus 40. His Fourth String Quartet has a striking unison passage recalling similar examples inLudwig van Beethoven 's "Piano Sonata No. 17" ("The Tempest") and "Piano Sonata No. 31".See also
* Melodrama ("Historical sense" section)
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