A catalogue aria is a genre of

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

aria In music, an aria (Italian: ; plural: ''arie'' , or ''arias'' in common usage, diminutive form arietta , plural ariette, or in English simply air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrumental or orchestral accompanime ...

in which the singer recounts a list of information (people, places, food, dance steps, etc.) that was popular in Italian

comic opera Comic opera, sometimes known as light opera, is a sung dramatic work of a light or comic nature, usually with a happy ending and often including spoken dialogue. Forms of comic opera first developed in late 17th-century Italy. By the 1730s, a ne ...

in the latter half of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The traditional devices of the catalogue aria include a solidly neutral opening, a section of rising comic excitement full of rapid

patter Patter is a prepared and practiced speech that is designed to produce a desired response from its audience. Examples of occupations with a patter might include the auctioneer, salesperson, dance caller, magician, or comedian. The term may h ...

and an emphatic final

cadence In Western musical theory, a cadence (Latin ''cadentia'', "a falling") is the end of a phrase in which the melody or harmony creates a sense of full or partial resolution, especially in music of the 16th century onwards.Don Michael Randel (1999) ...

, normally closing with an

epigram An epigram is a brief, interesting, memorable, and sometimes surprising or satirical statement. The word is derived from the Greek "inscription" from "to write on, to inscribe", and the literary device has been employed for over two mille ...

. Common features include

asyndeton Asyndeton (, ; from the el, ἀσύνδετον, "unconnected", sometimes called asyndetism) is a literary scheme in which one or several conjunctions are deliberately omitted from a series of related clauses. Examples include ''veni, vidi, vici ...

, anaphora, rhyme schemes, and complete phrases stacked two to a line, typically expressed with joy, anger, excitement or fear, routinely fast declamation of patter in a generally mechanical and often impersonal way.

History

Madamina, il catalogo è questo "" (also known as the Catalogue Aria) is a bass catalogue aria from Mozart's opera '' Don Giovanni'' to an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte, and is one of Mozart's most famous and popular arias. It is sung by Don Giovanni's servant Leporello ...

" from

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition r ...

's ''

Don Giovanni ''Don Giovanni'' (; K. 527; Vienna (1788) title: , literally ''The Rake Punished, or Don Giovanni'') is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. Its subject is a centuries-old Spanis ...

'' is the most famous example, and is often referred to as "the catalogue aria". Leporello notes how many lovers the title character has had in each country he has visited. Pasquale sings two such arias in

Joseph Haydn Franz Joseph Haydn ( , ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions ...

's ''

Orlando paladino ''Orlando paladino'' (English: ''The Paladin Orlando''), Hob. 28/11, is an opera in three acts by Joseph Haydn which was first performed at Eszterháza on 6 December 1782. The libretto by is based on another libretto, ''Le pazzie d'Orlando'', ...

'', "Ho viaggiato in Francia, in Spagna" in act one, which lists the countries to which he has traveled, and "Ecco spiano" in act 2, which rattles off all of his varied musical talents. The clearest antecedent of the catalogue aria of Mozart and librettist

Lorenzo Da Ponte Lorenzo Da Ponte (; 10 March 174917 August 1838) was an Italian, later American, opera librettist, poet and Roman Catholic priest. He wrote the libretti for 28 operas by 11 composers, including three of Mozart's most celebrated operas: ''The Marr ...

can be found in the 1787 opera, ''

Don Giovanni Tenorio ', (English: ''Don Giovanni, or The Stone Guest'') also known as ''Don Giovanni Tenorio'' is a one-act opera (dramma giocoso) by the Italian composer Giuseppe Gazzaniga. The opera was first performed at the Teatro San Moisè, Venice, on 5 February ...

