Research On Music Aesthetic Characteristics Of Monteverdi's "L'Orfeo"

The era of Baroque music is the continuum of Renaissance movement in the new historic environment. The advanced concept and superior achievement of music art in the period of Renaissance are unexceptionally inherited in the era of Baroque. It is undoubtedly that the historical status and particular contribution in the era of Baroque music cannot be replaced by those of other era. It involves the following aspects: (1) the generation of modern harmonics and the generation of minor and major system; (2) the generation of opera and Oratorio and Cantatas which are in the genre of large vocal music; (3) the generation of new form and genre of instrumental music, such as Fudge, Sonata and concerto, which have influenced the development of European music for more than 300 years and become the milestone of history of European music. The significant contribution of this era lies in the generation of modern opera, which not only increases the new element into the vocal music, increases the new genre of musical art but also greatly influences all the music form in this era. The additional contribution also lies in that it not only establishes the basic form of opera but also significantly promotes the development and improvement of the new system and genre in the period of Baroque. In this era, the person who plays the important role on the promotion of opera undoubtedly is the great Italian composer, Monteverdi. The "L'Orfeo" which is composed by him has been praised as the first mature one in the history of opera. It is the first more perfect presentation that applies the novel technique and the principle which emphasizes the trend of the opera to become music and dramatic in nature. His compositions adapt to not only the social-cultural background and cultural environment in the period of Baroque but also the art aesthetic principles of that era. It is its satisfaction to people's aesthetic need made it become the immortal classical work which has been performed for four hundred years.In fact, fewer researches are made on the era and works before the period of Bathing. However, the art aesthetic of opera in the period of Baroque greatly influences the later aesthetic concepts, and in particularly, Monteverdi's "L'Orfeo" has the great achievement, which deserves more attention. Hence, it is appropriate to explore the art aesthetic of opera in the period of Baroque from the perspective of Monteverdi's "L'Orfeo". The art characteristics of one era can be vividly reflected by the analysis on the typical art forms and typical art works.This thesis applies two methods to further investigate the art aesthetic characteristics of opera in the period of Baroque, namely, the literature review and detailed analysis on audiovisual materials. The previous study is not complete yet; therefore, this research attempts to provide new model and new method to the investigation on the art aesthetic characteristics about other eras.