Music Listening Journal
Music History 352WI
Dr. Granade
February 21, 2008
Journal Entries 1 & 2
It all begins with an overture. Just imagine stringed instruments frantically chasing one another, loud horns trumpeting their harmonies and an overall sense of urgency and you will have the beginnings of a late 18th century opera. I did not have to know the background or synopsis of this piece of music to figure out the opera’s time period. For my listening journal I listened to Luigi Cherubini’s Medea, an opera based on François-Benoit Hoffmann’s three-act libretto that lasts two hours.
Medea, based on Greek mythology, begins at the site of a wedding in Corinth. Giasone, the hero is about to embark on his second marriage to a woman named Glauce. His first marriage ended badly when he left his first wife Medea, the sorceress, and took the children they had together. In the first scene of the first act, Glauce is nervously awaiting her wedding and more so, the possibility of the evil Medea’s arrival. I love the way in which the overture sets up this first scene. I can just imagine Glauce scurrying around the stage in apprehension while her maids try to calm her down. The overture begins on an abrupt minor chord that descends one octave, pauses, and then begins to descend to the next octave. It is then interrupted by a few staccato chords played mostly by the horns. Next it goes to the dominant and it recreates this same circular pattern. It ascends back up and is soon followed by a small break which then leads into a nice, full, legato melody. Do not worry though, it does not stay this way for long as the music quickly crescendos to another intense moment. It goes back and forth like this throughout the whole overture letting the audience feel what Glauce is feeling.
As the opera goes on, I hear many things that are representative of what other composers were doing around this time. Cherubini’s style reminds me a lot of Gluck’s.. Gluck wrote for the singer and the melody with all other instruments lightly enveloping that main idea whether the music was at forte or piano. Cherubini does this as well but with a little bit more to offer. There is more to listen for in Cherubini’s music. He does not make it as obvious as to where the music is going. Instead, he makes the music a little bit more complex with the addition of more notes on a single phrase and rhythms that are more intricate. In the opening of Act 1, the music is written subtly as Glauce timidly sings with ornamented skips and leaps throughout the melody line. Her phrase ends as the chorus of maids comes in with a charming, bright sound. They sound angelic as they sing their simple harmonies. The chorus’s attempts to to calm Glauce has the same affect on the audience- it puts them at ease. Then Glauce comes back in with a little bit more direction in her melody. The chorus alternates beautifully with her while the orchestra accompanies them as if not to make a sound. The music fits so perfectly within itself that I can picture exactly what stage movements and actions are taking place. Nothing in the music is too abrupt at this point which is perfect for what is going on in the plot Although I do not have the translation of the opera in front of me, I can still tell where the plot changes by how the mood of the music shifts. In the middle of act one, the music suddenly changes from the light-hearted scheme it was following to an intense representation of the energy that Medea, the sorceress, always has around her. Medea comes sweeping into the picture trying to stop Giasone from marrying Glauce. The rest of act one remains tense because of Medea’s presence. One thing that this alteration of mood within the first act offers is contrast. In late 18th century opera, the audience was longing to be moved. Cherubini wrote his music in a way that makes it clear as to where ideas change. His transitions end up being emotional which was common in music of the early Romantic period. Other prevalent stylistic features of the time are seen in the opera such as being speech-like, having alternations between soloist and chorus, interruptions in phrases and the repetition of certain phrases.
Through the introduction of new characters in this first act alone, we see some of these characteristics come alive. One of the first things we hear is the continual dialogue between Glauce and her maids. This shows the idea of rhetoric being represented through music and the correlation between music and language. Opera is language being spoken, musically. During moments of tension, the fluidity of the music is interjected by the usage of short phrases, which mimics conflict in spoken language. This is heard especially when Glauce’s father enters during the first act. He comes to help calm his daughter down. His phrases tend to be short which perhaps represent the way in which he speaks to her. These characteristics of the dialogue between father and daughter portray their relationship. This idea of interjection in the music is heard again as Medea enters into the music. However, the music is interjected in a different way. Her phrases are short and cut off because either the chorus or the music interrupt. During the arias in this act, we do not get as much of these interjections. Instead, every aria is very repetitive of itself with antecedent phrases.
