Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work (called an opera) which combines a text (called a libretto) and a musical score. The performing arts are those forms of Art which differ from the Plastic arts insofar as the former uses the artist's own Body, Face and presence A musician is a person who plays or writes Music. Musicians can be classified by their roles in creating or performing music An instrumentalist plays a Drama is the specific mode of Fiction represented in Performance. A libretto is the text used in an extended Musical work such as an Opera, Operetta, Masque, sacred or secular Oratorio and Sheet music is a hand-written or printed form of Musical notation; like its analogs -- books pamphlets etc [1] Opera is part of the Western classical music tradition. Classical music is a broad term that usually refers to mainstream music produced in or rooted in the traditions of Western liturgical and Secular music [2] Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery and costumes and sometimes includes dance. Theatre (or theater, see spelling differences) is the branch of the Performing arts defined by Bernard Beckerman as what "occurs when one Acting is the work of an Actor or Actress, which is a person in Theatre, Television, Film, or any other Storytelling Theatrical scenery is that which is used as a setting for a Theatrical production The term costume can refer to Wardrobe and dress in general or to the distinctive style of dress of a particular people class or period Dance (from French danser, perhaps from Frankish) is an Art form that generally refers to movement of the body usually rhythmic The performance is typically given in an opera house, accompanied by an orchestra or smaller musical ensemble. An opera house is a theater building used for Opera performances that consists of a stage an orchestra pit audience seating and backstage facilities for costumes An orchestra is an instrumental ensemble, usually fairly large with string brass woodwind sections and possibly a percussion section as well A musical ensemble is a group of two or more Musicians who perform instrumental or vocal Music.
Opera started in Italy at the end of the 16th century (Jacopo Peri's lost Dafne, produced in Florence about 1597) and soon spread through the rest of Europe: Schütz in Germany, Lully in France, and Purcell in England all helped to establish their national traditions in the 17th century. Jacopo Peri ( August 20 1561 &ndash August 12 1633) was an Italian Composer and singer of the transitional period between Dafne is the earliest known work that by modern standards could be considered an Opera. Florence ( Italian: Firenze Florentia and Fiorenza) is the Capital City of the Italian region of Tuscany Heinrich Schütz (October 8 ( JC) 1585 Köstritz - November 6 1672 Dresden) was a German Composer and organist, generally regarded Jean-Baptiste de Lully ( Giovanni Battista di Lulli) (ʒɑ̃batist də lyˈli in French (November 28 1632 &ndash March 22 1687 was a French Composer of Italian Henry Purcell (ˈpɜrsəl 10 September 1659 (? – 21 November 1695 was an English Baroque Composer. However, in the 18th century, Italian opera continued to dominate most of Europe, except France, attracting foreign composers such as Handel. Opera seria was the most prestigious form of Italian opera, until Gluck reacted against its artificiality with his "reform" operas in the 1760s. Opera seria (usually called dramma per musica or Melodramma serio) is an Italian musical term which refers to the noble and "serious" Today the most renowned figure of late 18th century opera is Mozart, who began with opera seria but is most famous for his Italian comic operas, especially The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, and Così fan tutte, as well as The Magic Flute, a landmark in the German tradition. Comic opera, or light opera, denotes a sung dramatic work of a light or comic nature usually with a happy ending Le nozze di Figaro ossia la folle giornata (Trans The Marriage of Figaro or the Day of Madness) K Don Giovanni ( K527; complete title Il dissoluto punito ossia il Don Giovanni, literally "The Rake Punish'd or Don Giovanni Così fan tutte ossia La scuola degli amanti ( Thus Do They All or The School For Lovers) K The Magic Flute (German Die Zauberflöte, K 620 is an Opera in two acts composed in 1791 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
The first third of the 19th century saw the highpoint of the bel canto style, with Rossini, Donizetti and Bellini all creating works that are still performed today. Bel canto ( Bel-Canto) ( Italian, "beautiful singing" an Italian musical term refers to the art and science of vocal technique which originated in Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti (29 November 1797 &ndash 8 April 1848 was an Italian composer from Bergamo, Lombardy. Vincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini ( November 3, 1801 &ndash September 23, 1835) was a Sicilian Opera Composer It also saw the advent of Grand Opera typified by the works of Meyerbeer. Grand Opera is a genre of 19th-century Opera generally in four or five acts characterised by large-scale casts and orchestras and (in their original productions lavish and Giacomo Meyerbeer ( September 5, 1791 &ndash May 2, 1864) was a noted German -born Opera Composer, and The mid to late 19th century is considered by some a golden age of opera, led by Wagner in Germany and Verdi in Italy. This 'golden age' developed through the verismo era in Italy and contemporary French opera through to Puccini and Strauss in the early 20th century. Verismo (meaning "realism" from Italian vero, meaning "truth" was an Italian literary movement born approximately between 1875 and 1895 French opera is one of Europe's most important operatic traditions containing works by composers of the stature of Lully, Rameau, Berlioz, Bizet WikipediaWikiProject Composers#Lead section --> Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini ( December 22, 1858 Richard Georg Strauss (11 June 1864 &ndash 8 September 1949 was a German Composer of the late Romantic era and early modern era particularly noted During the 19th century, parallel operatic traditions emerged in Central and Eastern Europe, particularly in Russia and Bohemia. See also Russian opera articles for the details and additional information Russian opera ( Russian Ру́сская о́пера Bohemia (Čechy; Bohemia Czechy is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands, currently the The 20th century saw many experiments with modern styles, such as atonality and serialism (Schoenberg and Berg), Neo-Classicism (Stravinsky), and Minimalism (Philip Glass and John Adams). Atonality in its broadest sense describes Music that lacks a tonal center, or key. In Music, serialism is a technique for composition that uses sets to describe musical elements, and allows the manipulation of those