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Old 08-20-2011, 09:56 AM   #1 (permalink)
VEGANGELICA
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Default Operatic Arias

Please post videos of operatic arias and discuss them at liberty.

What is an operatic aria? Good question. An operatic aria is a self-contained piece for one (human) voice usually with orchestral accompaniment (Aria - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) sung in an operatic style.

An "operatic aria" can be a stand-alone song and not necessarily part of an opera, which is a musical creation that "incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance" (Wikipedia).

Because not ALL arias are part of operas, the categorization process for arias gets slightly complex:

Quote:
About Arias
( Aria - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

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 partial overlap between the topics of "operatic arias" and "opera" can be shown using the following complicated Venn diagram:





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Now, some examples!

An example of an operatic aria that is not opera:

Mozart - Aria for Soprano and Strings "Conservati fedele" in A KV 23 - Andante grazioso



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Some operatic arias are considered part of popular music, rather than classical music:

Quote:
Operatic pop - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Operatic pop, or pop opera, is a subgenre of pop music that is performed in an operatic style, or a song, theme or motif from classical music stylized as pop.
An example of an operatic aria that is popular music:

Second Aria from "Lilit" Pop Opera
It gets kind of funky, yet still is sung using an operatic voice.



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We can also hear operatic arias, such as an operatic "patter song" (Patter song - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia), in comic opera:

Gilbert and Sullivan - "I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General"
The Pirates of Penzance - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



Another patter song:

Gilbert and Sullivan - "Nightmare Song"
Stephen Quint performs a cute patter song from Gilbert and Sullivan's "Iolanthe"



Your turn. What are some of your favorite arias?
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Last edited by VEGANGELICA; 10-30-2012 at 04:33 PM.
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