GLOSSARY OF OPERA TERMS


ARIA (Italian) — An extended musical piece performed by one singer. Often very lyrical, it is accompanied by the orchestra, and conveys the emotions of the character. The action usually stops while an aria is sung.

ARTIST MANAGER OR ARTIST REPRESENTATIVE — An agent who represents artists, publicizing their talents, finding them roles, negotiating contracts and handling other business matters for them.

BALLET (French) — A form of dance that tells a story.

BANDA (Italian) — A small group of instrumentalists who play either on the stage or backstage, not in the pit, often as part of a crowd or military scene.

BARITONE — The middle male voice.

BASS— The lowest male voice.

BASS-BARITONE — A voice between a bass and a baritone.

BATON — A short stick which the conductor uses to lead the orchestra.

BEL CANTO (Italian) — Literally, “beautiful singing” or “beautiful song”. Bel canto passages are long, smooth and lyrical. While beautiful singing should occur in all operas, it is especially important in works of the nineteenth century.

BLOCKING — Directions given to the actors for movements on the stage.

BOW, BOWING — The bow is the wand used to play string instruments. The concertmaster determines when the bows should rise or fall, and this is noted in the score so that all move in the same direction.

BRAVO (Italian) — Literally “brave, courageous”. A form of applause when shouted by members of the audience at the end of an especially pleasing performance. Strictly speaking, bravo is for a single man, brava for a woman, and bravi for a group of performers.

CABALETTA (Italian)— Second part of a two-part aria, always in a faster tempo than the first part.

CADENZA (Italian) — A brilliant passage inserted in an aria which gives the singer an opportunity to show off the voice. Originally used to close a number and often improvised on the spot.

CANZONE, CANZONETTA (Italian) — A folk-like song commonly used in opera buffa.

CARPENTER — The carpenter works on the construction of the sets. Production Carpenter is the title given to the one in charge of the backstage crew, even though he may not actually work with wood.

CAVATINA (Italian) — The meaning of this term has changed over the years. It now usually refers to the opening, slow section of two- part aria. In Rossini’s time it referred to the entrance, or first, aria sung by a certain character.

CHORD — Several different notes sounded together. Often misused for vocal cord.

CHOREOGRAPHER — The person who designs the motions of a dance.

CHORUS — A group of mixed voices or the musical passage sung by such a group.

CHORUS MASTER — The one in charge of choosing chorus members and rehearsing them for the performance. If there is a back-stage chorus, it is usually conducted by the chorus master who is in communication with the conductor of the orchestra.

CLAQUE (French) — A group of people hired to sit in the audience and either applaud enthusiastically to ensure success, or whistle and boo to create a disaster. In past years, leading singers were sometimes blackmailed to pay a claque to insure they would not create a disturbance. Even now, one is sometimes used but rarely acknowledged.

COLORATURA (Italian) — Elaborate decoration of a vocal melody with cadenzas, roulades and trills. Also used to describe a voice type.

COMMEDIA DELL’ARTE (Italian) — A type of comic opera popular in Italy in the 16th to 18th centuries. They toured with both literary plays and others that were improvised using stock characters and gestures. The characters were often masked to represent certain types.

COMPOSER — The one who writes the music and orchestrates it.

COMPRIMARIO (Italian) — A secondary or supporting role or a person singing such a role.

CONCERTMASTER — The “first chair” violinist who plays occasional solos and is responsible for coordinating all of the stringed instruments. The concert master decides on the bowing, so that all of the string player’s bows move in unison.

CONDUCTOR — The leader of the orchestra. The conductor is usually able to play several instruments, speak several languages, and can read music as easily as reading words.

CONTINUO (Italian) — An extemporized chordal accompaniment for recitative secco, usually by a harpsichord, cello or double bass. Opera seria often used an ensemble of harpsichord and theorbo (a member of the lute family). Opera buffa used a single keyboard and string bass.

CONTRALTO — The lowest female voice.

CORD, VOCAL — See the article on operatic voices

COSTUME DESIGNER — Works with the set designer to prepare costumes which are appropriate for the rest of the production. Often oversees the preparation of the costumes.

