Aria

An aria is a solo vocal piece, usually in an opera or oratorio, that expresses a character’s feelings and showcases the singer’s voice.

Recitative: A speech-like operatic vocal style that advances dialogue and action, often with sparse accompaniment. It commonly carries the plot between arias, whose more sustained music pauses the action.
Tessitura: The range in which a vocal or instrumental part lies most comfortably and frequently. An aria’s tessitura can make its demands distinctive even when its total range is manageable.
Florentine Camerata: A late-sixteenth-century group of scholars and musicians whose experiments helped shape early opera. Their pursuit of expressive solo singing helped create conditions for the operatic aria.
Lascia ch’io pianga: An aria from George Frideric Handel’s opera Rinaldo, expressing a plea for freedom and relief from suffering. Its restrained lament shows how a simple vocal line can sustain intense dramatic feeling.
Da capo aria: An aria form in which an opening section returns after a contrasting middle section. Its return gave singers room for ornament and made the aria’s emotional point recur.
Coloratura: Elaborate vocal writing featuring rapid runs, trills, and other ornamental passages. Coloratura turns vocal agility into a conspicuous feature of some arias.
Jacopo Peri: An Italian composer whose early operas include Euridice, first performed in 1600. His early operatic works show solo song developing within staged drama.
Nessun dorma: An aria from Giacomo Puccini’s opera Turandot, in which Calaf anticipates victory and love. Its rising confidence and climactic high note make the solo voice the dramatic focus.
Opera: A staged drama in which singing and instrumental music carry the action. Opera is the setting in which arias most often express a character’s inner life.
Ornamentation: The addition of decorative notes or flourishes to a musical line. Singers have often shaped repeated aria passages with stylistic ornamentation.

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