Arnold Schoenberg ( pronounced ˈʃøːnbɛrk (13 September 1874 &ndash 13 July 1951 was an Austrian and later American Composer, associated with Gunnar Berg may refer to Gunnar Berg (composer Gunnar Berg (Scouting Gunnar Berg (painter Neoclassicism (sometimes rendered as Neo-Classicism or Neo-classicism) is the name given to quite distinct movements in the decorative and Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (Игорь Фёдорович Стравинский) ( &ndash 6 April 1971 was a Russian born Composer, considered by many to Minimalism describes movements in various forms of art and design especially Visual art and music, where the work is stripped down to its most fundamental features WikipediaWikiProject Composers#Lead section --> Philip Glass (born January 31 John Coolidge Adams (born February 15 1947 is an American Composer with strong roots in minimalism. With the rise of recording technology, singers such as Enrico Caruso became known to audiences beyond the circle of opera fans. Enrico Caruso (born Errico Caruso; February 25 1873 &ndash August 2 1921) was an Italian Opera singer Operas were also performed on, (and written for) radio and television. Radio is the transmission of signals by Modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible Light. Television ( TV) is a widely used Telecommunication medium for sending ( Broadcasting) and receiving moving Images, either monochromatic
Contents
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History
Origins
The word opera means "work" in Italian (from Latin opus meaning "work" or "labour") suggesting that it combines the arts of solo and choral singing, declamation, acting and dancing in a staged spectacle. The word " Opera " means "work" in Italian (from the plural of Latin opus meaning "work" or "labour" suggesting Italian ( or lingua italiana) is a Romance language spoken by about 63 million people as a First language, primarily in Italy. Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Dafne by Jacopo Peri was the earliest composition considered opera, as understood today. Dafne is the earliest known work that by modern standards could be considered an Opera. Jacopo Peri ( August 20 1561 &ndash August 12 1633) was an Italian Composer and singer of the transitional period between It was written around 1597, largely under the inspiration of an elite circle of literate Florentine humanists who gathered as the "Camerata de' Bardi". Florence ( Italian: Firenze Florentia and Fiorenza) is the Capital City of the Italian region of Tuscany Humanism is a broad category of ethical philosophies that affirm the dignity and worth of all people based on the ability to determine right and wrong by appealing to universal Significantly, Dafne was an attempt to revive the classical Greek drama, part of the wider revival of antiquity characteristic of the Renaissance. The Renaissance (from French Renaissance, meaning "rebirth" Italian: Rinascimento, from re- "again" and nascere The members of the Camerata considered that the "chorus" parts of Greek dramas were originally sung, and possibly even the entire text of all roles; opera was thus conceived as a way of "restoring" this situation. Dafne is unfortunately lost. A later work by Peri, Euridice, dating from 1600, is the first opera score to have survived to the present day. Euridice (also Erudice or Eurydice) written October 6 1600, is an Opera written in Florence The honour of being the first opera still to be regularly performed, however, goes to Claudio Monteverdi's L'Orfeo, composed for the court of Mantua in 1607. L'Orfeo ( L'Orfeo favola in musica, SV 318 or La Favola d'Orfeo, or The Legend of Orpheus) is one of the earliest Mantua (Màntova in the local dialect of Lombard language Mantua is a city in Lombardy, Italy and capital of the province of the [3]
Italian opera
The Baroque era
Opera did not remain confined to court audiences for long; in 1637 the idea of a "season" (Carnival) of publicly-attended operas supported by ticket sales emerged in Venice. Italian opera is both the art of Opera in Italy and opera in the Italian language. Carnival is a festival season which occurs immediately before Lent; the main events are usually during February and March Monteverdi had moved to the city from Mantua and composed his last operas, Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria and L'incoronazione di Poppea, for the Venetian theatre in the 1640s. Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria ( SV 325 The Return of Ulysses to His Country) is an Opera ( dramma per musica) in a prologue and five L'incoronazione di Poppea ( SV 308 The Coronation of Poppea) is an Opera seria in three acts by Claudio Monteverdi to an Italian His most important follower Francesco Cavalli helped spread opera throughout Italy. Francesco Cavalli ( February 14 1602 &ndash January 14 1676) was an Italian composer of the early Baroque In these early Baroque operas, broad comedy was blended with tragic elements in a mix that jarred some educated sensibilities, sparking the first of opera's many reform movements, sponsored by Venice's Arcadian Academy which came to be associated with the poet Metastasio, whose libretti helped crystallize the genre of opera seria, which became the leading form of Italian opera until the end of the 18th century. Pietro Antonio Domenico Trapassi, better known by his Pseudonym of Metastasio, ( January 3, 1698 &ndash April 12, 1782 Opera seria (usually called dramma per musica or Melodramma serio) is an Italian musical term which refers to the noble and "serious" Once the Metastasian ideal had been firmly established, comedy in Baroque-era opera was reserved for what came to be called opera buffa. The term Opera buffa (plural Opere buffe) was at first used as an informal description of Italian Comic operas variously classified by their authors as
Before such elements were forced out of opera seria, many libretti had featured a separately unfolding comic plot as sort of an "opera-within-an-opera. " One reason for this was an attempt to attract members of the growing merchant class, newly wealthy, but still less cultured than the nobility, to the public opera houses. An opera house is a theater building used for Opera performances that consists of a stage an orchestra pit audience seating and backstage facilities for costumes These separate plots were almost immediately resurrected in a separately developing tradition that partly derived from the commedia dell'arte, (as indeed, such plots had always been) a long-flourishing improvisitory stage tradition of Italy. Just as intermedi had once been performed in-between the acts of stage plays, operas in the new comic genre of "intermezzi", which developed largely in Naples in the 1710s and '20s, were initially staged during the intermissions of opera seria. They became so popular, however, that they were soon being offered as separate productions.
