Arias

Pier Leone Ghezzi, caricature of Gaetano Caffarelli, c. 1735

Search page

The search is carried out in 'string' mode, not in the full text search mode. In order to overcome certain rigidities of this search mode, it is helpful to use so-called wildcards: "%" (truncation character) and "_" (underscore, substitute a single character at any position in the word).

When setting the search keys for Incipit and Text, care must be taken to arrange the words in the correct order and to insert the characters "%" and "_" in appropriate positions; wildcards may be inserted in any position, even within words.

Some examples of the use of wildcards in text searching:

• "%labro%accende": will return texts containing the two words in succession;
• "%lab%ro": will return texts containing the words "labro" or "labbro";
• "%torment_": will return texts containing the root word "torment" with any ending (tormento, tormenti, tormenta);
•  "%pr_ncipe": will return texts containing "principe" or "prencipe".

This method of constructing the search string applies to all fields in the form.

The Metre of the verses is expressed in Arabic numerals: 7 = septenaries; 8 = octonaries; 10 = decasyllables; etc.; for texts with isometric verses, only one number is given; in the case of non-isometric verses, the numbers are separated by commas, without a space: "7,8,5" (= text with septenary, octonary and quinary verses, in the sequence indicated). The search key "7,8" will return texts containing septenary and octosyllabic verses.

For the Title search, it is sufficient to enter a single word or root of the title; if several terms are entered, care must be taken to respect the word sequence; also for this field, if the exact word sequence is not known, enter "%" between each word: "Rodelinda%Longobardi".

The names of Authors (composers and librettists) and Performers are entered in the sequence of Surname space First name. All forms of names, including pseudonyms, are indexed for name searches. Only one search key can be set. Searches for co-occurrence of two or more names are not possible, e.g. operas with "Vinci" and "Metastasio" or performances with "Caffarelli" and "Monticelli".

The texts of the arias were taken from librettos, and it is possible to set the filter by type of edition. An 'absolute first edition' is an edition for the first performance of an original text; a 'first edition' is an edition for a first performance of a text that has already been set to music by others previously. The selection of 'first edition' displays both 'first editions' and 'absolute first editions'.

When searching for Character names, it can be helpful to use the characters "%" and "_" to resolve frequent spelling fluctuations; some examples:

• "Agrip%ina" returns "Agripina", "Agrippina";
• "%Fabri_io" returns "don Fabrizio", "Fabrizio", "Fabricio";
•  "V_nceslao" returns "Venceslao", "Vinceslao";

Even for characters the search for co-occurrences such as 'Aeneas' and 'Dido' is not possible.

It is possible to search for words in the Character Caption: "%capitano", "%figlia", "%giov_ne", "%napol_tan", "%sacerdote", "%sposa" (or "%spos_" for "sposa", "sposo", "sposi").

Even for Places of performance, only one search key can be set. Therefore, co-occurrences such as "Varese" and "Novara" cannot be searched.

The Date of performance must be set in the formats: "yyyy"; "mm/yyyy"; "dd/mm/yyyy". You can simply enter the extreme years that define the search's chronological limits or more precise dates. For example, to search for arias or operas from the carnival season, simply enter the start and end dates of the season, even approximate dates: "26/12/1731" to "03/1732".

All search fields in the form are understood to be bound by the logical operator "and", i.e. the search results will return records that satisfy all the search keys set.

The Search results can present lists of Arias or Operas. Select the corresponding button to obtain the desired type of result.

Search results

Arias

The arias are listed by incipit and date, in ascending order. For each aria, the following information is given: incipit, an indication of the type of relationship to the related aria (or "new"), characters, performers, authors of the aria (composer and poet), opera title (double asterisk at the end indicates an absolute first performance; a single asterisk indicates a first performance) with the indication of composer and librettist, date of performance, place and building.

By clicking on the captions highlighted in blue in the table head, the sorting of the records can be changed: by Incipit, Title of the opera, Date and Place of performance. The records are always presented in ascending order.
The link on the incipit opens the Aria page; the link on the opera title opens the Opera page; the link on the relationship opens the Compare Arias page, which allows to compare related arias; for arias with the indication "new" or "re-proposed," the comparison page will only present the selected aria.

It is possible to compare aria’s lyrics, up to a maximum of three. On the left margin of the table are checkboxes that allow you to select the arias to be compared; after selecting the arias, press the compare arias button above the table header to open the Compare Arias page. The cancel button resets the selection.

