01 Poetry and music: the rhythm of words
In ancient Greece, lyric poetry was sung to the accompaniment of the lyre. Even today, poetry has a rhythm made up of stresses, syllables and rhymes, just like music.
- Line of poetry ↔ musical phrase
- Verse and chorus
- Rhyme and repetition help memory
Activity: Read a poem, clapping on the stressed syllables: what rhythm do you find?
02 Dante, troubadours and the Middle Ages
Troubadours combined poetry and melody. In the Divina Commedia, Dante describes angels singing and mentions the musician Casella.
Listening
03 The opera libretto
Opera combines words and music: the librettist writes the words, and the composer sets them to music. Da Ponte–Mozart is a famous partnership.
- Libretto: the words of an opera
- Recitative: tells the story
- Aria: expresses feelings
04 Fairy tales and stories in music
Many composers have turned stories into music: the narrator's voice and the instruments become characters.
Activity: Choose a fairy tale and assign an instrument to each character.
05 The singer-songwriter tradition
Italian singer-songwriters have written lyrics that are true poetry: De André, Guccini, Dalla, Battiato. In 2016 Bob Dylan won the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Activity: Analyse the lyrics of a song: its theme, rhymes, imagery and message.
Quiz
Questions based on the content of this page and the summaries for the first, second and third years of middle school.
1.In ancient Greece, lyric poetry was…
2.What is the oldest complete piece of music with lyrics that has survived?
3.Who were the troubadours?
4.Guido d'Arezzo took the names of the notes from…
5.The Renaissance madrigal sets… to music.
6.What is the text of an opera called?
7.Which librettist worked with Mozart on Le nozze di Figaro?
8.In opera, what tells the story in a style close to speech?
9.According to Gluck's reform, music must…
10.The comic opera La serva padrona is by…
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Made with ♥ by Maristella Povellato