Opera seria was elevated in tone and highly stylised in form, usually consisting of secco recitative interspersed with long da capo arias. These afforded great opportunity for virtuosic singing and during the golden age of opera seria the singer really became the star. The role of the hero was usually written for the castrato voice; castrati such as Farinelli and Senesino, as well as female sopranos such as Faustina Bordoni, became in great demand throughout Europe as opera seria ruled the stage in every country except France. A castrato is a man with a singing voice equivalent to that of a Soprano, Mezzo-soprano, or Contralto voice produced either by Castration Farinelli ( January 24, 1705 &ndash September 16, 1782) was the Stage name of Carlo Maria Broschi, one of the most famous Senesino ( Francesco Bernardi) ( October 31 1686 &ndash November 27 1758) was a celebrated Italian alto Castrato This article is related to a series of articles under the main article Voice type. Faustina Bordoni ( 30 March 1697 &ndash 4 November 1781) was an Italian Mezzo-soprano. Indeed, Farinelli was the most famous singer of the 18th century. Italian opera set the Baroque standard. Italian libretti were the norm, even when a German composer like Handel found himself writing for London audiences. A libretto is the text used in an extended Musical work such as an Opera, Operetta, Masque, sacred or secular Oratorio and Italian libretti remained dominant in the classical period as well, for example in the operas of Mozart, who wrote in Vienna near the century's close. The dates of the Classical period in Western music are generally accepted as 1750 to 1810 Leading Italian-born composers of opera seria include Alessandro Scarlatti, Vivaldi and Porpora. Opera seria (usually called dramma per musica or Melodramma serio) is an Italian musical term which refers to the noble and "serious" Alessandro Scarlatti (May 2 1660 &ndash October 24 1725 was an Italian Baroque Composer especially famous for his Operas and chamber Cantatas Nicola (Antonio Porpora ( August 17, 1686 - March 3, 1768 was an Italian composer of Baroque operas (see Opera seria) and teacher [4]
Reform: Gluck, the attack on the Metastasian ideal, and Mozart
Opera seria had its weaknesses and critics, and the taste for embellishment on behalf of the superbly trained singers, and the use of spectacle as a replacement for dramatic purity and unity drew attacks. Opera seria (usually called dramma per musica or Melodramma serio) is an Italian musical term which refers to the noble and "serious" Francesco Algarotti's Essay on the Opera (1755) proved to be an inspiration for Christoph Willibald Gluck's reforms. Count Francesco Algarotti ( 11 December, 1712 &ndash 3 May, 1764) was an Italian Philosopher and Art critic. He advocated that opera seria had to return to basics and that all the various elements -- music (both instrumental and vocal), ballet, and staging -- must be subservient to the overriding drama. Several composers of the period, including Niccolò Jommelli and Tommaso Traetta, attempted to put these ideals into practice. Niccolò Jommelli ( September 10, 1714 &ndash August 25, 1774) was an Italian Composer. Tommaso Michele Francesco Saverio Traetta ( March 30, 1727 &ndash April 6, 1779) was an Italian Composer. The first to really succeed and to leave a permanent imprint upon the history of opera, however, was Gluck. Gluck tried to achieve a "beautiful simplicity". This is illustrated in the first of his "reform" operas, Orfeo ed Euridice, where vocal lines lacking in the virtuosity of (say) Handel's works are supported by simple harmonies and a notably richer-than-usual orchestral presence throughout. Orfeo ed Euridice (French version Orphée et Eurydice; English translation Orpheus and Eurydice) is an Opera composed by Christoph Willibald
Gluck's reforms have had resonance throughout operatic history. Weber, Mozart and Wagner, in particular, were influenced by his ideals. Mozart, in many ways Gluck's successor, combined a superb sense of drama, harmony, melody, and counterpoint to write a series of comedies, notably Così fan tutte, Le Nozze di Figaro, and Don Giovanni (in collaboration with Lorenzo Da Ponte) which remain among the most-loved, popular and well-known operas today. Così fan tutte ossia La scuola degli amanti ( Thus Do They All or The School For Lovers) K Le nozze di Figaro ossia la folle giornata (Trans The Marriage of Figaro or the Day of Madness) K Don Giovanni ( K527; complete title Il dissoluto punito ossia il Don Giovanni, literally "The Rake Punish'd or Don Giovanni This article is about the librettist Lorenzo da Ponte For the Bishop of the same name see Vittorio Veneto. But Mozart's contribution to opera seria was more mixed; by his time it was dying away, and in spite of such fine works as Idomeneo and La Clemenza di Tito, he would not succeed in bringing the art form back to life again. Idomeneo re di Creta ossia Ilia e Idamante ( Italian: Idomeneo King of Crete or Ilia and Idamante; usually referred to simply as Idomeneo La clemenza di Tito (The Clemency of Titus K 621 is an Opera seria composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with text after Metastasio [5]
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K527 Overture from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Don Giovanni Der Hölle Rache From Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's The Magic Flute - Problems playing the files? See media help. Don Giovanni ( K527; complete title Il dissoluto punito ossia il Don Giovanni, literally "The Rake Punish'd or Don Giovanni The Magic Flute (German Die Zauberflöte, K 620 is an Opera in two acts composed in 1791 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Bel canto, Verdi and verismo
The bel canto opera movement flourished in the early 19th century and is exemplified by the operas of Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti, Pacini, Mercadante and many others. Giovanni Boldini ( December 31, 1842 &ndash July 11, 1931) was an Italian genre and portrait painter belonging to the Bel canto ( Bel-Canto) ( Italian, "beautiful singing" an Italian musical term refers to the art and science of vocal technique which originated in Vincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini ( November 3, 1801 &ndash September 23, 1835) was a Sicilian Opera Composer Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti (29 November 1797 &ndash 8 April 1848 was an Italian composer from Bergamo, Lombardy. Giovanni Pacini ( February 2, 1796. – December 6, 1867) was an Italian Composer, best known for his Operas Giuseppe Saverio Raffaele Mercadante ( September 16, 1795 - December 17, 1870) was an Italian composer particularly of Operas Literally "beautiful singing", bel canto opera derives from the Italian stylistic singing school of the same name. Bel canto lines are typically florid and intricate, requiring supreme agility and pitch control.
