LB-51: First Nights

LB-51: First Nights

Modified from Aaron Allen’s worksheet

Assignment II: L’Orfeo

Answer each of the following questions in the space provided. In many instances, you’ll only be reporting what you find on the website or in the book or sourcebook – that’s fine. The goal is to get you thinking about many aspects of the opera you may not have previously considered; in that way, it should prepare you for the midterm and possibly your first paper. Also, you may need to consult some of the tutorials on the website so you can fully understand some of the questions. You may work in groups if you wish. If you choose to do so, please list the people you worked with at the top of your worksheet. Please submit this assignment OVER e-mail (Word or just paste it into the message) prior to section on October 11th.

1. What is the full, official (Italian) title of L’Orfeo? Who composed the music? Who wrote the libretto?

2. When and where was L’Orfeo first performed? In whose residence? For which learned academy?

3. What is the main difference between the 1607 libretto, which was used at the first performance, and the libretto published in the score of 1609?

4. Much of the information we have about the first performance of L’Orfeo comes from the 1607 correspondence between which two men?

5. List two things in Orfeo that were new to the opera’s first audience and two things that were familiar to them (Professor Kelly has discussed this in lecture, so if you have good notes, you should find the answers there).

6. What is a sinfonia? How many different sinfonias are there in L’Orfeo? Provide the page numbers of the original score (i.e., those at the top of the page in the sourcebook) for when each one appears and reappears. (So for Sinfonia 1, you’d give all the pages on which it appears, and you’d do the same for Sinfonia 2, and so on.) Hint: use the webpage!

7. What is a toccata? Where does it appear in L’Orfeo?

8. What is a moresca? Where does it appear in L’Orfeo?

9. What is the difference between and opera and an oratorio? Which would L’Orfeo be considered? The Messiah?

10. What is a recitative? Give an example from L’Orfeo.

11. What is an aria? What does strophic mean? Give an example from L’Orfeo.

12. What is a duet? a trio? Give an example of each from L’Orfeo.

13. Which instruments are associated with the infernal scenes of L’Orfeo? With Caronte specifically?

14. Name four of the “basso continuo” (often just termed “continuo”) instruments in Orfeo.

15. In “Possente spirto” look at the bass line of Orfeo’s aria and describe what happens to it over the course of the six verses. In addition to the opera itself (recording, score, libretto), the webpage has the information you need.

16. Why does “Possente spirito” have two lines for Orfeo to sing? Does he sing both? What is the difference between them?

The following are study questions focusing on Act II:

17. How would you describe the ritornelli and the solos and duets of the Pastori that come after Orfeo’s “Ecco pur” at the beginning of Act II (pp. 28-30)? What is the meter here? Does it change in these passages?

18. The chorus that follows Ritornello 5 (“Dunque fa degni Orfeo”) is almost entirely homophonic. Which voice carries the melody? Is your ear drawn to any other voice part or instrument? How does this other voice or instrument function within the homophonic texture?

19. Is Orfeo’s song (beginning p. 33) an example of stile recitativo or is it an aria? Why?

20. At what point in the passages that follow does Orfeo comprehend that Euridice is dead? How, musically, does Monteverdi convey the meaning of the words?

21. How is the refrain “Ahi! Caso acerbo!” — first sung by the Messagiera — used throughout the rest of the act? What is the function of the chorus once the message has been delivered?

22. The ritornello at the end of Act II appears in at least two other places in the opera. List one of these.

23. Pages 35 and 36 (original page numbers) have a number of features that are informative. Answer the following based on those pages (and the webpage!...but don’t worry if you can’t answer some of the technical questions, you can just skip them for now):

a) On the first staff on page 35, there is a vertical line after 12 notes. What is this line called?

b) What does “Ritornello” mean literally in Italian? What does it refer to on page 35?

c) On the bottom, left-hand side of page 35, what does “Pastore” mean?

d) Below the “a” of “Pastore” there are the numbers 3 and 2; what do they signify?

e) What instruments play when the Messagiera begins to sing?

f) What does “common time” refer to? What symbol represents it?