Aria

This article is about the musical term. For other uses, see Aria (disambiguation).

"Arietta" redirects here. For the Greek cargo ship, see SS Arietta.

"Arie" redirects here. For the 2004 Russian film, see Arie (film).

An aria (Italian for air; plural: arie or arias in common usage) in music was originally any expressive melody, usually, but not always, performed by a singer. The term is now used almost exclusively to describe a self-contained piece for one voice usually with orchestral accompaniment. Perhaps the most common context for arias is opera, although there are many arias that form movements of oratorios and cantatas. Composers also wrote concert arias, which are not part of any larger work, such as "Ah perfido" by Beethoven, and a number of concert arias by Mozart, such as "Conservati fedele".

The aria first appeared in the 14th century when it signified a manner or style of singing or playing. Aria could also mean a melodic scheme (motif) or pattern for singing a poetic pattern, such as a sonnet. It was also attached to instrumental music, though this is no longer the case. Over time, arias evolved from simple melodies into a structured form. In the 17th century, the aria was written in ternary form (A–B–A); these arias were known as da capo arias. The aria later "invaded" the opera repertoire with its many sub-species (Aria cantabile, Aria agitata, Aria di bravura, and so on). By the mid-19th century, many operas became a sequence of arias, reducing the space left for recitative, while other operas (for instance those by Wagner) were entirely through-composed, with no section being readily identifiable as a self-contained aria.

An arietta is a short aria.

Notable arias

Voice type	Aria	Opera	Composer
soprano	O mio babbino caro	Gianni Schicchi	Giacomo Puccini
	Sì, mi chiamano Mimì	La bohème	Giacomo Puccini
	Vissi d'arte	Tosca	Giacomo Puccini
	Der Hölle Rache	The Magic Flute	Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
	Song to the Moon	Rusalka	Antonín Dvořák
	Summertime	Porgy and Bess	George Gershwin
	Glitter and Be Gay	Candide	Leonard Bernstein
	Sempre libera	La traviata	Giuseppe Verdi
	Sous le dôme épais	Lakmé	Léo Delibes
mezzo-soprano	Habanera	Carmen	Georges Bizet
	Mon cœur s'ouvre à ta voix	Samson and Delilah	Camille Saint-Saëns
	Voi, che sapete	The Marriage of Figaro	Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
	Ombra mai fu	Serse	George Frideric Handel
contralto	Ah, Tanya, Tanya	Eugene Onegin	Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
	Weiche, Wotan, weiche	Das Rheingold	Richard Wagner
	Lullaby	The Consul	Gian Carlo Menotti
tenor	Celeste Aida	Aida	Giuseppe Verdi
	Che Gelida Manina	La Boheme	Giacomo Puccini
	Ch'ella mì creda libero	La fanciulla del West	Giacomo Puccini
	E lucevan le stelle	Tosca	Giacomo Puccini
	La donna è mobile	Rigoletto	Giuseppe Verdi
	Nessun dorma	Turandot	Giacomo Puccini
	Una furtiva lagrima	L'elisir d'amore	Gaetano Donizetti
	Vesti la giubba	Pagliacci	Ruggero Leoncavallo
baritone	Largo al factotum	The Barber of Seville	Gioachino Rossini
	Votre toast (Toreador song)	Carmen	Georges Bizet
	Der Vogelfänger bin ich ja	The Magic Flute	Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
	Die Frist ist um	The Flying Dutchman	Richard Wagner
	Tutto e deserto... Il balen del suo sorriso	Il trovatore	Giuseppe Verdi
bass	Non più andrai	The Marriage of Figaro	Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
	O Isis und Osiris	The Magic Flute	Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
	Madamina, il catalogo è questo	Don Giovanni	Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
	Hier sitz ich zur Wacht	Götterdämmerung	Richard Wagner

See also

• Air (music)
• Recitative

External links

• The Aria Database