Science Fair Project Encyclopedia Da capo aria The da capo aria
was a musical form prevalent in the Baroque era. It was sung by
a soloist with the accompaniment of instruments, often a small
orchestra. The da capo aria was common in the musical genres of
opera and oratorio. A da capo aria is in ternary form, meaning
it is in three sections. The first section is a complete musical
entity, ending in the tonic key, and could in principle be sung
alone. The second section contrasts with the first in its
musical texture, mood, and sometimes also tempo. The third
section was usually not written out by the composer, who rather
simply specified the direction "da capo" (Italian for "from the
beginning"), which meant that the first section should be
repeated in full. The da capo aria depended for its success on
the ability of the singer to improvise variations and ornaments
during the third section, to keep it from being a mere
repetition of the first. This was especially so for da capo
arias written in slower tempos,