Following the bel canto era, a more direct, forceful style was rapidly popularized by Giuseppe Verdi, beginning with his biblical opera Nabucco. Nabucco (short for Nabucodonosor, English Nebuchadnezzar) is an Opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian Libretto Verdi's operas resonated with the growing spirit of Italian nationalism in the post-Napoleonic era, and he quickly became an icon of the patriotic movement (although his own politics were perhaps not quite so radical). Napoleon Bonaparte (15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821 was a French military and political leader who had a significant impact on the History of Europe. In the early 1850s, Verdi produced his three most popular operas: Rigoletto, Il trovatore and La traviata. Rigoletto is an Opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian Libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based Il trovatore ( The Troubadour) is an Opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian Libretto by Leone Emanuele Bardare La traviata is an Opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian Libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. But he continued to develop his style, composing perhaps the greatest French Grand opera, Don Carlos, and ending his career with two Shakespeare-inspired works, Otello and Falstaff, which reveal how far Italian opera had grown in sophistication since the early 19th century. Grand Opera is a genre of 19th-century Opera generally in four or five acts characterised by large-scale casts and orchestras and (in their original productions lavish and This article refers to the opera Don Carlos ( Don Carlo when performed in Italian translation by Giuseppe Verdi William Shakespeare ( baptised Otello is an Opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian Libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on Shakespeare 's play Falstaff is an Operatic commedia lirica in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi, adapted by Arrigo Boito from Shakespeare 's plays
After Verdi, the sentimental "realistic" melodrama of verismo appeared in Italy. Verismo (meaning "realism" from Italian vero, meaning "truth" was an Italian literary movement born approximately between 1875 and 1895 This was a style introduced by Pietro Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana and Ruggiero Leoncavallo's Pagliacci that came virtually to dominate the world's opera stages with such popular works as Giacomo Puccini's La Boheme, Tosca, and Madama Butterfly. WikipediaWikiProject Composers#Lead section --> Pietro Mascagni ( December 7, 1863 &ndash August 2, Cavalleria rusticana ( Rustic Chivalry) is an Opera in one act by Pietro Mascagni to an Italian Libretto by Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti Ruggero (Ruggiero Leoncavallo (23 April 1857- 9 August 1919 was an Italian Opera Composer. Pagliacci ( Players, or Clowns) is an Opera consisting of a prologue and two acts written and composed by Ruggero Leoncavallo. WikipediaWikiProject Composers#Lead section --> Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini ( December 22, 1858 Tosca is an Opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian Libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Later Italian composers, such as Berio and Nono, have experimented with modernism. Luciano Berio, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI ( October 24, 1925 &ndash May 27, 2003) was an Italian Composer. Luigi Nono ( January 29, 1924 – May 8, 1990) was an Italian Avant-garde Composer of Classical music Modernism describes an array of Cultural movements rooted in the changes in Western society in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century [6]
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La donna è mobile Enrico Caruso sings La donna è mobile, from Giuseppe Verdi's Rigoletto (1908) No Pagliaccio non son From Ruggiero Leoncavallo's Pagliacci. Enrico Caruso (born Errico Caruso; February 25 1873 &ndash August 2 1921) was an Italian Opera singer " La donna è mobile " (" Woman is fickle " is the cynical Duke of Mantua's Canzone from Giuseppe Verdi 's Opera Rigoletto is an Opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian Libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based Ruggero (Ruggiero Leoncavallo (23 April 1857- 9 August 1919 was an Italian Opera Composer. Pagliacci ( Players, or Clowns) is an Opera consisting of a prologue and two acts written and composed by Ruggero Leoncavallo. Performed by Enrico Caruso - Problems playing the files? See media help.
German-language opera
The first German opera was Dafne, composed by Heinrich Schütz in 1627 (the music has not survived). Opera in German is the Opera of the German-speaking countries, most notably Germany (or the historic states which now form the Federal Republic of Germany Heinrich Schütz (October 8 ( JC) 1585 Köstritz - November 6 1672 Dresden) was a German Composer and organist, generally regarded Italian opera held a great sway over German-speaking countries until the late 18th century. Nevertheless, native forms developed too. In 1644 Sigmund Staden produced the first Singspiel, a popular form of German-language opera in which singing alternates with spoken dialogue. Sigmund Theophil Staden ( 6 November, 1607 &ndash 30 July, 1655) was an important early German Composer. For the racehorse see Singspiel (horse. Singspiel ("song-play" (plural Singspiele is a form of German-language In the late 17th and early 18th centuries, the Theater am Gänsemarkt in Hamburg presented German operas by Keiser, Telemann and Handel. Hamburg (English, German: ˈhambʊɐk local pronunciation Low German / Low Saxon: Hamborg) is the second-largest city in Germany Reinhard Keiser ( January 9, 1674 – September 12, 1739) was a popular German opera composer based in Hamburg. Georg Philipp Telemann (March 14 1681 &ndash June 25 1767 was a German Baroque music Composer, born in Magdeburg. Yet many of the major German composers of the time, including Handel himself, as well as Graun, Hasse and later Gluck, chose to write most of their operas in foreign languages, especially Italian. Carl Heinrich Graun ( May 7, 1704 - August 8, 1759) was a German Composer and Tenor singer Johann Adolph Hasse (baptised in Bergedorf, near Hamburg, on 25 March 1699 &ndash died in Venice on 16 December