COSTUME SHOP — A special area set aside for the making of the costumes or for adjusting of those which are rented.

COVER — The name given to an understudy in opera; someone who replaces a singer in case of illness or other misfortune.

CRESCENDO (Italian) — A gradual increase in volume. Crescendos were one of Rossini’s trademarks.

CUE — A signal to a singer or orchestra member to start.

CURTAIN CALL — At the end of a performance all of the members of the cast and the conductor take bows. Sometimes this is done in front of the main curtain, hence the name curtain call. Often, however, the bows are taken on the full stage with the curtain open.

CUT — Omit some of the original material from the score.

DIAPHRAGM — See the article on operatic voices

DIRECTOR — See STAGE DIRECTOR

DIVA (Italian) — Literally “goddess”, it refers to an important female opera star. The masculine form is divo.

DOWNSTAGE — See STAGE AREAS

DRAMATIC (Voice type) — See page 6.

DRESS (a wig) — To prepare a wig for wear.

DRESSER — A member of the backstage staff who helps the artists don their costumes. The principal singers usually have their own; supers and chorus members share.

DRESS REHEARSAL — The final rehearsal, using all of the costumes, lights, etc. While sometimes it is necessary to stop for corrections, an attempt is made to make it as much like a final performance as possible.

DUET — An extended musical passage performed by two singers. They may or may not sing simultaneously.

DYNAMICS — The degree of loudness and softness in the music. See PIANO and FORTE.

ENCORE (French) — Literally means “again”. It used to be the custom for a singer to repeat a popular aria if the audience called “Encore” loudly enough. This is still done in countries like Italy in the middle of an opera, but is rare elsewhere. Soloists still frequently give encores at the end of a concert but not an opera.

ENSEMBLE — Any extended musical passage performed by four or more players, usually singing simultaneously, but often with different words and different musical lines. Many ensembles consist of combinations of solos, duets, etc. rather than all singing together throughout.

FALSETTO — A method of singing above the natural range of a voice. Often used in opera for comic effects such as a man imitating a woman.

FINALE — The last set of numbers in an act. It usually involves many singers and is very dramatic. By convention it can be very long and include a number of arias, duets, etc., but never any recitative. The ACT II finale of Die Zauberflöte lasts about 22 minutes.

FLY, FLY TOWER — If there is high space above the stage called a fly tower, pieces of the set are often raised up or flown out of sight when not in use.

FORTE, FORTISSIMO (Italian) — Loud, very loud.

GENERAL DIRECTOR — The head of an opera company. The one ultimately responsible for all artistic and financial aspects of everything in which the company is involved.

GRAND OPERA — Strictly speaking, means opera without spoken dialogue. It is usually used to refer to opera which uses a large orchestra and chorus and grand themes.

HELDEN- — German prefix meaning “heroic”. Can apply to other voices but usually used in Heldentenor.

IMPRESARIO (Italian) — The general director of an opera company.

INTERLUDE OR INTERMEZZO — An orchestral selection played between scenes in an opera. It is used to set a mood and even advance the story.

INTERMISSION — A break between acts of an opera. The lights go on, and the audience is free to move around. Intermissions usually last about twenty minutes.

LEGATO (Italian) — A smooth line of music with no noticeable breaks.

LEITMOTIV (German) or MOTIF — A short musical phrase associated with a particular character or event.

LIBRARIAN — In charge of preparing the music for the orchestra. Scores are usually rented. They have to be annotated to reflect cuts and other changes for a given production.

LIBRETTO (lih-BRETT-oh) — Italian for the text of the opera. It means “little book” in Italian. A libretto is shorter than the book for a stage play, because it takes much longer to sing a line than to say it. The action is often interrupted for an aria, limiting the length of the text even more. The libretto is written by a librettist, who is usually a poet or a playwright.

LIGHTING DESIGNER — Lights affect the appearance and mood of a show. The audience is not aware of it, but there are often hundreds of light changes during a show. All this has to be designed and entered into the computer which controls the lights.

LYRIC (Voice type) — See the article on operatic voices.

