Editing Opera (section)

===={{Anchor|Baroque opera}}Baroque era====
[[File:Vivaldi.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Antonio Vivaldi]], in 1723]]
[[File:Ceskystage.jpg|thumb|Private baroque theatre in [[Český Krumlov]]]]
[[File:Pannini, Giovanni Paolo - Musical Fête - 1747.png|thumb|[[Teatro Argentina]] ([[Giovanni Paolo Panini|Panini]], 1747, [[Louvre]])]]

Opera did not remain confined to court audiences for long. In 1637, the idea of a "season" (often during the [[carnival]]) of publicly attended operas supported by ticket sales emerged in [[Venice]]. Monteverdi had moved to the city from Mantua and composed his last operas, ''[[Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria]]'' and ''[[L'incoronazione di Poppea]]'', for the Venetian theatre in the 1640s. His most important follower [[Francesco Cavalli]] helped spread opera throughout Italy. In these early Baroque operas, broad comedy was blended with tragic elements in a mix that jarred some educated sensibilities, sparking the first of opera's many reform movements, sponsored by the [[Arcadian academy|Arcadian Academy]], which came to be associated with the poet [[Metastasio]], whose [[Libretto|libretti]] helped crystallize the genre of [[opera seria]], which became the leading form of Italian opera until the end of the 18th century. Once the Metastasian ideal had been firmly established, comedy in Baroque-era opera was reserved for what came to be called [[opera buffa]]. Before such elements were forced out of opera seria, many libretti had featured a separately unfolding comic plot as sort of an "opera-within-an-opera". One reason for this was an attempt to attract members of the growing merchant class, newly wealthy, but still not as cultured as the nobility, to the public [[opera house]]s. These separate plots were almost immediately resurrected in a separately developing tradition that partly derived from the [[commedia dell'arte]], a long-flourishing improvisatory stage tradition of Italy. Just as intermedi had once been performed in between the acts of stage plays, operas in the new comic genre of [[Intermezzo|''intermezzi'']], which developed largely in [[Naples]] in the 1710s and 1720s, were initially staged during the intermissions of opera seria. They became so popular, however, that they were soon being offered as separate productions.

Opera seria was elevated in tone and highly stylised in form, usually consisting of ''secco'' recitative interspersed with long ''da capo'' arias. These afforded great opportunity for virtuosic singing and during the golden age of ''opera seria'' the singer really became the star. The role of the hero was usually written for the high-pitched male [[castrato]] voice, which was produced by [[castration]] of the singer before [[puberty]], which prevented a boy's [[larynx]] from being transformed at puberty. Castrati such as [[Farinelli]] and [[Senesino]], as well as female [[soprano]]s such as [[Faustina Bordoni]], became in great demand throughout Europe as ''opera seria'' ruled the stage in every country except France. Farinelli was one of the most famous singers of the 18th century. Italian opera set the Baroque standard. Italian libretti were the norm, even when a German composer like [[George Frideric Handel|Handel]] found himself composing the likes of ''[[Rinaldo (opera)|Rinaldo]]'' and ''[[Giulio Cesare]]'' for London audiences. Italian [[Libretto|libretti]] remained dominant in the [[Classical period (music)|classical period]] as well, for example in the operas of [[Mozart]], who wrote in [[Vienna]] near the century's close. Leading Italian-born composers of opera seria include [[Alessandro Scarlatti]], [[Antonio Vivaldi]] and [[Nicola Porpora]].{{sfn|Parker|1994|loc=ch. 1–3}}