Mozart's Singspiele, Die Entführung aus dem Serail (1782) and Die Zauberflöte (1791) were an important breakthrough in achieving international recognition for German opera. Die Entführung aus dem Serail ( K 384; The Abduction from the Seraglio; also known as Il Seraglio) is an Opera Singspiel The Magic Flute (German Die Zauberflöte, K 620 is an Opera in two acts composed in 1791 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart The tradition was developed in the 19th century by Beethoven with his Fidelio, inspired by the climate of the French Revolution. Ludwig van Beethoven ( English ˈlʊdvɪg væn ˈbeɪtoʊvən, 16 December 1770 &ndash 26 March 1827 was a German Composer and Pianist. Fidelio (Op 72 is an Opera in two acts by Ludwig van Beethoven. The French Revolution (1789–1799 was a period of political and social upheaval in the History of France, during which the French governmental structure previously an Carl Maria von Weber established German Romantic opera in opposition to the dominance of Italian bel canto. Carl Maria Friedrich Ernst von Weber ( 18 December 1786 in Eutin, Holstein, Germany - 5 June 1826 in London For the general context see Romanticism. In the Philosophy, Art, and Culture of German -speaking countries German Romanticism Bel canto ( Bel-Canto) ( Italian, "beautiful singing" an Italian musical term refers to the art and science of vocal technique which originated in His Der Freischütz (1821) shows his genius for creating a supernatural atmosphere. Der Freischütz is an Opera in three acts by Carl Maria von Weber to a Libretto by Friedrich Kind. Other opera composers of the time include Marschner, Schubert, Schumann and Lortzing, but the most significant figure was undoubtedly Richard Wagner. Heinrich Marschner ( Zittau, 16 August, 1795 - Hanover, 16 December, 1861) was a German composer of 23 Operas Robert Schumann, sometimes given as Robert Alexander Schumann (June 8 1810 &ndash July 29 1856 was a German Composer, Aesthete and influential Music critic Gustav Albert Lortzing ( October 23, 1801 - January 21, 1851) was a German Composer, Actor and Singer
Wagner was one of the most revolutionary and controversial composers in musical history. Starting under the influence of Weber and Meyerbeer, he gradually evolved a new concept of opera as a Gesamtkunstwerk (a "complete work of art"), a fusion of music, poetry and painting. Carl Maria Friedrich Ernst von Weber ( 18 December 1786 in Eutin, Holstein, Germany - 5 June 1826 in London Giacomo Meyerbeer ( September 5, 1791 &ndash May 2, 1864) was a noted German -born Opera Composer, and In his mature music dramas, Tristan und Isolde, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Der Ring des Nibelungen and Parsifal, he abolished the distinction between aria and recitative in favour of a seamless flow of "endless melody". Tristan und Isolde ( Tristan and Isolde, or Tristan and Isolda) is an Opera, or Music drama, in three acts by Richard Wagner Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (The Mastersingers of Nuremberg) is an Opera in three acts written and composed by Richard Wagner Der Ring des Nibelungen ( The Ring of the Nibelung) is a cycle of four epic Music dramas by the German composer Parsifal is an Opera, or Music drama, in three acts by Richard Wagner. He greatly increased the role and power of the orchestra, creating scores with a complex web of leitmotivs, recurring themes often associated with the characters and concepts of the drama; and he was prepared to violate accepted musical conventions, such as tonality, in his quest for greater expressivity. A leitmotif (ˌlaɪtmoʊˈtiːf (also leitmotiv; lit "leading motif" is a recurring Musical theme, associated with a particular person place Tonality is a system of Music in which specific hierarchical pitch relationships are based on a key "center" or tonic. Wagner also brought a new philosophical dimension to opera in his works, which were usually based on stories from Germanic or Arthurian legend. Germanic paganism refers to the religious beliefs of the Germanic peoples preceding Christianization. The Matter of Britain is a name given collectively to the Legends that concern the Celtic and legendary History of Great Britain, especially those Finally, Wagner built his own opera house at Bayreuth, exclusively dedicated to performing his own works in the style he wanted. Bayreuth ( pronounced) is a City in northern Bavaria, Germany, on the Red Main river in a valley between the Frankish Alb
Opera would never be the same after Wagner and for many composers his legacy proved a heavy burden. On the other hand, Richard Strauss accepted Wagnerian ideas but took them in wholly new directions. Richard Georg Strauss (11 June 1864 &ndash 8 September 1949 was a German Composer of the late Romantic era and early modern era particularly noted He first won fame with the scandalous Salome and the dark tragedy Elektra, in which tonality was pushed to the limits. Salome is an Opera in one act by Richard Strauss to a German Libretto by the composer based on Hedwig Lachmann ’s German See Mourning Becomes Electra for a reference to the 1967 opera based on the 1931 Eugene O'Neill play Then Strauss changed tack in his greatest success, Der Rosenkavalier, where Mozart and Viennese waltzes became as important an influence as Wagner. Der Rosenkavalier ( op 59 ( The Knight of the Rose) is a comic Opera in three acts by Richard Strauss to an original Vienna ( in Wien; see also other names) is the Capital of Austria, and is also one of the nine States of Austria. The waltz is a ballroom and folk Dance in time, performed primarily in Closed position. Strauss continued to produce a highly varied body of operatic works, often with libretti by the poet Hugo von Hofmannsthal, right up until Capriccio in 1942. Hugo von Hofmannsthal ( February 1, 1874 – July 15, 1929) was an Austrian Novelist, librettist, Poet Capriccio is the final Opera by German composer Richard Strauss, subtitled "A Conversation Piece for Music" Other composers who made individual contributions to German opera in the early 20th century include Zemlinsky, Hindemith, Kurt Weill and the Italian-born Ferruccio Busoni. Alexander Zemlinsky or Alexander von Zemlinsky ( October 14, 1871 – March 15, 1942) was an Austrian Composer Paul Hindemith (16 November 1895 &ndash 28 December 1963 was a German Composer, Violist, violinist teacher music theorist and conductor. WikipediaWikiProject Composers#Lead section --> Kurt Julian Weill ( March 2, 1900 &ndash April 3, Ferruccio Dante Michelangiolo Benvenuto Busoni (April 1 1866 &ndash July 27 1924 was an Italian Composer, Pianist, musical educator and conductor. The operatic innovations of Arnold Schoenberg and his successors are discussed in the section on modernism. Arnold Schoenberg ( pronounced ˈʃøːnbɛrk (13 September 1874 &ndash 13 July 1951 was an Austrian and later American Composer, associated with [7]
Tristan und Isolde: Prelude
French opera