'', with which they were both familiar, composed by

Giuseppe Gazzaniga Giuseppe Gazzaniga (5 October 1743 – 1 February 1818) was a member of the Neapolitan school of opera composers. He composed fifty-one operas and is considered to be one of the last Italian opera buffa composers. Biography Born in Verona, Ga ...

on a libretto by

Giovanni Bertati Giovanni Bertati (10 July 1735 – 1 March 1815) was an Italian Libretto, librettist. Bertati was born in Martellago, Italy. In 1763, he wrote his first libretto, ''La morte di Dimone'' ("The Death of Dimone"), set to music by Antonio Tozzi. Two ye ...

. Da Ponte based much of his libretto on Bertati's, heavily revised for content and language but significantly retaining much of the narrative structure. In this opera, one finds a similar catalogue aria for the equivalent character of Leporello, Pasquariello. John Platoff sees superiority in Da Ponte's text as well as Mozart's music. The Bertati aria, "Dell' Italia ed Alemagna" uses punch lines such as "ve ne sono non se quante (there I know not how many)" while Da Ponte uses specific numerical figures to add to the humor (e.g. "ma in Espagna, son già mille e tre, mille e tre, mille e tre (But in Spain he had one thousand and three, one thousand and three, one thousand and three)". Bertati also structures the aria differently, beginning immediately with the list and not including an introduction, which is in the preceding

recitative Recitative (, also known by its Italian name "''recitativo''" ()) is a style of delivery (much used in operas, oratorios, and cantatas) in which a singer is allowed to adopt the rhythms and delivery of ordinary speech. Recitative does not repea ...

. Da Ponte removed ugly words and references to women of lower social station ("cuoche," "guattere"), and took a reference that being female is enough to be of interest to Giovanni (although Bertati's Giovanni, unlike Da Ponte's, is not interested in old ladies), to a more subtle conclusion shifted to the closing that it Giovanni wants anyone who wears a skirt. Platoff considers Mozart's approach to the music "genius" in that Mozart finishes the patter in the first part of the aria before going on to the second. His unconventional approach divides the aria "based on content rather than metre." By dividing the aria at line 14, Mozart separates the numbers of women from the kinds of women, "contrary to the natural tendency to put the energetic high point at the end of the comic aria," although Platoff also notes that

Giovanni Paisiello Giovanni Paisiello (or Paesiello; 9 May 1740 – 5 June 1816) was an Italian composer of the Classical era, and was the most popular opera composer of the late 1700s. His operatic style influenced Mozart and Rossini. Life Paisiello was born in T ...

does this in "Scorsi già molti paesi," a buffa aria from ''

Il barbiere di Siviglia ''The Barber of Seville, or The Useless Precaution'' ( it, Il barbiere di Siviglia, ossia L'inutile precauzione ) is an ''opera buffa'' in two acts composed by Gioachino Rossini with an Italian libretto by Cesare Sterbini. The libretto was base ...

'' (libretto by

Giuseppe Petrosellini Giuseppe Petrosellini (29 November 1727 – 1799) was an Italian poet and prolific librettist working primarily in the '' dramma giocoso'' and ''opera buffa'' genres. Petrosellini was born in Corneto, Papal State (now Tarquinia, Lazio) and spent ...

) to which Platoff compares catalogue arias in general. The minuet for of the andante section allows Leporello to imitate his master. This, Platoff argues, "draws comedy from human foible rather than mechanized display of patter declamation", suggesting that Leporello is telling us as much about himself as he is about Giovanni. Leporello's aria contains no epigram—the Andante section takes its place. C. Headington, R. Westbroook, and T. Barfoot in ''Opera: A History'' (1987) say that "Ho viaggiato in Francia, in Spagna" "must surely be ranked as the forerunner of Leporello's... aria", but they seem to have gone to the next most familiar piece of music rather than digging into research. Platoff notes that catalogue arias were a particular specialty of Bertati.

