with difficulty. Voices of low register, such as altos and basses, were not considered important. The chorus was little more than a piece of stage-furnishing, performing in dumb show for the most part. The plot was regularly laid out in three acts, each composed of alternate recitatives and arias in long series—sometimes as many as twenty to an act. At the end of the whole or of each act a madrigal or dance in ensemble was used somewhat like an epilogue; occasionally similar numbers served as prologues. Except for these and the orchestral numbers, if any, the play might consist entirely of solos.
Obviously, a plan like this was hostile to dramatic freedom and truth. Librettists were constrained to force every story into a single mould and to prepare their lines wholly with reference to the arbitrary musical schedule in view. The subjects most in vogue were those of ancient history or mediæval romance, and the same story was worked again and again. Naturally, the texts were of the most mechanical and tasteless description. Composers were equally constrained on the dramatic side, and were forced to win success by a one-sided cultivation of sensuous or sensational melody alone.
The early Italian opera, therefore, was simply a concert-scheme of great artificiality, designed to provide an arena for the display of virtuoso vocalists. It was perhaps a natural reaction from the pedantry and heaviness of the contrapuntal period, but as a reaction it was extreme. If in the 18th century new ideas had not presently made themselves felt, the opera would never have ranked as a great art-form.
The trade of librettist flourished long and was lucrative, since new
texts were in demand. But it had little to attract poets of merit until
the opera began to break away from its conventional rigidity. Early in
the 18th century, however, three court-poets at Vienna secured renown
by works of real power, namely, Silvio Stampiglia (d. 1725), a Roman
by birth who worked at Vienna from about 1700 till 1711; Apostolo Zeno
(d. 1750), a Venetian at Vienna till about 1730; and, more influential
still, Pietro Trapassi or Metastasio (d. 1782), a Roman who was court-poet
at Vienna for a half-century from 1730, the author of about 35 librettos.
The position of opera-singer was one of enormous éclat and pecuniary profit. It presupposed decided vocal gifts, developed by the most exacting discipline, which often involved no slight genuine musicianship. The vocal accomplishments demanded were astonishing, but a capacity for tours de force was more valued than artistic endowment. Under the
