CHAPTER XVI
THE CULMINATION OF THE EARLY ITALIAN OPERA
124. The Completed Art-Form.—In spite of undeniable
genius on the part of several opera-writers in the 17th century,
with their hundreds of works, that century was little more than
a time of experimentation. It was only toward its close that
the form of the opera became definitely settled by a consensus
of usage. The particular form chosen was due to a variety of
considerations, partly artistic from a really dramatic or musical
point of view, and partly due to the demand of the public for an
exciting entertainment, whether highly artistic or not. Out of
these combined influences a strangely rigid set of rules for
procedure was developed by which both librettists and composers
were governed, sometimes in defiance of dramatic sense
and truth. The observance of these rules was general during
the early 18th century, and certain features resulting from
them continued into the 19th. It must be admitted that the
plan adopted had points of practical effectiveness, however it
may be judged as a type of strict dramatic art. At all events,
as a popular form it was enormously successful for the time.
The musical elements contributed by the 17th century were the recitative as the best method of developing active situations and expressing trains or sequences of feeling, the aria as the lyrical embodiment of moments of peculiar interest or states of intense emotion on the part of individual characters, and the orchestral accompaniment, lending color and vividness of characterization and enhancing the interest of all vocal numbers, besides occasionally enriching the plot by purely instrumental numbers. The chorus remained almost unutilized except in a subordinate and artificial fashion, and ensemble effects of many voices were for the time rare. Scenery and costuming, with many stage accessories and devices, were employed lavishly, often with more spectacular singularity than the highest taste could approve.