MAESTRO (Italian) — Literally “master”; used as a courtesy title for the conductor. The masculine ending is used for both men and women.

MAGIC OPERA — An opera in which there are many magical effects and often animals appearing on stage. Often it involves the rescue of one of the major characters. Die Zauberflöte is a magic opera.
MAKEUP DESIGNER — Stage makeup often has to be specially designed to make the singer assume a different appearance, for example to be made older or fit an ethnic role. Even if the singers appearance doesn’t need to be changed, stage makeup has to be designed to look right under the lighting used for the show.

MARK — To sing very softly or not at full voice. A full-length opera is very hard on a singer’s voice so most mark during rehearsals. During dress rehearsals singers try to sing at full voice for at least some of the time.

MEZZO SOPRANO — The middle female voice.

MUSICAL COMEDY — See OPERETTA.

NUMBER OPERA — An opera composed of individual numbers such as recitative, arias, duets, ensembles, etc. Between the numbers there is often a chance for applause. Die Zauberflöte is a number opera.

OPERA (Latin) — A drama that is sung, but is not just a play with music; the orchestra is an equal partner with the singers. Literally, the word opera is the plural of the Latin word opus, which means “work”. Like a play, an opera is acted on a stage with costumes, wigs, scenery, etc. Almost all of it is sung, in contrast to an operetta or musical, where a great deal of the text is spoken.

OPERA BUFFA (Italian) — An opera about ordinary people, usually, but not always comic, which first developed in the eighteenth century.

OPERA SERIA (Italian) A “serious” opera. The usual characters are gods and goddesses, or ancient heroes. Rossini was one of the last to write true opere serie.

OPERA TEXT — See SUPERTITLES

OPERETTA or MUSICAL COMEDY — A play, much of which is spoken but with many musical numbers.

ORCHESTRA, ORCHESTRATION The orchestra is a group of instrumentalists playing a variety of instruments. The scoring of a musical work with separate musical lines for each instrument is the orchestration.

OVERTURE — An orchestral piece, several minutes in length, which is played before the beginning of an opera. Usually, but not always, it contains some themes from the music of the opera.

PANTS PART — See TROUSER ROLE

PARLANDO (Italian) — A style of singing like ordinary speech. It can occur in the middle of an aria.

PATTER SONG — A song or aria in which the character sings as many words as possible in the shortest time.

PIANO, PIANISSIMO — Quiet, very quiet.

PIANO-VOCAL SCORE — See SCORE.

PIT — A sunken area in front of the stage where the members of the orchestra sit.

PITCH — Sound results from the vibration of a source such as a string or drum head. The pitch depends on the rapidity of the vibrations. Rapid vibrations produce higher notes than slower ones. The most common pitch now is based on A=440 vibrations per second. This is “la” or the second space up on the treble staff. In past years the standard pitch was usually lower (Verdi preferred A=432).

PIZZICATO (Italian) — When a string instrument is played by plucking the strings instead of using the bow.

PRELUDE — Usually a short introduction, without an ending, that leads into an act without pause, as opposed to an overture which is longer and can be played as a separate piece. Wagner called his introductions preludes even though some are quite long.

PRIMA DONNA (Italian) — Literally “first lady”, the leading woman singer in an opera. Because of the way some of them behaved in the past, it often refers to someone who is acting in a superior and demanding fashion. The term for the leading man is primo uomo.

PRODUCTION — The combination of sets, costumes, props, lights, etc.
PRODUCTION CARPENTER — In charge of organizing and handling all aspects of the sets and equipment.

PRODUCTION MANAGER — The administrator responsible for coordinating the sets, costumes, rehearsal facilities and all physical aspects of a production. Is often the one who negotiates with the various unions representing stage hands, musicians, etc.

PROMPT — To help singers remember lines. In some opera houses, the prompter sits in a box below and at the very front of the stage. It is not customary for San Diego Opera to use a prompter.

PROPS (PROPERTIES) — Small items carried or used by singers during the performance.

PROSCENIUM — The front opening of the stage which frames the action.

QUARTET — Piece for four singers.

QUINTET — Piece for five singers.

