A closer look at a recitative from the opera Armide by Jean-Baptiste Lully, a dispute between Rousseau and Rameau, and Gluck’s opera Armide on the same libretto. Also the issue of operatic singing that represents not speaking, but precisely what it is: singing.
00:00 Intro
00:37 Lully: Armide (1686)
11:23 Gluck: Armide (1777)
20:36 A second voice
23:04 Singing by way of singing
27:28 Orpheus
Music and sound excerpts:
02:44, 04:07, 08:16 J.-B. Lully. Armide: Enfin il est en ma puissance (Act II, scene 5). Véronique Gens, Les Talens Lyriques, Christophe Rousset. Tragédiennes. Virgin Classics – 00946 346762 2 9 (2006).
12:14, 16:48, 23:03 C.W. von Gluck, Armide: Enfin il est en ma puissance (Act II, scene 5). Véronique Gens, Les Talens Lyriques, Christophe Rousset. Tragédiennes. Virgin Classics – 00946 346762 2 9 (2006).
25:48, 32:13 W.A. Mozart, Le nozze di Figaro: arietta Voi che sapete. Cecilia Bartoli, Wiener Staatsopernchor, Wiener Philharmoniker, Claudio Abbado DGG 477 9124 (1995).
29:35, 33:10, 33:47, 34:23 Chr. W. von Gluck, Orfeo ed Euridice: Deh placatevi. Bernarda Fink, RIAS Kammerchor, Freiburger Barockorchester, René Jacobs HMY2921742.43 (2014).
36:26, 38:40 R. Wagner, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg: Morgenlich leuchtend in rosigem Schein (Act III). Ben Heppner, Chor der Bayerischen Staatsoper, Bayerisches Staatsorchester, Wolfgang Sawallisch EMI 7390182 (1993).
Selected references for episodes 24 and 25:
Abbate, C. Unsung Voices: Opera and Musical Narrative in the Nineteenth Century. Princeton N.J. 1991.
Barker, A. Greek Musical Writings Vol. 2, Harmonic and Acoustic Theory. Cambridge 1989.
Cone, E.T. Music, a View from Delft : Selected Essays. Chicago 1989.
Diderot, D., and J.B. Le Rond d’Alembert, eds. Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, ses arts et des métiers. Paris 1751-1780.
Diderot, D., and J.B. Le Rond d’Alembert, and J.B.R. Robinet, eds. Supplément à l’Encyclopédie. Amsterdam 1776.
Felsenstein, W., and J. Herz. Musiktheater: Beiträge zur Methodik und zu Inszenierungskonzeptionen. Leipzig 1976.
Marx, A.B. Gluck und die Oper. Berlin: Janke, 1863.
Rameau, J.Ph. Observations sur notre instinct pour la musique, et sur son principe […]. Paris: Prault, 1754.
Rochlitz, J.F. Blicke in das Gebiet der Künste und der praktischen Philosophie. Gotha 1796.
Rousseau, J.J. Lettre sur la musique françoise. [s.l., s.n.] 1753.
Wagner, R. Werke, Schriften und Briefe. Berlin 2004 (Digitale Bibliothek).
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