Harmonic Language in Opera

Throughout the centuries, composers have endeavored to capture human emotions in their work. Nowhere is this struggle more evident than in the works of operatic composers, who tailor their music to forcefully convey the poetry for which they write. An invaluable tool to these composers is harmonic language, helping to express desires and forces of good and evil underneath the plain and simple language of the text. Harmonic language encompasses several aspects of music, including the major or minor keys in which a piece is written, the piece's tonality, or even atonality, what kinds of resolutions and transitions are used to link or conclude ideas, and the homophonic or polyphonic texture of orchestral voices. Though their ideas often conflicted theoretically, composers of 19th Century opera were fully aware of the character and emotional implications of the harmonic language they used. Evidence of their deliberateness can be found in the revisions of their work- comparing an old draft with the finished piece, as well as by examining their unusual and sometimes disjunctive musical content. The concern these composers had for the effect of their music included even their choices of major and minor keys; a specific key produced a distinct and powerful effect unique to that tonality. Choosing a key or writing harmonies, it stands evidenced by the music produced that 19th Century operatic composers understood how to manipulate harmonic language to create feelings at their command.

But why should some keys produce a different impression than others? After all, in this day and age, even music that is not synthesized is pretty much "in tune" and it doesn't really make a difference if a song is in Eb or F. In reality, though, it would be untrue to say that every major key is like every other, and for minor keys even more so. One could absolutely not equate music in D minor with music in F# minor by noting only that they differ by a major third; while the key of F# minor is more or less noble and majestic in effect, D minor goes beyond simply being the saddest of all keys. The legendary composer of opera and sacred music Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart associated D minor with the idea of death, and with his relationship with his father. Many of the most dramatic moments in Mozart's operas employ D minor, including Don Giovanni's descent into Hell.

It wasn't just D minor, though, that held significance for Mozart. The accredited music scholar H. C. Robbins Landon states that Mozart considered even the most simple musical key, C major, "the key of princes, archbishops, of coronations... and Applausus cantatas... of solemn Masses for festive occasions" (110). In La Traviata, Verdi points this out in his renditions of a thematic melody. This motive appears in E major in the introduction, colored broad and lyrical by the string section, which shines in sharp keys like E. In Act II, however, as Violetta begs Alfredo to love her in the moment of truth, it returns one half-step higher, in F major, to convey the emotion (Dzik). E major is lyrical, but not nearly as desperate and motivated as F major con pasione e forza. (Verdi 2,190)

The explanation for these significances is simple, but twofold. First, instruments of the 19th Century as well as today provide different impressions in different keys. Brass instruments for which the composers were accustomed to writing in the 19th century, including those with crooks, slides, or valves, were more able to play in flat keys than sharp ones. This opens up the possibility for brassy elegance in keys like Ab major or outright brashness