RECITATIVE (re-si-ta-TEEV) (Italian) — Lines of dialogue which are sung, but usually with no recognizable melody; the singing has a rhythm more like normal speech than that of an aria. Recitative is used to advance the plot between numbers. Recitativo secco (re-tchee-ta-TEE-voh SEK-koh) is accompanied only by continuo such as a harpsichord, sometimes with added cello. There is also recitativo accompagnato (re- tchee-ta-TEE-voh ahk-KAHM-pan-eah-toh) which is accompanied by the orchestra. In early opera this was reserved for the nobility. In later operas it is used for all singers.

REDUCTION — In a piano reduction, the orchestra parts are condensed into music which can be played by one person on the piano.

RÉPERTOIRE — The stock of pieces a singer or company has ready to present. Often refers to a company’s current season.

RÉPÉTITEUR — See VOCAL COACH

ROULADE or RUN — A quick succession of notes sung to one syllable.

SCENA (SCHAY-nah) (Italian) — Literally a scene. A dramatic episode which consists of a variety of number types with a common theme. A typical scena might consist of a recitative, a cavatina and a cabaletta.

SCORE — The written music for an opera with separate lines for each instrument and each singer’s vocal parts.

SET, SET DESIGNER — The background and furnishings on the stage.

SEXTET — A piece for six singers.

SITZPROBE (ZITS-proh-bah) — German for ‘sitting rehearsal’, it is the first rehearsal of the singers with the orchestra, with the former seated, and no acting.

SOPRANO — The highest female voice.

SOUBRETTE (French) — Pert young female character with a light soprano voice. Papagena in Die Zauberflöte is a soubrette part.

SPINTO (Voice type) — A lyric voice that has the power and incisiveness for dramatic climaxes.

STAGE AREAS — Refers to the various sections of the stage. Left and right are as seen by those on stage, not in front. Since many stages are raked, that is higher in back than in front, upstage is at the back, and downstage at the front. If an actor stays upstage, all the others have to turn their backs to the audience when speaking to him. This is the origin of the phrase “to upstage someone”.

STAGE DIRECTOR — The one responsible for deciding the interpretation of each character, the movements of the singers on stage, and other things affecting the singers. Is in charge at rehearsals.

STAGE MANAGER — The one in charge of the technical aspects of the entire opera while it is running. Cues all light changes, sound effects, entrances (even of the conductor) and everything else that happens.
SUPERNUMERARY — An “extra”, someone who is part of a group on stage but doesn’t sing. It is usually shortened to Super.

SUPERTITLES — Translations of the words being sung which are projected on a screen above the stage.

SYNOPSIS — A short version of the story of the opera, usually one or two pages.

TEMPO — The speed of the music.

TENOR — The highest male voice.

TESSITURA (Italian) — Literally “texture”, it defines the average pitch level of a role. Two roles may have the same range from the lowest to the highest note, but the one with a greater proportion of high notes has the higher tessitura.

THROUGH-SUNG — An opera in which the music is continuous, without divisions into recitative and aria. Aïda is through-sung, while the singing is interrupted by dialogue in Die Zauberflöte.

TRAGÉDIE LYRIQUE (French) — Early form of French opera which recognized a distinction between the main scenes and divertissements which consisted of choruses, dances, etc.

TREMOLO (Italian) — Wavering of pitch while singing a note. It is usually inadvertent as opposed to a trill (see below). It is also called vibrato.

TRILL — The deliberate rapid alteration of adjacent notes.

TRIO — A sustained musical passage for three voices.

TROUSER ROLE — A role which depicts a young man or boy, but is sung by a woman. Siébel in Faust and Idamante in Idomeneo are trouser roles.

VERISMO (Italian) — Describes the realistic style of opera that started in Italy at the end of the nineteenth century. Although the peak of the movement was past by the time of Puccini, his operas are a modified form of verismo. He takes realistic situations but treats them as romances and sets them in exotic locations, such as the Paris of La bohème.

VIBRATO (Italian) — see Tremolo

VOCAL COACH — A member of an opera company who coaches singers, helping them with the singing and interpretation of a role.

WIG DESIGNER — Designs and oversees the creation of the wigs used in a production.