Examples

''(in chronological order)'' *"A Lion la Contessa la Cra", '' Viaggiatore ridiculo'' (1757) by

Carlo Goldoni Carlo is a given name. It is an Italian form of Charles. It can refer to: *Carlo (name) *Monte Carlo *Carlingford, New South Wales, a suburb in north-west Sydney, New South Wales, Australia *A satirical song written by Dafydd Iwan about Prince Char ...

and set by multiple composers *"Voi sapete aliogiato nelle stanze medesime", '' L'Isola de Alcina'' (1772) by

and

*"Quano vedrai chi sono" (Comte Zeffiro), '' La vendemmia'' (1778) by Giuseppe Gazzaniga and Giovanni Bertati *"Contesse, baronesse" (Monsieur de Crotignac), '' Il pittore parigina'' (1781) by

Domenico Cimarosa Domenico Cimarosa (; 17 December 1749 – 11 January 1801) was an Italian composer of the Neapolitan school and of the Classical period. He wrote more than eighty operas, the best known of which is ''Il matrimonio segreto'' (1792); most of his ...

and

*"Ho viaggiato in Francia, in Spagna" (Pasquale), ''

'' (1782) by

and Nunziano Porta *"Ecco spiano" (Pasquale), ''Orlando paladino'' (1782) by Joseph Haydn and Nunziano Porta *"I capricci del cervello", '' Il ricco d'un giorno'' (1784) by

Antonio Salieri Antonio Salieri (18 August 17507 May 1825) was an Italian classical composer, conductor, and teacher. He was born in Legnago, south of Verona, in the Republic of Venice, and spent his adult life and career as a subject of the Habsburg monarchy ...

and

*"Che sei und grand asino" (Lena), '' Il mercato de Malmantile'' (1784) by Josef Bárta and Giacomo Francesco Bussani *"A prite un po' quegli' occhi" (Figaro), ''

Le nozze di Figaro ''The Marriage of Figaro'' ( it, Le nozze di Figaro, links=no, ), K. 492, is a ''commedia per musica'' (opera buffa) in four acts composed in 1786 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with an Italian libretto written by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It premie ...

'' (1786) by

and Lorenzo Da PontePlatoff notes that this is not normally categorized as a catalogue aria, but argues for its inclusion. *"Dell' Italia ed Alemagna" (Pasquariello), ''

'' (1787) by Giuseppe Gazzaniga and Giovanni Bertati *"

" (Leporello), ''

'' (1787) by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Lorenzo Da Ponte *" Rivolgete a lui lo sguardo" (Guglielmo), ''

Cosi fan Tutte Cosi, COSI or CoSi may refer to: * ''Così'', a 1992 play by Louis Nowra ** ''Cosi'' (film), 1996, based on the play * Così (restaurant), an American fast-casual restaurant chain * Compton Spectrometer and Imager, or COSI, a NASA telescope to be ...

'' (1789) by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Lorenzo Da Ponte *"Venti mila gigliati ai Tunisini" (Messer), ''

Il re Teodoro in Venezia ''Il re Teodoro in Venezia'' is a 1784 comic opera by Giovanni Paisiello to a libretto Giovanni Battista Casti. Premiered at the Burgtheater Vienna, it was revived for Carnival in Parma in 1788.Gilles Bertrand Histoire du carnaval de Venise: XIe-XX ...

'' (1789) by

and

Giovanni Battista Casti Giovanni Battista Casti (29 August 1724 – 5 February 1803) was an Italian poet, satirist, and author of comic opera librettos. Life He was born in Acquapendente. He entered the priesthood after studying at the seminary of Montefiascone and beca ...

References

Bibliography

Michael Burden Michael Burden, FAHA, (born 14 March 1960) is an Australian musicologist, working in the United Kingdom. He was elected a Corresponding Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities in 2018. Life Born in Adelaide, South Australia, he was ...

, "Counting Italian Musicians; a London Catalogue aria in context", ''Early Music'', 45/3 (2017), pp. 429–43.

External links

"Ho viagiatto in Francia, in Spagna" performed by Victor Torres"Ecco spiano" performed by Victor Torres"Aprite un po' quegli' occhi" performed by Bryn Terfel"Dell' Italia ed Alemagna" performed by Alfredo García
{{Portal bar, Opera Opera terminology

History

Examples

See also

References

Bibliography

External links