Music
The overture in C major is notable for its long development section and symphonic character. Re-used with reduced orchestration as the first movement of his Symphony No 63, in the opera it finishes on an open cadence.
Throughout the opera the key of E flat is associated with the moon; the 18th century often linked the key with darkness and sleep.
In this opera Haydn moved to a new level of inspiration in the noble arias he writes for his serious characters Flaminia and Ernesto and the evocative music for the flight to the moon in Act 1. Several numbers (vocal and instrumental) combine triple metre and a slow to moderato tempo. Flaminia’s Act I "Ragion nell’alma siede" has the typical form and coloratura of opera seria, while Lisetta’s "Se lo comanda" in Act II mixes comic and serious styles.
The ballet interludes in Act II create an imaginary world with off-stage horns and bassoons and string harmonics. By contrast the G minor sinfonia which starts Act III depicts the inner rage of the duped Buonafede.
Haydn re-used parts of the opera in trios for flute, violin and cello (Hob IV:6-11) and Ernesto’s "Qualche volta non fa male" become the Benedictus of the Mariazeller Mass (Hob XXII:8).
Read more about this topic: Il Mondo Della Luna
Famous quotes containing the word music:
“Morning work! By the blushes of Aurora and the music of Memnon, what should be man’s morning work in this world?”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“I’ve come close to matching the feeling of that night in 1944 in music, when I first heard Diz and Bird, but I’ve never got there.... I’m always looking for it, listening and feeling for it, though, trying to always feel it in and through the music I play every day.”
—Miles Davis (1926–1991)
“It is from the blues that all that may be called American music derives its most distinctive character.”
—James Weldon Johnson (1871–1938)