RADICAL STAGING A staging in which the director does not seek to tell the story as set forth in the libretto, but rather uses elements of the opera to inspire a parallel action on stage, one that can be said to comment critically on the original libretto.
RANZ DES VACHES Traditional Swiss melodies, associated with the care of animals, in particular cows. Rossini quoted and developed many such melodies in his Guillaume Tell.
RECITATIVE Italian opera was divided into musical numbers and intervening recitative, the latter almost always constructed of versi sciolti (“heroic verse”), a free mixture of settenari and endecasillabi. When accompanied by a keyboard instrument, violoncello, and double bass, the recitative was called secco; when joined by the orchestra (whether strings alone or a fuller orchestra), without a keyboard instrument, the recitative was called accompanied.
ROMANZA The Italian romanza is derived from the French romance. It is normally a strophic, sentimental song in a serious style (not the more lighthearted style of the ballata). Famous examples are the two romanze for Violetta in La traviata (“Ah! fors’è lui” and “Addio al passato”) and the romanza for Nemorino in L’elisir d’amore (“Una furtiva lagrime”). Sometimes the romanza is used to refer to a Parisian setting or ambience.
RONDÒ The concluding aria of an opera from the primo Ottocento was frequently referred to as a rondò. The term could refer to the specific structure of the final section (a kind of cabaletta, but whose theme recurs three times, with elaborate variations written out in full by the composer). Often, though, the final section is a normal cabaletta, so that the term does not have specific structural implications.
SCENA When an elaborate accompanied recitative, often with an extended orchestral introduction, precedes an aria, it is referred to as a scena. Many of Rossini’s most famous cavatinas include scenas (Tancredi’s cavatina is preceded by the scena “Oh patria!”; Malcom’s cavatina in La donna del lago is preceded by the scena “Mura felici”; Arsace’s cavatina in Semiramide is preceded by the scena “Eccomi alfine in Babilonia”). The term was also used simply to mean accompanied recitative.
SCORDATURA String instruments were sometimes tuned in unconventional ways to accommodate notes that would not otherwise have been possible. In the Miserere movement, the tempo di mezzo of the aria for Leonora in act 4 of Il trovatore, for example, the double basses are instructed to tune their lower string (A) down a half tone to A. Unconventional tunings of this kind are referred to as scordatura.
SECCO RECITATIVE Recitative sung with the accompaniment of a keyboard instrument improvising chords over a written bass line (figured bass). A violoncello and double bass also play the bass line. The violoncello was free to arpeggiate chords or to join the musical and dramaturgical discourse; the double bass was expected to sustain the bass notes. In opera seria during the 1820s, in opera semiseria and opera buffa during the 1830s, secco recitative was everywhere replaced by accompanied recitative.
SELVA In the nineteenth century, the rough draft of a libretto, sometimes prepared by a librettist, sometimes by the composer himself (especially in the case of Verdi). It laid out the division into recitative and musical numbers, provided prose renderings of the text to be versified, and specified the meters to be used for versi lirici in the musical numbers.
SENARIO A line of Italian verse with six syllables as a verso piano, with an accent on the fifth syllable.
SETTENARIO A line of Italian verse with seven syllables as a verso piano, with an accent on the sixth syllable. Librettists used settenari in both versi lirici and versi sciolti.
SINFONIA The Italian word for overture. During the first part of his career Rossini wrote standard overture forms, with a slow introduction and a sonata-form allegro (usually without a development section); later he experimented with other models or eliminated the sinfonia altogether. Later composers followed his lead, but also developed potpourri overtures (as in Bellini’s Norma). While Verdi wrote relatively few overtures, preferring brief orchestral preludes, there are some first-rate examples of more elaborate overtures, such as the 1869 sinfonia to La forza del destino.
SKELETON SCORE Composers would begin laying out their autograph manuscripts by writing the vocal lines and the bass, entering also an occasional instrumental solo. In this form the skeleton score could be given to copyists to prepare vocal parts. Afterwards the autograph manuscript was returned to the composer, who would fill in the flesh around the skeleton he had earlier notated.
SOTTOVOCE A performance instruction telling the singers or instrumentalists to play a passage as if whispering it, very softly.
