A Today, like most other kinds of theater and music, the musical drama of opera enjoys a myriad of different forms and interpretations. Operas can exhibit both comical moods as well as the most tragic ones while the actors may be of the highest caliber of simply part-time novices. But it has not always been this way. Since its beginning in Italy around the year 1600, the opera has experienced a number of shifts and trends. In the beginning, it was heavily influenced by classical Greek drama and attempted to adhere to its heroic subject matter and theme. Yet, by the eighteenth century, two distinct forms were beginning to branch out from the original operatic base in Italy. Italian audiences were able to witness two fundamental styles: one was the serious, tragedy-like type known as opera seria, while the other, a lighter, often more earthy and comic style, was called opera buffa. Their distinct styles reflected the social mentality of the era and its ability to change and grow in a new direction, which later influenced further alterations in modem opera.
B The first half of the eighteenth century was dominated by the opera seria, which most closely resembled the earliest form of the opera. The opera seria, which first arose in the cities of Naples and Venice, had taken on a clear, practically inflexible form by around 1720. In its very essence, as both the libretti and the musical composition demonstrate, the opera seria was a product of the philosophical movement that arose in the late 1600"s, the famous Enlightenment, that seized all of Europe and affected so many different aspects of life. The philosophers of the Enlightenment, when they turned their ideas to opera, maintained that this musical-dramatic form should reflect the new ideals of clarity and unity, which were based primarily off of ancient Greek philosophical treatises. Therefore, its characteristics were heavily influenced by the Enlightenment which put human reason at the forefront of thought. In turn, clarity and structure became the foundation of the opera seria. In many ways, simplicity and rational thought, which were further major characteristics of the opera seria, go hand in hand. It scorned imagination and improvisation in favor of familiar storylines, most often Greek, which was easier on the audience and did not tax their mental capacities too much. Thus, write Grout and Palisca, Italian opera seria "aimed to be clear, simple, rational, faithful to nature, of universal appeal, and capable of giving pleasure to its audiences without causing them unnecessary mental fatigue." However, some operagoers felt slighted by the fact that the operas failed to challenge them, and though it remained a popular form of entertainment, it displayed a number of other limitations.
C One of the early forms of impetus for these changes in opera came from the scholars at the Arcadian Academy in Rome, led primarily by Gian Vincenza Gravina. These reformers wanted above all to subject the Italian opera to the guidelines of Greek tragedy; in other words, they aimed to purge the older Baroque operas of their extravagant characterization and complex plots, as well as to take away the comic elements and to regulate the opera"s composition, both musically and structurally. In so doing, these reforms led in essence to "the restriction of the music"s role in dramatic developments," claims Sadie, and left the part of explaining occurrences and events in the story to the rather dry and unaccompanied recitatives.
D Some members of the audience found further difficulties with the opera seria. First, the organization of the opera never deviated from the usual norm. It was always composed of three acts, and, within each act were its fundamental components: the recitatives and the arias. Recitatives are the singing of the cast, which pushes the action of the opera forward. Arias usually followed as a climax and revealed the emotion or internal conflict of the actors. The main issue was that such a rigid structure made the opera monotonous and at times predictable. If there had been more flexibility, the operas would have been more vivid and alive, yet the composers were bound by the predominant philosophical constraints of the early 1700s. A frequent problem for composers of opera stria was that, due to the rather structured forms of almost all ingredients of the music, it was difficult to achieve much contrast, in either action or music. In essence, then, the opera stria, in the hands of most composers, was little more than a mere stringing together of many different arias and recitatives. For the more daring, and in many ways more skilled composers, however, there were ways to avoid this strict rigidity. The ritornello, or the instrumental interlude, of the da capo aria, for instance, could be dropped, as was noted before, or could be changed just enough to give variation. Also, although often criticized, each singer"s ornamental improvisation and final cadenza (i. e. the elaborate, ornamental melodic flourish interpolated into an aria) did provide another means of contrast, as did, somewhat later in the century, the emergence of more variation in the orchestral parts and in dynamic contrasts, as well as the increasing use of ensembles and other pieces; eventually even dance numbers and ballets came to be included in opera seria. Even the meter and keys, which for the most part were standardized, could be varied ever so slightly, and gained more freedom as time went on.
