Discuss the significance of opera as a reflection of the baroque ...

[sarasara]

Discuss the significance of opera as a reflection of the baroque spirit.
 
  What will be an ideal response?

Question 2

Discuss the Jesuits and their role in the Catholic Church of this era.
 
  What will be an ideal response?

[al]

Answer to Question 1

The baroque style developed as a way to increase the dramatic expressiveness of religious subject matter. This goal, however, also made its way into the new secular art form, opera. Operaa form of theater that combines music, drama, dance, and the visual artswas the quintessential musical genre of the baroque era. Born in Italy, it emerged out of Renaissance efforts to revive the music-drama of ancient Greek theater. In integrating music, drama, and visual display, opera became the ideal expression of the baroque sensibility and the object of imitation throughout Western Europe.
Orfeo, composed in 1607 by Claudio Monteverdi, is considered one of the first full-length operas in music history. In this work, Monteverdi discarded the intimate dimensions of Renaissance chamber music and cultivated an expansive, dramatic style, marked by vivid contrasts of texture and color. Orfeo reflects a typically baroque effort to imbue music with a vocal expressiveness that mirrors the emotional charge of poetry. The written text, declared Monteverdi, should be the master of the music, not the servant. Monteverdi linked affections or specific emotional states with appropriate sounds: anger, for instance, with the high voice register, moderation with the middle voice register, and humility with the low voice register. While the union of music and speech characterized almost all his religious music and smaller secular pieces, it was essential to the effectiveness of his operas.

Answer to Question 2

The Society of Jesus, or Jesuits, was founded by Ignatius Loyola, a fervent Spanish Catholic. He called for a militant return to fundamental Catholic dogma and the strict enforcement of traditional Church teachings. In addition to the monastic vows of celibacy, poverty, and obedience, the Jesuits took an oath of allegiance to the pope, whom they served as soldiers of Christ. Under Loyola's leadership, the Jesuit order became the most influential missionary society of early modern times. Rigorously trained, its members acted as preachers, confessors, and teachersleaders in educational reform and moral discipline. Two aspects of Jesuit trainingmysticism and militancyare reflected in Loyola's influential handbook, the Spiritual Exercises.
The Jesuits were excellent proselytizers and their evangelism helped to spread Catholicism globally. As pioneers in learning the languages and customs of India, China, and Japan, they were the prime intermediaries between Europe and Asia from the sixteenth through the nineteenth centuries. In the Americas, which became prime targets for Jesuit activity, missionaries mastered Native American tribal languages and proceeded to convert thousands to Roman Catholicism. Their success in Mexico and Central and South America stamped these parts of the world with a distinctive cultural character.