Opera, which first emerged in Italy around the baroque era, is a form of music that centers on singing accompanied by instruments. Set on a stage, opera is made up of sections of sung speech, where the plot is furthered, and arias, which are emotion-fueled songs sung by one character. Operas also often included sections of dance and songs sung by choruses. The oldest opera that is still performed is Claudio Monteverdi's Orfeo, which debuted in 1607.
Baroque music popularized the use of contrast as a dramatic element in composition. This means Baroque opera and music has periods of soft playing, punctuated by loud, dynamic sections to create tension or drama. As the era progressed, composers began to move away from a single melody and focus instead on contrasting more than one. This lead to the development of harmonization. Pitch and timbre of instruments also became important as well as the use of harpsichord as the primary instrument.
In late era baroque music, arias took on a larger role in librettos. Some singers gained celebrity status and these arias featured them more prominently. During this time, the recited parts of the opera receded and the dancing sections vanished almost completely. As financing for operas became more difficult to obtain, the elaborate sets and staging of earlier baroque operas faded away, and productions soon began to reuse sets from prior performances.
Two types of opera became popular in Italy towards the end of the baroque period. The first, called opera seria, focused on serious subject matter. Examples include Rinaldo (1711) by George Frideric Handel and Demofoonte (1764) by Niccolò Jommelli. Also known as Neapolitan opera, opera seria focused mainly on the solo voice. The other subgenre, opera buffa, concentrated on comedy and featured more duets and multiple vocalists.