SPARTITINO When composers were unable to fit all the instrumental parts needed for a large ensemble into the main section of an autograph manuscript, they would add a spartitino to accommodate the parts that did not fit into the main section. With autograph manuscripts written on oblong paper, spartitini were more prevalent; with those written on vertical paper, fewer were necessary.
STABILI Decorative three-dimensional pieces of scenery (such as the representation of a massive piece of furniture), which were not intended to be walked upon by the actors. They are to be distinguished from praticabili (such as a staircase), upon which actors could walk.
STRETTA The concluding section of a multipartite ensemble or finale was often known as a stretta. Structurally the section normally had the same design as a cabaletta.
STROPHIC When the same music is used for a series of different poetic stanzas, the piece is called strophic. Strophic compositions are more frequent in German Lieder or French romances than in operas, but the compositional types known as ballate and romanze are basically strophic forms.
TEMPO DI MEZZO The section in nineteenth-century operatic forms that follows the cantabile and prepares the cabaletta, either in multipartite arias or ensembles, was known as a tempo di mezzo (middle section). It was normally constructed quite freely, even though the poetry generally continued to be built out of versi lirici. During the tempo di mezzo some event usually occurs that justifies the change of mood represented by the cabaletta.
TERZETTONE A very long, complicated trio. Rossini used the term to refer to a particularly extended trio in his 1820 opera Maometto II.
TESSITURA The effective range of a singer is known as that singer’s tessitura; similarly, in describing the kind of voice needed to sing a particular operatic role, one frequently refers to the role’s tessitura. This is not merely a matter of the highest and lowest notes, but rather reflects where the voice sits, how it moves from one register to another, and so on.
TONIC The principal note of a scale or chord. See also key.
VERSO PIANO In Italian poetry, a verso piano is one that concludes with a feminine ending, so that the accent is on the penultimate syllable. Verse in Italian is measured on the basis of versi piani. Hence, a verso piano in settenario has seven syllables, with the accent on the sixth syllable.
VERSO SDRUCCIOLO In Italian poetry, a verso sdrucciolo is one that concludes with an accent on the antepenultimate syllable (like “Pé-sa-ro,” “rá-pi-do,” or even “sdrúc-cio-lo”). Verse in Italian is measured on the basis of versi piani. Hence, a verso sdrucciolo in settenario has eight syllables with the accent on the sixth syllable.
VERSO TRONCO In Italian poetry, a verso tronco is one that concludes with a masculine ending, so that the accent is on the final syllable. Verse in Italian is measured on the basis of versi piani. Hence, a verso tronco in settenario has six syllables with the accent on the sixth syllable.
VERSI LIRICI The words for sections within a musical number are generally written in a single poetic meter, with several lines of poetry (one or two quatrains, for example) and a regular rhyme scheme. This poetry is referred to as versi lirici. For a multipartite composition the librettist and composer could achieve variety by changing the poetic meter from section to section.
VERSI SCIOLTI A combination of settenari and endecasillabi with occasional rhymes. Italian librettists used it for verses of re
citative. This type of verse alternated with versi lirici for musical numbers.
VERTICAL FORMAT Paper that is taller than it is wide is said to be in vertical format. (Paper wider than it is tall is said to be in oblong format.) Verdi generally used paper in vertical format. Although fewer measures could fit on each page, more staves were available.
VIOLINO PRINCIPALE When the first violinist of the orchestra directed the performance, he normally played from a part (manuscript or printed) identified as the violino principale. This part contains the entire first violin line, as well as important instrumental cues for other instruments and the text, together with indications of the vocal line. From this material, the director could set tempos, cue important solos, and follow closely the interaction between the orchestra and the singers.
VIRGOLETTI Quotation marks (or virgoletti) in printed librettos signal lines of poetry not set to music by the composer or cut in a particular production. Thus, even if an opera were abbreviated in performance, audiences could follow the drama by reading the entire libretto.
VOCAL SCORE When operas were printed, they generally included all vocal lines and a reduction for piano of the orchestral fabric. Even today, singers learn their parts and music students study operas largely from vocal scores. Often full orchestral scores have never been printed.
NOTE RANGES
Throughout this book, I have largely avoided referring to exact pitch levels for “high c ” or similar notes. When, in the chapters on transposition and instrumentation, I have needed to be more precise, the following equivalents are used:
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