Crossword Dictionary
aria
aria, arias - n
an elaborate melody for a single voice
The Italian word ‘aria’ simply means ‘air’ – as any linguistically curious visitor to an Italian petrol station will have discovered. It’s in the 16th century that we first find it used in connection with song.
First the phrase ‘l’aere veneziano’ (‘in the Venetian manner’) came to signify any kind of self-contained melodic solo number. Then in opera it became customary to use the term ‘aria’ to distinguish this kind of formally rounded song – the kind of thing you could extract and sing on its own – from the fluid, dramatic, speech-imitating recitativo style.
In England, however, you could still find the word ‘air’ used as a simple synonym for melody until the early 19th century.
In opera, and in certain kinds of oratorio, the aria tends to stand apart from the psychological drama. The action halts, the singer turns to face the audience, and delivers his or her thoughts in a kind of ‘aside’. Naturally arias soon began to obey their own structural rules.