What is the libretto: the history of the term

Strangely enough, but if we asked what a libretto, a resident of the 17-18 centuries, he would say with full confidence that this is a book! Indeed, the name of this musical term is translated this way. Earlier the libretto called the literary basis of opera, ballet and other dramatic works. This brochure was a kind of scenario, where the action of the stage production was described. But it was not possible to become a separate literary genre , because the plot described in the booklet was closely connected with the opera itself or the musical. Already later this term began to be called separate musical works.

History of the libretto

Until the middle of the 18th century, all the staging in this musical key was set, adhering to a certain scheme. This was due to the fact that most of the dramatic tasks were of the same type. Several composers in their works could use the same libretto. But in the second half of the 18th century, even a separate type of activity appeared - the composition of musical accompaniment. The librettist had to come up with individual stories, not similar to the previous ones. This man understood best what a libretto was, and, working with the composer, was ready to offer suitable options. Of course, it was required to understand and convey the original author's idea, the character of the dramatic work. It can be said that before librettists there was a difficult task - to combine poems, musical component and actions of the characters of the production. For example, the famous masters of this genre were R. Calzabiji (Gluck used his services while working on "Orpheus and Eurydice") and Dawne (collaborated with Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov and other great composers).

What is the libretto in the 19th century?

In these times professional composers began to shift composers for writing the literary foundations of operas, ballets and operettas. However, in order to understand what a libretto is and how to complement it, it required a lot of creative potential. There were also some composers who continued to cooperate with librettists, but trusted them to perform other tasks. Man, for example, had to prepare only a poetic text.

Examples of productions and their authors

The basis for the libretto and to this day are literary works, which are processed in accordance with musical and theatrical requirements. For example, this feature can be seen when comparing the "Queen of Spades" of Pushkin and its interpretation of Tchaikovsky. Few works of this genre can be called autonomous, that is, written specifically for a particular production. It is known that the composer Richard Wagner wrote his own libretto for all his works. Alexander Serov, a Russian composer, also possessed the same talent. He is the author of the libretto of the operas "Judith" and "Rogagna", although the latter is written in co-authorship with the theater critic Dmitry Averkiev.

The relevance of the genre in modern times

The modern musical theater does not stand still and actively offers spectators new genres and productions. Of course, the most striking innovation was the musical. The libretto for this genre differs slightly, because this musical production is in fact "come from" the American operetta. The musical is basically also a musical interpretation of a literary work. True, there is more theatricality, supplemented by choreography, production situations, special actors' plasticity. And, of course, the main role in it is played by music, which means that in this case the libretto receives much more significance than it had before in the operetta.