|
ARIA (AHR-ee-uh)
A
lengthy solo sung with instrumental accompaniment
Common
clues: Diva's rendition; Soprano's showstopper; Elaborate solo;
"Tosca" highlight; Opera song; Met highlight; La Scala
solo; Puccini piece
Crossword
puzzle frequency:
3 times a month
Frequency
in English language:
22641 / 86800
News:
Opera's
arias, graces and howling hyenas
Video:
Diana
Damrau as Queen of the Night II
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. It 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; there are also many arias that form movements of
oratorios and cantatas. Composers also wrote "concert
arias", not part of any larger work, such as "Ah
Perfido" by Beethoven and a number of concert arias by
Mozart.
The
Sydney Opera House
In
the 17th century, the aria was written in ternary form (ABA);
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.
This
article is licensed under the GNU
Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the Wikipedia
article "Aria".
A
|
