Reclaiming the Art of Recitative: The Continuo Section in Giulio Cesare

David Stern: Conductor, Giulio Cesare

One of the most distinctive characteristics of baroque opera is the alternation between sung arias and half-spoken half-sung recitative. The arias often freeze the action of the story as the singer expresses their character’s feelings at that moment. Recitative helps move the plot forward, encompassing most of the dialogue between characters. The full orchestra plays during arias, but often only a small group of musicians will accompany the singers in recitative.

This small group of musicians is called the continuo group. While the audience may walk away humming one of the many memorable tunes, David Stern [Conductor, Giulio Cesare] has been paying a great deal of attention to the connecting recitatives as well. “Unfortunately, today,the recitative is often sort of rushed through to get to the next aria,” he said. “It is important to remember that opera began with dear Monteverdi. His works are mostly recitative interspersed with a few arias. The emphasis is on musical storytelling. How do we revive that art today? The answer is to have the continuo group in the rehearsals as early as possible.”

For Glimmerglass Opera’s production of Giulio Cesare, the continuo group has been in the rehearsal room for the majority of staging and at the theater for all of the onstage tech rehearsals. “We could certainly rehearse the musicians once briefly and then throw them into the mix at the last few rehearsals,” David commented, “but the result would be both musically and dramatically unsatisfying. Magical things happen between a really tight continuo group when they’ve had the time to develop a close connection with the singers.”

David describes the continuo section as behaving “much like a jazz trio. The harpsichord provides the harmonic foundation and functions as the rhythm section. The cellist plays the bass line and the theorbist is like a jazz guitarist.” Much like a jazz trio, the continuo group does not have fully written-out parts. Instead, they read from a score with the vocal line, chord changes and a bass line. It is much closer to the lead sheet a jazz player uses than the fully notated parts that most classical musicians play from. “In rehearsals they have been listening to every single word the singers are saying and delicately coloring them with their accompaniment,” David said. “They are continually experimenting with different musical ideas to support the action onstage. Should just the harpsichord play? Should everyone play the chord? Should it be played loud or soft? They truly pore over each word of the score to give a musical support for this text which is, in essence, improvised in each performance.”

photo:
1. The continuo section for Handel's Giulio Cesare in performance. photo credit: Cory Weaver.