The introduction of the second act is extremely important in understanding the opera’s direction and where it will end up. The neglected Medea, who has been rejected, decides to get back at those who have hurt her with the assistance of the Greek god, Eumenides and her maid, Neris. Act two opens with Neris plotting their scheme to get even. Her recitative and aria are dark and dissonant, moving at a slow, steady pace. Here we see another glimpse of contrast. The opera starts out with a light yet upbeat melody that portrayed Glauce’s naïve attitude. The music has slowly made its way through anger, with abrupt chords, to vengeance with an eerie, unpredictable arrangement of the music. I think this idea of slowly progressing the musical language in tandem with its plot expands the opera as a whole. It allows for the opera to unwind itself comfortably without being colorless and even puts the opera ahead of its time. Act two stays in this unwavering place without really changing the mood at all until the very end. Upon seeing her ex-husband, Medea decides to try and gain his pity in hopes of eventually winning his heart and their children back. Giasone could care less, which drives Medea even more into vengeance towards Giasone’s new wife. Finally, by the end, Medea decides to set up Glauce for death by poisoning her. I am assuming that the process in which Medea went through in order to poison Glauce was tedious because of the musical structure. The chords are accentuated with sounds of infuriation. All throughout the end of act two, the music shifts greatly between the two spectrums of buoyant and delicate to fervent and raging. Prior to this time period, opera did not contain nearly this much diversion. As opera evolved, the demand for more intensity became greater which lead to a heightened level of contrast. It is more appealing to the ear. I think of Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo; even though it did have much contrast, the difference between it and Medea is that it took much longer to get to those points of variance. In Medea, the mood changes every couple of minutes which helps the audience to become more interested and involved.
The way the music is written in the beginning of the third act foreshadows how the opera will end. The strings section comes in with long, slow, legato lines in a minor key. Hurriedly, the orchestra is then thrown into this frantic frenzy of notes and chords. The music symbolizes destruction and turmoil. Medea had just poisoned Glauce and is now waiting to reunite with her children. Her purpose in retrieving her children is not a good one. She intends on killing them as a form of punishment towards Giasone. By the end of act three, Giasone is begging Medea not to kill their children. Desperation is heard in Giasone’s plead for their lives. Medea, however, has already made up her mind and kills both of the children, driving herself insane and causing her to set ablaze the temple in which the opera takes place. In this part of the opera, Medea’s vocal line is different than anything that was heard before. She had always sung with intensity but at this point the intensity is unbearable. Cherubini wrote in extremely high notes for Medea, forcing her to leap from her middle range to her high range, but not with ease. Medea’s singing is a constant back and forth, low to high motion. The chorus is heard in the background mimicking her as she strains in her madness. The opera ends in a traditional aberration of strings and horns bouncing around with ascending and descending runs thrown in the mix, finally ending with a VII-chord to the tonic.
Before listening to this piece of music, I must admit I was quite excited to finally get to listen to an opera from the Romantic period. As I began to listen I kept wondering why this piece of music is not included in the Canon. I listened to the first act a couple of times and it felt refreshing to hear an opera that I could better relate to than previous composers that we have listened to. As I began to make my way to the end, I started getting tired. It was not that this opera is boring because it is definitely not. It just started to become monotonous. Even though I was noticing crucial elements of Cherubini’s writing style, like the way he shifts mood so easily to intensify certain parts, it was all starting to sound the same. I then realized that this opera represents the shift from the late Classical-style of opera to the Romantic-style of opera. Medea is beyond the works of Monteverdi and Pergolesi but not quite reaching the style of Rossini’s and Donizetti’s. Cherubini aided in the development of opera. He helped it to become what it is today.
I really feel that this opera should be included in the canon. If anyone has ever had a hard time understanding where and why opera changed in the ways it did from one time period to the next, then Cherubini should be looked at and taken into account as a powerful figure in that process. Cherubini had a strong influence and impact on where opera was meant to go.