E After around 1770, the arias had also achieved some flexibility, due to the possibility of using forms other than the da capo, even, under French influence, the use of the rondo aria. These newer arias, as stated, had become much longer, but had retained their simple melodic lines, as well as "a certain blandness of rhythm and harmony." On the whole, in the period after 1770, the increasing diffusion and freedom in opera seria can be seen, and this phenomenon eventually led to its abandonment as a pure and strict dramatic form.
F The stage, then, was ripe for change in the form of the opera buffa, which was beginning to manifest itself within the opera seria itself through the intermezzo. The intermezzo was already an integral part of the opera seria in that it was a short performance break between acts and was less predictable than the major production. Later, toward the turn of the century, these performances grew to be of a larger size and greater importance, and they were eventually performed as opera in their own right, no longer intermixed with the serious opera. The later intermezzi typically had two or three short acts, each consisting of one or two arias for each main role, and usually ending in a duet. Over time, the style of the intermezzo caught on and was eventually put on separately, eventually being dubbed the opera buffa. This type of opera was characterized by a light, even comic, motif. More importantly, it was less constrained and displayed elements of free emotion and subject matter that mirrored everyday life, not, for example, heroes from Greek tragedies. Further, music began to play a greater role in the opera, was spontaneous, and often mirrored the emotions of the characters. Because the themes were more true to life, the audience could relate more closely with the opera buffa. As it developed, the opera buffa also began to take on more serious subject matter yet retained its free flowing manner.
G By the late 1700s, the influence of the Enlightenment was beginning to lose its luster, and the two predominant forms of opera began to merge into one. The opera seria started to display more elasticity in its form and structure and even included some dancing in its performances. Likewise, the opera buffa began to engage in more sophisticated themes. By the end of the century, even the most sensitive opera enthusiast could hardly distinguish between the two. More importantly, as each form changed, they were able to provide the audience with the best of both
worlds and a more complete opera experience, as they were composed with intellectual integrity, stimulation sprinkled with lightheartedness, and humor. From this, the modern form of opera was born.
Summarize the information about operas as discussed in the passage. Match the appropriate statements to the type of opera with which they are associated. You are required to select three statements for the opera seria and two for the opera buffa.
A. Its main structure was always composed around three acts.
B. It allowed emotions to be expressed more freely by the actors.
C. It developed out of a short intermission type of production.
D. It was the predominant form of opera in Italy during the early 1700s.
E. It contained climactic arias, which helped move the plot forward.
F. It was constructed around rational thought and simplicity.
G. It was popular because of its light subject matter in the seventeenth century.
Opera seria

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填空题 Opera buffa
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填空题 1

填空题 Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in Reading Passage 3? On your Answer Sheet, write
YES if the statement agrees with the claims of the writer
NO if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer
NOT GIVERN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this.
The composers of opera seria were, for the most part, bound by social obligation.

填空题 The action and imagination of the opera seria confused the audience.

填空题 The style and delivery of the opera buffa became even more restrained than the opera seria.

填空题 By the late eighteenth century, the opera buffa had taken on a slightly different character from mere comic opera.

填空题 The opera buffa was born from the intermezzo, which was a part of the opera seria.

单选题 For each question below, choose the answer that best completes the sentence. Then write the corresponding letter on the Answer Sheet.
According to the passage, two forms in eighteenth-century Italian opera arose because ---|||________|||---.

单选题 The author discusses the Enlightenment in paragraph B in order to ---|||________|||---.

单选题 Which of the following can be inferred from paragraph B about the opera seria?

单选题 Which of the following can be inferred about the audience"s response to the opera seria?

单选题 According to paragraph G, which of the following statements best expresses the essential information of the underlined sentence?