Operas

Operas are listed by title and date, in ascending order. The following information is given for each opera: title (a double asterisk at the end indicates an absolute first performance; a single asterisk indicates a first performance), authors (composer and librettist), date of performance, place and building.

By clicking on the captions highlighted in blue in the table head, the sorting of the records can be changed: by the opera title, date and place of performance. The records are always presented in ascending order. The link on the opera title opens the Opera page.

It is possible to compare two operas and compare the list of arias they contain. On the left margin of the table are checkboxes that allow you to select the two operas you wish to compare; after selecting the two operas press the compare operas button, above the header of the table, to open the Compare Operas page. The cancel button resets the selection.

Descriptive pages

Aria

At the top of the page, the left-hand column contains the descriptive data of the aria: incipit, musical form, verse metre, character and caption, authors of the music and text, date and place of performance, complete text and finally, if present, annotations and relationship to the aria from which it was derived.

The right-hand column shows the data of the opera, the libretto and the position the aria occupies within the libretto, followed by the performance data with the performer's indication. The C buttons, of different colours, are links to Corago and open the following pages respectively: blue, the Opera's tab in Repertory; green, the Libretto's bibliographic tab; red, the Performance's tab in Chronology.

If there are other versions of the text and/or intonations of the aria by other musicians, the complete stemma appears at the bottom of the page. The table lists the arias identified in the sources with  performance information: rows with the same information content refer to different sources; the arias are described as on the Arias Search Results page (see above). The table row corresponding to the aria described at the top of the page is highlighted by the coloured background.

What is termed a 'stemma' here does not correspond to the usual stemma in graphic form: the data describing the tradition of the aria’s text are presented here in tabular form and the graphic form of the stemma is simulated by nesting the items. However, the basic principle of graphic representation in branching form, i.e. the identification of the path from the archetype to the various witnesses, is applied.

Here is an example to illustrate the method of compiling the table: «Vanne alla pena, o perfido» (see webpage), Anassandro's aria in Francesco Gasparini's Merope on a libretto by Apostolo Zeno, performed in Venice in 1712.

In the first line the archetype is listed, marked L1 (= level 1; Venice 1712); in the next line, the sign "=" indicates the same aria (text and music) reproposed in Florence in 1713; in the third line appears «Perfido, è ver, cadrò» (Milan 1715), with extensive variants, marked L2 (= level 2), and from this 'node' spring all subsequent 'branches'; at level 3 (L3), five arias are listed; one of these, «Cadrà quest'alma, è ver» (Milan 1719), a rewriting of the antecedent «Perfido, è ver, cadrò» (Milan 1715; L2), is another 'node' and in turn opens a new branch: «Cadrà quest'alma, è ver» (Munich 1719; L4), with local variants, again a 'node' of the new branch «Cadrà mia salma, è ver» (Venice 1723; L5), with local variants.
To give graphic evidence of the nesting of the levels and simulate the stemma in graphic form, the rows are indented and aligned by levels.

Notice. In the investigations so far, a few cases of arias whose text was derived from several arias have been identified (see «Dall'amore e dal timore», text by Giovanni Cosimo Villifranchi, music by an unidentified author, possibly Giovanni Chinzer, derived from three arias). However, cases of multiple authorship cannot be traced in a tabular form stemma such as the one proposed here because for each aria it is possible to indicate the link to only one antecedent: in such cases, information on the other related arias is given in the footnote.

The table has the same functionality as the Arias Search Results page (see above): the link on the aria’s incipit updates the description of the aria at the top of the page; the link on the relation type opens the Compare Arias page to compare the selected aria with its antecedent; the link on the opera title opens the Opera page; the button compare arias opens the Compare Arias page and displays the previously selected arias (up to 3) with the checkboxes in the left margin.

Opera

In the upper part of the page, the left column shows the descriptive data of the opera: title, genre, composer and librettist, essential bibliographic data of the libretto, and performance data. The C buttons, of different colours, are links to Corago and open the following pages respectively: blue, the Opera tab in Repertory; green, the Libretto bibliographic tab; red, the Performances tab in Chronology. The green O --> O button, at the bottom of the column opens the page Compare number of Shared Arias. The right-hand column shows the list of characters and performers. The link on the performer's name opens the page in the 'baule' ('trunk ') of the selected performer.

The lower part of the page lists the arias of the opera with the following descriptive data: sequence number, incipit, musical form, type of relationship to the antecedent (or “new”), character and performer, scene and position in the scene (A = beginning of scene; B = middle position, with possible numbering in the case of several arias in the middle position; C = end of scene), verse metre, composer. Example: Hasse's Il Demetrio, Venice 1732.

