aria, elaborate and often lengthy solo song with instrumental accompaniment. In the 16th cent. it was a melody improvised over a strophic bass line, and a distinction was made between instrumental, vocal, and dance arias. the use of the term to indicate instrumental music was continued by such composers as Froberger, Pachelbel, and J. S. Bach. The first use of the term to indicate solo song was by Giulio Caccini in 1602. Later in the 17th cent. Italian opera composers developed the aria da capo, a throughcomposed (nonstrophic) three-part structure in which the beginning section is repeated after a contrasting middle section. Though this formal scheme was first used by Monteverdi, he did not designate it aria da capo. This type achieved artistic perfection in the operas of Alessandro Scarlatti and Handel and in the works of J. S. Bach. In the 18th cent. the three main sections were divided into subsections, and there were classifications of many various types of arias. The extreme convention of using as many types as possible, but never the same type in succession, developed in the Neapolitan opera, and the subsequent formal rigidity led to a decline of the aria da capo. Later in the 18th cent. prominent virtuoso singers, seeking a means for technical display, caused the development of a type consisting in reality of two separate arias, the first usually dramatic and the second lyrical. Most of the arias of Mozart are of this kind. But in French operas, especially those of Christoph W. von Gluck, there was a development leading to greater similarity of recitative and aria, which eventually culminated in the complete abandonment of arias in the late operas of Richard Wagner, who substituted a highly melodic recitative called Sprechgesang [Ger.,=speech-song]. The form continued to be preferred by Italian opera composers, however, and the romantic aria reached its height in the works of Giuseppe Verdi.

Solo song with instrumental accompaniment in opera, cantata, or oratorio. The strophic or stanzaic aria, in which each new stanza might represent a melodic variation on the first, appeared in opera in Claudio Monteverdi's Orfeo (1607) and was widely used for decades. The standard aria form circa 1650–1775 was the da capo aria, in which the opening melody and text are repeated after an intervening melody-text section (often in a different key, tempo, and metre); the return of the first section was often virtuosically embellished by the singer. Comic operas never limited themselves to da capo form. Even in serious opera, from circa 1750 a variety of forms were used; Gioacchino Rossini and others often expanded the aria into a complete musical scene in which two or more conflicting emotions were expressed. Richard Wagner's operas largely abandoned the aria in favour of a continuous musical texture, but arias have never ceased to be written.

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This article is about the musical term "aria." For other meanings or uses of the word, see Aria (disambiguation).

An aria (Italian for air; plural: arie or arias in common usage) in music was originally any expressive melody, usually, but not always, performed by a singer. The term is now used almost exclusively to describe a self-contained piece for one voice usually with orchestral accompaniment. Perhaps the most common context for arias is opera, although there are many arias that form movements of oratorios and cantatas. Composers also wrote 'concert arias', which are not part of any larger work, such as "Ah Perfido" by Beethoven, and a number of concert arias by Mozart.

The aria first appeared in the 14th century when it signified a manner or style of singing or playing. Aria could also mean a melodic scheme (motif) or pattern for singing a poetic pattern, such as a sonnet. It was also attached to instrumental music, though this is no longer the case. Over time, arias evolved from simple melodies into a structured form; in about 17th century, the aria was written in ternary form (ABA); these arias were known as da capo arias. The aria later "invaded" the opera repertoire with its many sub-species (Aria cantabile, Aria agitata, Aria di bravura, and so on). By the mid-19th century, many operas became a sequence of arias, reducing the space left for recitative, while other operas (for instance those by Wagner) were entirely through-composed, with no section being readily identifiable as a self-contained aria.

An arietta is a short aria.

Notable arias

Voice range	Aria	Opera	Composer
soprano	O mio babbino caro	Gianni Schicchi	Giacomo Puccini
	Sì, mi chiamano Mimì	La bohème	Giacomo Puccini
	Vissi d'arte	Tosca	Giacomo Puccini
	Der Hölle Rache	The Magic Flute	Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
	Summertime	Porgy and Bess	George Gershwin
mezzo-soprano	Habanera	Carmen	Georges Bizet
	Mon cœur s'ouvre à ta voix	Samson et Dalila	Camille Saint-Saëns
	Voi, che sapete	Le nozze di Figaro	Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
	Ombra mai fu	Serse	George Frideric Handel
tenor	La donna è mobile	Rigoletto	Giuseppe Verdi
	Celeste Aida	Aida	Giuseppe Verdi
	Vesti la giubba	Pagliacci	Ruggero Leoncavallo
	Nessun dorma	Turandot	Giacomo Puccini
	E lucevan le stelle	Tosca	Giacomo Puccini
baritone	Largo al factotum	The Barber of Seville	Gioachino Rossini
	Votre toast (Toreador song)	Carmen	Georges Bizet
	Der Vogelfänger bin ich ja	The Magic Flute	Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
bass	Non più andrai	The Marriage of Figaro	Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
	O Isis und Osiris	The Magic Flute	Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
	Madamina, il catalogo è questo	Don Giovanni	Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Notable operatic duets

Voice ranges	Aria	Opera	Composer
tenor and soprano	Libiamo ne' lieti calici	La traviata	Giuseppe Verdi
	O soave fanciulla	La bohème	Giacomo Puccini
	Parle-moi de ma mère	Carmen	Georges Bizet
tenor and mezzo-soprano	Già i sacerdoti adunansi	Aida	Giuseppe Verdi
tenor and baritone	O Mimì, tu più non torni	La bohème	Giacomo Puccini
soprano and mezzo-soprano	Che soave Zeffiretto	The Marriage of Figaro	Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
soprano and mezzo-soprano	Scuoti quella fronda di ciliegio	Madama Butterfly	Giacomo Puccini
soprano and contralto	The Flower Duet	Lakmé	Léo Delibes

Media

See also

• Air (music)
• Recitative

External links

• The Aria Database