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Opera Glossary

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aficionado--devoted fan or enthusiast. often used to describe opera buffs.

appoggiatura--a note placed between the last two notes of a phrase to make the phrase end more gracefully.

apron--the front part of the stage between the curtain and the orchestra pit.

aria--Italian word for "air." a song for solo voice with instrumental accompaniment.

arioso--a song which is between an aria and a recitative. has a melody like an aria, but advances the plot's action like a recitative.

ballad opera--a form of English opera made popular in the early 18th century, combining spoken dialogue and well known vocal tunes and dances.

baritone--the medium male voice. lies between the low bass voice and the higher tenor voice.

baroque--the period of music that goes from about the early to mid 1600's to the mid 1700's. baroque operas are characterized by emotional, highly stylized and flowery presentations, with elaborate vocal requirements.

bass--the lowest of the male voices.

bass-baritone--a male voice which combines the quality of the baritone with the depth of the bass, avoiding the extremes of either range.

basso buffo--Italian for "bass buffoon." A comedic character sung by a bass, usually singing quick repeated notes in the very low range.

basso cantante--another category of the bass voice characterized by a melodic singing quality.

basso profundo--the most serious bass voice.

bel canto--Italian for "beautiful singing." in a bel canto style opera, the beauty of singing is more important than the plot or the words.

bravo!--the Italian term shouted by an audience at the end of an outstanding aria, act or performance.

cabaletta--a fast aria in bel canto operas, generally following a more solemn, thoughtful one. stresses the singer's vocal abilities and often has a high note just before the end that the singer sustains.

cadenza--near the end of an aria, a series of difficult, fast high notes. allows the singer to demonstrate vocal ability.

cantabile--to sing or play in a sweetly singing manner.

cantata--a musical form, generally for chorus and soloists, based on a narrative text.

canzone--a short, lyrical operatic song.

castrato--a castrated male prized for his high singing voice.

cavatina--a short, simple, melodic and expressive aria, allowing the singer to demonstrate her beautiful voice.

chromatic--the scale pattern devised by playing all the white notes and the black notes on a piano in a sequence; thus, a chromatic scale which goes from middle C to the C an octave above contains 12 different tones and 13 notes.

classical--the period in music from roughly the mid 1700's to the early 1800's.

coloratura soprano--a very high pitched soprano. also the description of singing which pertains to great feats of agility--fast singing, high singing, trills, embellishments and the like.

commedia dell'arte--a style of dramatic presentation popular in Italy from the 16th century on; the commedia characters were highly stylized and the plots frequently revolved around disguises, mistaken identities and misunderstandings.

comprimario--a singer who takes the secondary character roles in an opera.

continuo--the small group of instruments that accompanies the recitatives in baroque music.

contralto--the lowest, and rarest, female voice.

counterpoint--the putting together of two, three, four or even more independent musical lines.

countertenor--a high male voice, generally singing within the female contralto or mezzo soprano range.

crescendo--getting progressively louder.

diminuendo--getting progressively softer.

dissonant--dischordant. sounds like the notes do not belong together.

diva--literally, "goddess," a female opera star. Often used to describe a demanding or fussy opera star.

duet--a musical composition for two performers.

embellishment--the addition of extra notes to an already established melody line.

encore--a request to play again.

english captions--sometimes called surtitles or supratitles, translations of the sung words generated electronically during the opera performance. first introduced in the early 1980's, surtitles revolutionized opera going, opening it up to new audiences by making the stories and emotions accessible.

ensemble--literally, "together." A duet, trio, quartet, or chorus. more than one character singing at the same time.

entr'acte--a musical composition played between acts or between scenes within an act of an opera.

falsetto--the high part of a man's voice, sounding like a woman's voice.

finale--last song of an act, usually involving a large number of singers.

finale ultimo--the final finale.

fioratura--the flowery, embellished vocal line within an aria.

grand opera--opera which is sung from start to finish, as opposed to opera which may have spoken dialogue.

heldentenor--German for "heroic tenor." a heldentenor has a brilliant top register (high notes) combined with a strong lower voice, almost like a baritone, and is capable of long passages which require great vocal stamina.

imbroglio--operatic scene in which diversity of rhythm and melody create chaos and confusion; the original meaning of the Italian word was "intrigue."

intermezzo--a short musical entertainment between acts.

Köchel catalogue--the listing of Mozart's compositions, in chronological and thematic order. Mozart's works are listed with a "K" number.

legato--a smooth style of singing or playing.

leitmotiv--a short musical passage which brings to mind a character or situation in a musical drama.

libretto--Italian for "little book." the libretto is the text of an opera.

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