In rivalry with imported Italian opera productions, a separate French tradition was founded by the Italian Jean-Baptiste Lully at the court of King Louis XIV. French opera is one of Europe's most important operatic traditions containing works by composers of the stature of Lully, Rameau, Berlioz, Bizet Jean-Baptiste de Lully ( Giovanni Battista di Lulli) (ʒɑ̃batist də lyˈli in French (November 28 1632 &ndash March 22 1687 was a French Composer of Italian Early years Birth and ancestry Louis XIV was born in the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye on September 5 1638 and bore the Heir apparent Despite his foreign origin, Lully established an Academy of Music and monopolised French opera from 1672. The Académie Royale de Musique (French - Royal Academy of Music; first known as the Académie d’opéra) was the Music academy of Ancien regime Starting with Cadmus et Hermione, Lully and his librettist Quinault created tragédie en musique,a form in which dance music and choral writing were particularly prominent. Cadmus et Hermione is a tragédie en musique in a prologue and five acts by Jean-Baptiste Lully. Philippe Quinault ( 3 June 1635 – 26 November 1688) French Dramatist and Librettist, was born in Paris Tragédie en musique (French lyric tragedy also known as tragédie lyrique, is a genre of French opera introduced by Jean-Baptiste Lully and used Lully's operas also show a concern for expressive recitative which matched the contours of the French language. Recitative /rɛsɪtə'tiv/ (also known by its Italian name "recitativo" (/retʃita'tivo/ is a style of delivery (much used in Operas Oratorios In the 18th century, Lully's most important successor was Jean-Philippe Rameau, who composed five tragédies en musique as well as numerous works in other genres such as opera-ballet, all notable for their rich orchestration and harmonic daring. Jean-Philippe Rameau (ʒɑ̃filip ʀaˈmo in French (September 25 1683 – September 12 1764 was one of the most important French Composers and music theorists Tragédie en musique (French lyric tragedy also known as tragédie lyrique, is a genre of French opera introduced by Jean-Baptiste Lully and used Ballets de cour ( Court ballet) is the name given to Ballets performed in the 16th and 17th centuries at court After Rameau's death, the German Gluck was persuaded to produce six operas for the Parisian stage in the 1770s. Paris (ˈpærɨs in English; in French) is the Capital of France and the country's largest city They show the influence of Rameau, but simplified and with greater focus on the drama. At the same time, by the middle of the 18th century another genre was gaining popularity in France: opéra comique. Opéra comique (plural opéras comiques is a French genre of Opera that contains spoken dialogue This was the equivalent of the German singspiel, where arias alternated with spoken dialogue. For the racehorse see Singspiel (horse. Singspiel ("song-play" (plural Singspiele is a form of German-language Notable examples in this style were produced by Monsigny, Philidor and, above all, Grétry. WikipediaWikiProject Composers#Lead section --> Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny ( -) was a French Composer, a contemporary François-André Danican Philidor ( September 7, 1726 - August 31, 1795) was a French Chess player and Composer During the Revolutionary period, composers such as Méhul and Cherubini, who were followers of Gluck, brought a new seriousness to the genre, which had never been wholly "comic" in any case. The French Revolution (1789–1799 was a period of political and social upheaval in the History of France, during which the French governmental structure previously an Etienne Henri (or Nicolas) Méhul ( June 22, 1763 - October 18, 1817) was a French Composer, "the Luigi Cherubini ( September 8 or September 14, 1760 &ndash March 15, 1842) was an Italian born composer who spent most of his
By the 1820s, Gluckian influence in France had given way to a taste for Italian bel canto, especially after the arrival of Rossini in Paris. Bel canto ( Bel-Canto) ( Italian, "beautiful singing" an Italian musical term refers to the art and science of vocal technique which originated in Rossini's Guillaume Tell helped found the new genre of Grand opera, a form whose most famous exponent was another foreigner, Giacomo Meyerbeer. Guillaume Tell ( William Tell) is an Opera in four acts by Gioachino Rossini to a French Libretto by Etienne de Jouy Grand Opera is a genre of 19th-century Opera generally in four or five acts characterised by large-scale casts and orchestras and (in their original productions lavish and Giacomo Meyerbeer ( September 5, 1791 &ndash May 2, 1864) was a noted German -born Opera Composer, and Meyerbeer's works, such as Les Huguenots emphasised virtuoso singing and extraordinary stage effects. Les Huguenots is a French Opera by Giacomo Meyerbeer, one of the most popular and spectacular examples of the style of Grand opera. Lighter opéra comique also enjoyed tremendous success in the hands of Boïeldieu, Auber, Hérold and Adolphe Adam. François-Adrien Boieldieu ( December 16, 1775 in Rouen &ndash October 8, 1834 in Varennes-Jarcy, Essonne Daniel François Esprit Auber ( January 29, 1782 – May 13, 1871) was a French Composer. Louis Joseph Ferdinand Hérold better known as Ferdinand Hérold ( Paris, January 28[[ 791]]&ndash Thernes, January 19[[ 833]] was a WikipediaWikiProject Composers#Lead section --> Adolphe Charles Adam ( July 24, 1803 &ndash May 3, In this climate, the operas of the French-born composer Hector Berlioz struggled to gain a hearing. Berlioz's epic masterpiece Les Troyens, the culmination of the Gluckian tradition, was not given a full performance for almost a hundred years. Les Troyens (in English The Trojans) is a French Opera in five acts by Hector Berlioz.
In the second half of the 19th century, Jacques Offenbach created operetta with witty and cynical works such as Orphée aux enfers; Charles Gounod scored a massive success with Faust; and Bizet composed Carmen, which, once audiences learned to accept its blend of Romanticism and realism, became the most popular of all opéra comiques. Operetta is a genre of light Opera, light in terms both of music and subject matter Orphée aux enfers (Orpheus in the Underworld, Opéra bouffe (or Opéra féerie in its revised version is an Operetta by Jacques Biography Gounod was born in Paris, the son of a pianist mother and a draftsman father Faust is an opera in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré from Carré's play Georges Bizet (25 October 1838 – 3 June 1875 was a French Composer and Pianist of the Romantic era Carmen is a French Opéra comique by Georges Bizet. The Libretto is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based Romanticism is a complex artistic literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Western Europe, and gained strength during the Massenet, Saint-Saëns and Delibes all composed works which are still part of the standard repertory. Jules (Émile Frédéric Massenet ( May 12, 1842 – August 13, 1912) was a French composer best known for his Operas Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns (/ʃaʁl kamij sɛ̃sɑ̃s/ (9 October 1835 &ndash 16 December 1921 was a French Composer, Organist, conductor, and Delibes may refer to People with surname Delibes: Léo Delibes - A French composer of Romantic Music At the same time, the influence of Richard Wagner was felt as a challenge to the French tradition. Many French critics angrily rejected Wagner's music dramas while many French composers closely imitated them with variable success. Perhaps the most interesting response came from Claude Debussy. Achille-Claude Debussy (aʃil klod dəbysi (August 22 1862 &ndash March 25 1918 was a French Composer. As in Wagner's works, the orchestra plays a leading role in Debussy's unique opera Pelléas et Mélisande (1902) and there are no real arias, only recitative. But the drama is understated, enigmatic and completely unWagnerian.
