Serenata as a Musical-Dramatic Work “on Occasion”: Historical Path and Genre Specificity

Abstract

The purpose of the research. The study reveals the specific features of the serenata as a musical-dramatic work “on occasion” and its historical path. The methodology is based on a combination of a historical-cultural approach and an analytical method, which made it possible to show the serenata genre in its historical dynamics and to clarify the features of the libretto and music. The scientific novelty of the work lies in the fact that for the first time the serenata was characterised as a musical-dramatic work “on occasion”, which existed in the European cultural space from the middle of the 17th to the end of the 18th century, in genre categories and the main milestones of its historical path were highlighted. Conclusions. The history of serenata begins in the middle of the 17th century and ends at the turn of the 18^th – 19th centuries. Leading composers of the Baroque era (G. B. Bononcini, A. Vivaldi, A. Scarlatti, A. Stradella) and classicism (K. W. Gluck, J. Haydn, W. A. Mozart, and others) turned to this genre. In manuscripts, musical-theatrical works “on occasion” of the 17th–18th centuries had different names, but the most semantically loaded is the serenata. Serenata has many similarities with cantata and opera, but its specificity allows us to consider serenata as a separate genre. The genre-creative features of the serenata are writing “on occasion”; allegorical libretto as a tool for glorifying the customer; the final recitative or a separately written part (“licenza”), which contains the glorification of the addressee; performance in a private “closed” space; plot, but without developed dramatic action; use of scenery and costumes; expanded, in contrast to the cantata, structure and performing composition.

Keywords: baroque, classicism, serenata as a musical-dramatic work “on occasion”, aristocratic milieu, opera, cantata, musical genre, libretto.