Cabaletta

[Jeffrey]

Does it *always* come at the end of an aria or duet?

[jimupde]

Usually, except in Wagner

[EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)]

Post by Jeffrey
Does it *always* come at the end of an aria or duet?

I was under the impression that was what the term
"Cabaletta" MEANT! (If so, "yes", by definition.)

[jimupde]

I think that cabeletta comes from caballo, the Italian word
horse. the cabeletta is the "galloping" section at the end
of many arias in bel canto operas. Obviously, there are
cabelettas (cabeletti???) in any Wagner operas that
I'm familiar with.

[jimupde]

Obviously, there are cabelettas (cabeletti???) in any >Wagner operas that I'm familiar with.

I meant to say: there are no cabelettas (cabeletti???) in any Wanger
operas....

However, see below....

[HE Elsom]

Post by jimupde
I think that cabeletta comes from caballo, the Italian word
horse. the cabeletta is the "galloping" section at the end
of many arias in bel canto operas. Obviously, there are
cabelettas (cabeletti???) in any Wagner operas that
I'm familiar with.

Cabaletta is a diminutive of copola and means a link or bridge
passage. It never comes at the end of anything -- there's always a
following chorus. The Italian plural is cabalette.

Regards,

Helen

[a***@hotmail.com]

Post by Jeffrey
Does it *always* come at the end of an aria or duet?
--
Jeffrey

There is a natural rhythm to drama -- you start slow and then build to
fast.
The cabaletta formalizes that, as does the concertato form, the
stretta. Both derive from horse racing: after the cavatina or aria,
something changes (if only the singer's mind) and s/he gets on his/her
horse and races to the finish line. This is called, even in English,
the "stretch" -- the last straight gasp before the tape. It is
particularly employed in Italian operas before a certain date to end
the first or middle act at a high point of excitement so that
audiences will be lured back for more -- a stylistic quirk long since
abandoned in opera (verismo did it in) but still maintained in
musicals and operettas.

Wagner may have been leery of cabalettas, but he was born in a theater
trunk, and whatever the longueurs of any act in any Wagner opera, the
last 5-10 minutes are always galvanizing, high-speed, high-intensity,
full of excitement. They begin fast too, usually.

There ARE cabalettas or, more pecisely, secondary arias that are not
cabalettas, i.e. not opportunities for wild display and a burst of
speed. Linking an aria to a cabaletta can, in certain situations,
frustrate dramatic truth. Thus, for instance, the long and exquisite
Willow Song in Rossini's Otello would sound just idiotic if it were
followed by a traditional cabaletta -- a form just coming into vogue.
He ditched it for a brief, simple, easily omitted prayer that is not a
proper cabaletta at all. Verdi, 65 years later, followed Rossini's
example -- but though his Ave Maria is NOT a cabaletta in any sense of
the term, it is in contrast to the simple, tragic aria, a powerhouse
continuation of the desperate mood.

Hans Lick