Encyclopedia > Aria

  Article Content

Aria

An aria (Italian for air; plural: arie or arias in common usage) in music was originally any expressive melody, usually, but not always, performed by a singer. It is now used almost exclusively to describe a self contained piece for one voice usually with orchestral accompaniment, especially as part of an opera.

In the 17th century, the aria was written in ternary form (ABA); these arias were known as arie col da capo). The aria later "invaded" the opera repertoire with its many sub-species (Aria cantabile, Aria agitata, Aria di bravura, and so on). In the 18th century, operas became a sequence of arias, reducing the space left for recitative[?].



All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License

 
  Search Encyclopedia

Search over one million articles, find something about almost anything!
 
 
  
  Featured Article
Thomas a Kempis

... nor are they arranged invariably in the same order. The work is a manual of devotion intended to help the soul in its communion with God and the pursuit ...

 
 
 
This page was created in 27.2 ms