1. Introduction ~ 5. Opera buffa and Mozart's line of beauty

1. Introduction
Opera communicates in strange, unpredictable ways; it appeals to something beyond the narrow cognitive dimension.
These are the most elementary differences between recitative'and arla as we see them from the libretto; but embedded within such dif. terence are important distinctions having to do with content. The most basic is that recitative is the place for narative, informal dialogue, stage action: moments in which the plot moves forward. The aria, on the other hand, is a static mode. It is fundamentally about contemplation and through contemplation the communication of mood to the audi ences it is what the poets call 'musing'.
Wagner was the first theatre producer to call for complete darkness in the auditor- lum; and in his writings on pertormance he stressed again and again that spectators should be drawn overwhelmingly into the fictional world on stage, losing their anchor in reality. The introduction of electric lighting in theatres in the last decades of the nineteenth century finally allowed this darkness to be achieved. …… Another Wagnerian innovation aiding this sense of absorption was taking the orchestra out of public view, indeed dispatching many of the noisier instruments to a largely beneath the stage. Other composers took up Wagners innovations enthusiastically.
2. Opera's First Centennial
Another disquieting surprise Is that, while we now celebrate Monteverdis Orfeo as the earliest great opera, it remained almost completely unknown for the first 300 or so years of its existence. True, it was published in I6o9, and again in I6I5 but after a few revivals it passed into obscurity and was not performed again (or even much discussed)until the late nineteenth century. Its eleva tion soon after that, as the Ur-s, me best from the Florentine crucible tells us much about changing opera aesthetics over historical time.
Monteverdi spanned the two worlds: in venerable old age he produced several operas for Venice, only two of which now survive The Return of Ulysses 1640, the Coronation of Poppea,1643)A wave of opera composers working for Venetian theatres were formed by the new style. Francesco Cavalli(1602-76)and Antonio Cesti(1623-69 stand out in this new order: both were popular, prolific and- the new acid test-commanded the highest fees for new works(Cavalli was also significant for his sojourn, in I660-62, at the court of Louis XIV, where he played a role in the export of Yalian opera to France).
The third country to open its doors to opera was England, but here (as in France)a strong tradition of spoken theatre ensured that entirely sung drama was slow to gain acceptance: the English retained a notably ambiguous position towards opera, in particular its more flamboyant manifestations. However, the Jacobean period (i603-25)saw a great flowering of the court masque, an intermedio-like extravaganza mixing song, dance and elaborate scenery, often loosely based on some allegri cal subject. Many of these were granted added literary respectability by the involvement of the great playwright Ben Jonson, who in the preface to one masque, Lovers Made Men (I617), wrote that the masque was sung after the Italian manner, stile recitativo, which suggests that developments in Italy were already having some influence.
By the end of its first century, opera had established roots across and then outside Italy: in France, England, various parts of the German spea king lands and central Europe, and in Spain. In most places it assumed an indigenous form to suit the new terrain. Although its devel- opment in the early days as court entertainment had been tenuous, the buoyancy and adaptability of the Venetian model, pioneered by travel- ling theatrical-musical troupes and exported around the country, were by now proven. 
3. Opera seria
The existence of this new professional class had at least one important social ramification: for perhaps the hrst time in history, working women were paid as much as or sometimes more than men for doing an equivalent task. It was possible for women to become independent and wealthy by means of their talent.
But the Arcadians wanted a rebalancing, an opera that would be more under the control of libre tists than of musicians or scene designers. These men of letters also tried to insist that the subiect matter should be suitable as a carrier of ideal moral statements, typically from Roman or Greek antiquity. Unsettling comic characters should disappear. A reduced number of characters should then confine themselves to endless examination of the complexi ties of human emotion, often through experiencing conflicts between personal feeling and public duty, in a balanced and classically poised manner. Even die-hard critics admitted that the musically luxuriant aria was here to stay; but it needed, they said, to be more controlled and carefully structured. 
There is no doubt that this opera displays Mozart's greatest debt to Gluck: numerous moments plainly adopt the principles of reform opera, with a prominent use of orchestral recitative, frequent scenic marvels, elaborate ensemble pieces (especially the famous Act 3 Quartet, Andro, ramingo e solo,)and a dynamic use of the chorus. This debt is so obvious that it has become something of a cliche, also carrying with it a suggestion that the com poser came of age operatically with Idomeneo precisely because he imbibed a good dose of Gluckian discipline. There's some truth in this but Idomeneo has another story to tell. The opera is also full of solo arias: numbers whose musical elaboration is unprecedented; numbers which celebrate, unashamedly so, the glories of untrammelled singing that Gluck's reforms were so eager to banish
5. Opera buffa and Mozart's line of beauty
This advance, this enrichment of the operatic fabric, is an important Part of what makes Mozart so central to so many opera lovers today but it can nevertheless be over-stressed, particularly by the academically inclined. For one thing, it sidelines the issue of musical beauty, so much a part of the Mozartian experience. What is this beauty, and how can it be defined? Is Fiordiligi, like us, or the men in Shawshank Prison, seduced by a Mozart aria on a summer evening? If so, we may have a comforting sense of closeness to these strange operatic characters who sing so beautifully but who act according to rules we now find alien and difficult to understand. At least we should question this closeness, remind ourselves of the complex codes at work, of the history of operu buffa that preceded(and to an extent made possible)mozart's achieve- ments, of the way he constantly played with well-established operatic conventions. But sometimes the experience of the operas will cause these questions to dissolve, for a few moments, while we are transported by little songs, carried on a blissful musical wind.