Huwaida Al Hassan (Al Ain)

Just as in the ancient Greeks the theater emerged from religious festivals, the art of opera emerged in church halls, where historians historically see the development of opera from hymns and praises, that is, a set of compositions performed in praise . On holidays, the show was characterized by a complex direction and praise in a polyphonic style, and after the representation inside the churches, it moved to their patios, and then to the squares. In the fifteenth century, the platform arises with the emergence of religious representations.
The Italian critic and playwright Vito Pandolfi in his book “History of Theater” believes that we can consider the panegyric as the first form of musical theater destined to become liturgical musical performances, that is, sung opera. It can be said that it is a religious-themed opera.

gradual development
In the 15th and 16th centuries representations appeared in the courts and palaces of the nobility. They were characterized by luxurious clothes and great decorations. The colors of the costumes were carefully selected. There were also lessons on moving on the platform, proper lighting design. Designed for perspective and using mirrors. The musical orchestra was carefully integrated to avoid speech during the theatrical performance. The crystallization of the operatic art of the Italian composer Jacopo Peri coincided with the beginning of the Baroque era, or rather the transition from the Renaissance to the Baroque era, when authors began to pay attention to the harmonic progression and also used the triangle. the tone, which is an unstable split dissonance, while the use of harmony was directed towards the tonality it represents. The move from Renaissance to Baroque led to the idea that chords could be used instead of tonality. A sense of closure, one of the main ideas known as tonality.

the first opera
Jacopo Perri’s opera Daphne 1597 is the first opera and Daphne was an attempt to revive classical Greek theater which in turn was the hallmark of the renaissance but unfortunately Daphne lost her roles and. It was lost and in 1600 Uridich appeared, which is another work by Perry that has survived to this day.
In the same year, a new model of religious drama appeared, written by Emilud Cavaliere and using dance and singing in addition to theatrical scenes, and had characteristics similar to Perry’s opera, as it included a simple group of choral songs with intervals. Instrumental music adapted to each dramatic character and which accompanies the tonal connection of human voices according to their vocal layers, and in it the dialogue becomes a song together with the choral parts and the solos, with Cavaliere being the first to transfer the music stage. The first turned the work into melodies, and Cavalieri was a dancer, organist and singing teacher, paving the way for true operatic writing.

Visual art
Although opera originated in Italy, it moved like an aristocracy to the rest of Europe, and Italian opera dominated most of Europe, despite the emergence of great authors in the rest of the Old Continent, for example. Schutz in Germany, Lull in France and Russell in England. and many others who contributed to the development of the art of opera.
With the development of the art of opera, it began to combine seven arts, as defined by Ahmed Bayum in his book “Music Dictionary”.