In the 'baule' ('trunk ') of ...

‘Arie di baule’ are the favourite arias of a singer whose performance was particularly successful and thus effective in showing off his vocal abilities, so much so that those arias were also performed in different operas, in addition to or as an alternative to others. Here, the locution 'aria di baule' ('trunk aria') is understood in a broader sense than its historical meaning mentioned above: it lists all the arias performed by the singer in the work described, all their re-propositions in other performances, even in different operas, and all the other arias sung on the same text but with music by another composer.
The arias in the opera are on a white background, the same aria performed in other productions on a green background, those by another author on a yellow background: this is the 'trunk' of Nicola Grimaldi in Didone abbandonata.
The link on the singer's name, top right, opens the Chronology of Singers Performaces page, her entire professional career in opera productions.

Comparison pages

Compare Arias

This page allows a comparison of up to three arias, arranged in three columns. An example: «Son qual nave che agitata», by Giaì, Hasse, Leo.

At the top of each column, a summary description of the aria is given with the full text. If the aria described has relations with another aria, the type of relationship and the identification data of the antecedent are given below; the buttons A (red) and O (green) follow to open the pages for Comparison Shared Arias in operas and Compare Operas, respectively.

In the lower part of the page, under the caption Sources, are all the sources attesting to the aria described in the upper part.
The link on the first line with the date and place of performance opens the Aria page. The links to the opera titles open the respective Opera pages.

Compare Operas

This page allows to compare the complete list of arias from two operas. The column on the left shows the chronologically earlier work between the two selected. Example: Farnace by Vinci 1724 and Vivaldi 1727.

In the upper part, an essential description of the operas, librettos and performances is given (with links to the complete files on the respective pages of Corago, see above), followed by a list of characters and performers; in the lower part, a complete list of the arias in each opera is given with essential indications: position (act and scene), incipit, form, relationship to other arias, character, composer. Arias on the same text in the two operas are highlighted with a light blue background if they are in the same act and pink if in different acts. At the top of the list of arias is a numerical indication of the arias shared by the two operas, and the A (red) button opens the page with only the Arias Shared in the two Operas.

Compare the number of Shared Arias

The overview presents all operas that share at least one aria with the selected opera (e.g. Farnace by Vivaldi 1727).

This prospectus provides a concise and effective overview of the phenomenon of the reuse of arias. The chronological order of the operas makes it easy to identify the operas involved and the period within which the phenomenon is inscribed concerning the reference opera; the indication, for each of the listed operas, of the number of arias shared with the reference opera, on the other hand, gives an account of the quantitative dimension of the phenomenon. The links to the pages comparing the arias contained in the operas then allow the nature of the relationship to be examined in more detail.

The top section contains an essential description of the opera, libretto and performance (with links to the complete files on the respective pages of Corago, see above).

In the table, the operas are listed in chronological order with the following data: number of arias shared with the reference opera, opera title, composer, date, place and building of the performance. The selected opera is highlighted by the coloured background.

On the left-hand margin there are three buttons: the blue up-arrow button allows to select the opera from the list and regenerates the table content with the data for the new reference opera; the A (red) button opens the Shared Arias in Operas page and displays all the arias shared between the reference opera and the opera selected from the table; the O (green) button opens the Compare Operas page, which allows to compare the complete list of arias contained in the selected opera with those in the reference opera.

Shared Arias in Operas

This page makes it possible to compare the essential data of arias shared between two operas (e.g. Farnace by Vinci 1724 and Vivaldi 1727).

At the top, in two columns, there is a concise description of the operas, the librettos and the performances (with links to the complete files on the respective pages of Corago, see above).

The table lists only the arias shared between the two operas and the descriptive data grouped by descriptive elements placed side by side on paired columns to make the comparison more immediate. To facilitate reading, the paired columns reproduce the background colour of the operas they belong to described at the top of the page.

The first pair of columns indicate the position of the aria in the opera (progressive number, act and scene) and the form; the second pair is the incipit, then the characters' names and finally the performers' names.

The "relationship" column indicates the relationship between the two arias. If an asterisk is placed before the definition, this indicates that the given definition does not refer to the aria indicated in the adjacent column but to another aria.

The link on the relationship opens the Compare Arias page; the link on the aria incipit opens the Aria page; the link on the opera title opens the Opera page.