Shaping the Voice of the People in Nineteenth-Century Operas

This chapter discusses how and why did opera gain importance in the nineteenth century. The general political and social trends of the day were represented in these operas. Instead of gods (Orpheo), kings (L’incoronazione di Poppea) or aristocrats (Don Giovanni) nineteenth-century operas presented the life of common people often tormented by aristocratic or royal oppression (Fidelio) or entire nations suffering from a tyranny (Guillaume Tell, Don Carlo, Nabucco). Beethoven’s only opera, which today is mostly performed under the name Fidelio, exemplifies the ideological and structural change in the history of opera. While an ensemble is usually just the closing section of an act or scene in a pre-nineteenth-century opera, the chorus can be seen as the dramatic and musical culmination of a nineteenth-century opera. Carl Dahlhaus in Nineteenth-Century Music differentiates between two types of choruses: the so-called scene-setting or picturesque chorus and the action chorus.