Venice and Opera in the 18th Century

Abstract

The author of the article disputes the established opinion according to which the great tradition of 17th century Venetian opera lost its significance in the European musical theater a century later. Emphasis is made of the vanguard role of opera in Venice in the first half of the 18th century, which has been marked by a set of phenomena. They include: the birth of heroic opera, the base of which was the Teatro San Govanni Crisostomo; the stake on virtuoso singers made by the Teatro San Cassiano; the productions of comic intermezzi initiated by the Teatro Can Cassiano; and the creation of the genre of opera buffa with the participation of the great Venetian comic dramatist Carlo Goldoni. A number of reasons that stipulated the leading role of Venice in the history of the development of opera is highlighted. They are connected with the emergence of accessible music theaters, which became magnets for the general public and which provided for a flourishing of the art of the theater; with the creation of a specific artistic milieu that exerted an influence on the art of decoration. A considerable amount of contribution in the creation of the fertile ground for the development of opera in Venice was made by the theatrical element, which determined the ways of living of the city dwellers and the out-of-town visitors during the period of the carnival, as well as the Venetian academies, the walls of which held unfolding disputes about opera. The intensive development of Venetian opera in the 18th century was also enhanced by the preparation of singers who mastered the new style of vocal performance.