Other notable 20th century names include Ravel, Dukas, Roussel and Milhaud. Paul Abraham Dukas (October 1 1865 &ndash May 17 1935 was a Parisian born French Composer and teacher of classical music. Darius Milhaud (darjys mijo (September 4 1892 &ndash June 22 1974 was a French Composer and teacher Francis Poulenc is one of the very few post-war composers of any nationality whose operas (which include Dialogues des carmélites) have gained a foothold in the international repertory. See also, Rhône-Poulenc Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc (fʀɑ̃sis ʒɑ̃ maʀsɛl pulɛ̃k January 7, 1899 – January 30, Dialogues of the Carmelites (in French, Dialogues des Carmélites) is an Opera in three acts by Francis Poulenc. Olivier Messiaen's lengthy sacred drama Saint François d'Assise (1983) has also attracted widespread attention. Olivier Messiaen ( December 10 1908 &ndash April 27 1992 was a French Composer, organist and ornithologist. [8]
Prelude
English-language opera
In England, opera's antecedent was the 17th century jig. This was an afterpiece which came at the end of a play. It was frequently libellous and scandalous and consisted in the main of dialogue set to music arranged from popular tunes. In this respect, jigs anticipate the ballad operas of the 18th century. At the same time, the French masque was gaining a firm hold at the English Court, with even more lavish splendour and highly realistic scenery than had been seen before. The masque was a form of festive courtly entertainment which flourished in sixteenth and early seventeenth century Europe though it was developed earlier in Italy Inigo Jones became the quintessential designer of these productions, and this style was to dominate the English stage for three centuries. Iñigo Jones ( July 15, 1573 &ndash June 21, 1652) is regarded as the first significant British architect, and the first to bring These masques contained songs and dances. In Ben Jonson's Lovers Made Men (1617), "the whole masque was sung after the Italian manner, stilo recitativo". Benjamin Jonson ( c 11 June 1572 &ndash 6 August 1637) was an English Renaissance Dramatist [9]
The approach of the English Commonwealth closed theatres and halted any developments that may have led to the establishment of English opera. Henry Purcell (ˈpɜrsəl 10 September 1659 (? – 21 November 1695 was an English Baroque Composer. The Commonwealth of England was the Republican government which ruled first England (including Wales) and then Ireland and Scotland However, in 1656, the dramatist Sir William Davenant produced The Siege of Rhodes. A playwright, also known as a dramatist, is a person who writes dramatic literature or Drama. Sir William Davenant (baptised 3 March, 1606 &ndash April 7, 1668) also spelled D'Avenant, was an English Poet Since his theatre was not licensed to produce drama, he asked several of the leading composers (Lawes, Cooke, Locke, Coleman and Hudson) to set sections of it to music. This success was followed by The Cruelty of the Spaniards in Peru (1658) and The History of Sir Francis Drake (1659). These pieces were encouraged by Oliver Cromwell because they were critical of Spain. Oliver Cromwell (25 April 1599 Old Style &ndash 3 September 1658 Old Style) was an English military and political leader best known With the English Restoration, foreign (especially French) musicians were welcomed back. The English Restoration, or simply The Restoration began in 1660 when the English monarchy, Scottish monarchy and Irish monarchy were restored In 1673, Thomas Shadwell's Psyche, patterned on the 1671 'comédie-ballet' of the same name produced by Molière and Jean-Baptiste Lully. Thomas Shadwell (c 1642 &ndash 19 November 1692) was an English Playwright and miscellaneous Writer who was appointed Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, also known by his Stage name, Molière, ( January 15, 1622 – February 17 1673) was a French Jean-Baptiste de Lully ( Giovanni Battista di Lulli) (ʒɑ̃batist də lyˈli in French (November 28 1632 &ndash March 22 1687 was a French Composer of Italian William Davenant produced The Tempest in the same year, which was the first musical adaption of a Shakespeare play (composed by Locke and Johnson). Sir William Davenant (baptised 3 March, 1606 &ndash April 7, 1668) also spelled D'Avenant, was an English Poet William Shakespeare ( baptised [9] About 1683, John Blow composed Venus and Adonis, often thought of as the first true English-language opera. John Blow (baptised 23 February 1649 &ndash 1 October 1708 was an English Composer and Organist. Venus and Adonis is an Opera in three acts and a Prologue by the English Baroque Composer John Blow Blow's immediate successor was the better known Henry Purcell. Henry Purcell (ˈpɜrsəl 10 September 1659 (? – 21 November 1695 was an English Baroque Composer. Despite the success of his masterwork Dido and Aeneas (1689), in which the action is furthered by the use of Italian-style recitative, much of Purcell's best work was not involved in the composing of typical opera, but instead he usually worked within the constraints of the semi-opera format, where isolated scenes and masques are contained within the structure of a spoken play, such as Shakespeare in Purcell's The Fairy-Queen (1692) and Beaumont and Fletcher in The Prophetess (1690) and Bonduca (1696). Dido and Æneas is an Opera by the English Baroque composer Henry Purcell, from a libretto by Nahum Tate. Semi-opera is an early form of Opera, though the term 'dramatic opera' is more favoured amongst scholars William Shakespeare ( baptised The Fairy-Queen (Z629 is a Masque or Semi-opera by Henry Purcell; a Restoration spectacular It was first performed on 2 May 1692 The main characters of the play tend not to be involved in the musical scenes, which means that Purcell was rarely able to develop his characters through song. Despite these hindrances, his aim (and that of his collaborator John Dryden) was to establish serious opera in England, but these hopes ended with Purcell's early death at the age of 36. John Dryden (– was an influential English poet Literary critic, Translator and playwright who dominated the literary life of Restoration England
Stay, Prince and hear
Following Purcell, for many years Great Britain was essentially an outpost of Italianate opera. The Mikado, or The Town of Titipu, is a Comic opera in two acts with music by Arthur Sullivan and Libretto by W Handel's opera serias dominated the London operatic stages for decades, and even home-grown composers such as Thomas Arne and John Frederick Lampe wrote using Italian models. Thomas Augustine Arne (12 March 1710 &ndash 5 March 1778 was an English Composer, best known for the patriotic Rule Britannia!. John Frederick Lampe (1703 - 1751 was a musician He was born in Saxony, but came to England in 1724 and played the Bassoon in opera houses This situation continued throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, including in the work of Michael Balfe, and the operas of the great Italian composers, as well as those of Mozart, Beethoven and Meyerbeer, continued to dominate the musical stage in England. Michael William Balfe ( May 15, 1808 - October 20, 1870) was an Irish Composer, best known today for his Opera The only exceptions were ballad operas, such as John Gay's The Beggar's Opera (1728), musical burlesques, European operettas, and late Victorian era light operas, notably the Savoy Operas of W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan, all of which types of musical entertainments frequently spoofed operatic conventions. The term ballad opera is used to refer to a genre of English stage entertainment originating in the 18th century and continuing to develop in the following century John Gay ( 30 June, 1685 - 4 December, 1732) was an English Poet and Dramatist. The Beggar's Opera is a Ballad opera in three acts written in 1728 by John Gay. Burlesque is a genre of entertainment also known as Travesty. Operetta is a genre of light Opera, light in terms both of music and subject matter Culture The Victorian fascination with novelty resulted in a deep interest in the relationship between modernity and cultural continuities Comic opera, or light opera, denotes a sung dramatic work of a light or comic nature usually with a happy ending Savoy Operas denote a style of Comic opera that developed in Victorian England in the late 19th century with W Sir William Schwenck Gilbert (18 November 1836 &ndash 29 May 1911 was an English Dramatist, librettist, poet and illustrator best known for his fourteen Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan MVO (13 May 1842 &ndash 22 November 1900 was an English composer of Irish and Italian descent best known for his operatic Sullivan wrote only one grand opera, Ivanhoe (following the efforts of a number of young English composers beginning about 1876),[9] but he claimed that even his light operas constituted part of a school of "English" opera, intended to supplant the French operettas (usually performed in bad translations) that had dominated the London stage throughout the 19th century into the 1870s. Ivanhoe is a romantic Opera in three acts based on the novel by Sir Walter Scott, with Music by Sir Arthur Sullivan and London's Daily Telegraph agreed, describing The Yeomen of the Guard as ". For "The Daily Telegraph" in Australia see The Daily Telegraph (Australia. The Yeomen of the Guard, or The Merryman and his Maid, is a Savoy Opera, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W . . a genuine English opera, forerunner of many others, let us hope, and possibly significant of an advance towards a national lyric stage. "[10]
In the 20th century, English opera began to assert more independence, with works of Ralph Vaughan Williams and in particular Benjamin Britten, who in a series of fine works that remain in standard repertory today, revealed an excellent flair for the dramatic and superb musicality. Ralph (reɪf Vaughan Williams OM (12 October 1872 &ndash 26 August 1958 was an English Composer of symphonies, Chamber music Edward Benjamin Britten Baron Britten, OM CH (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976 was an English Composer, conductor, Today composers such as Thomas Adès continue to export English opera abroad. Thomas Adès (born in London, 1 March 1971) is a British Composer, Pianist and conductor. [11] More recently Sir Harrison Birtwistle has emerged as one of Britain's most significant contemporary composers from his first opera Punch and Judy to his most recent critical success in The Minotaur. Sir Harrison Paul Birtwistle CH (born 15 July, 1934) is a British contemporary Composer. Punch and Judy is an Opera with music by Harrison Birtwistle and a Libretto by Stephen Pruslin based on the puppet figures of the same The Minotaur is an Opera in 13 scenes by English composer Harrison Birtwistle to a Libretto by poet David Harsent, commissioned
Also in the 20th century, American composers like Leonard Bernstein, Gershwin, Gian Carlo Menotti, and Carlisle Floyd began to contribute English-language operas infused with touches of popular musical styles. WikipediaWikiProject Composers#Lead section --> WikipediaWikiProject Classical music#Biographical_infoboxes George Gershwin (September 26 1898 &ndash July 11 1937 was an American Composer. Carlisle Floyd (born June 11, 1926, in Latta South Carolina) is an American Opera Composer. They were followed by modernists like Philip Glass, Mark Adamo, John Coolidge Adams, and Jake Heggie. WikipediaWikiProject Composers#Lead section --> Philip Glass (born January 31 Mark Adamo (born 1962 is an Italian American composer and librettist born in Philadelphia Pennsylvania. John Coolidge Adams (born February 15 1947 is an American Composer with strong roots in minimalism. Jake Heggie (born on March 31, 1961 in West Palm Beach Florida) is an American composer and pianist
Russian opera
Opera was brought to Russia in the 1730s by the Italian operatic troupes and soon it became an important part of entertainment for the Russian Imperial Court and aristocracy. See also Russian opera articles for the details and additional information Russian opera ( Russian Ру́сская о́пера Feodor Ivanovich Chaliapin ( Russian: Фёдор Ива́нович Шаля́пин Fyodor Ivanovich Shalyapin; &ndash April 12, 1938) Ivan Susanin (Ива́н Суса́нин (died in 1613 was a Russian Folk hero and Martyr of the early 17th century's Time of Troubles Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka (Михаи́л Ива́нович Гли́нка ( –) was the first Russian composer to gain wide recognition inside his own country A Life for the Tsar ( Жизнь за царя, Zhizn' za tsarya) as it is known in English although its original name was Ivan Susanin ( Russia (Россия Rossiya) or the Russian Federation ( Rossiyskaya Federatsiya) is a transcontinental Country extending Italian opera is both the art of Opera in Italy and opera in the Italian language. Aristocracy is a form of Government, where rule is established through an internal struggle over who has the most status and influence over society and internal relations Many foreign composers such as Baldassare Galuppi, Giovanni Paisiello, Giuseppe Sarti, and Domenico Cimarosa (as well as various others) were invited to Russia to compose new operas, mostly in the Italian language. Baldassare Galuppi ( October 18, 1706 &ndash January 3, 1785) was an Italian Composer from Venice, noted Giovanni Paisiello (or Paesiello) ( May 9, 1740 &ndash June 5, 1816) was an Italian Composer of the Giuseppe Sarti (baptised December 1, 1729 - July 28, 1802) was an Italian Opera composer Domenico Cimarosa ( 17 December 1749 – 11 January 1801) was an Italian Opera Composer of the Neapolitan Italian ( or lingua italiana) is a Romance language spoken by about 63 million people as a First language, primarily in Italy. Simultaneously some domestic musicians like Maksym Berezovsky and Dmytro Bortniansky were sent abroad to learn to write operas. Maksym Sozontovych Berezovsky ( Ukrainian: Максим Созонтович Березовський Maksym Sozontovych Berezovskyi; Polish: Dmitry Stepanovich Bortniansky (Дмитро Степанович Бортнянський Dmitro Stepanovych Bortnians’kyi; Дмитрий Степанович Бортнянский The first opera written in Russian was Tsefal i Prokris by the Italian composer Francesco Araja (1755). Russian ( transliteration:,) is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages Tsefal i Prokris ( Russian: Цефал и Прокрис – Cephalus and Prokris) is an Opera seria in three acts by the Francesco Domenico Araja (or Araia Russian: Арайя (Born June 25, 1709, Naples, Kingdom of Sicily, died between 1762 and The development of Russian-language opera was supported by the Russian composers Vasily Pashkevich, Yevstigney Fomin and Alexey Verstovsky. Vasily Alexeyevich Pashkevich also Paskevich (Васи́лий Алексе́евич Пашке́вич or Паске́вич (c Yevstigney Ipat'yevich Fomin (Евстигне́й Ипа́тьевич Фоми́н (born St Petersburg &ndash died St Alexey Nikolayevich Verstovsky ( Алексéй Николáевич Верстóвский) (born Seliverstovo Estate Kozlovsky district Tambov ’s region
However, the real birth of Russian opera came with Mikhail Glinka and his two great operas A Life for the Tsar, (1836) and Ruslan and Lyudmila (1842). See also Russian opera articles for the details and additional information Russian opera ( Russian Ру́сская о́пера Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka (Михаи́л Ива́нович Гли́нка ( –) was the first Russian composer to gain wide recognition inside his own country A Life for the Tsar ( Жизнь за царя, Zhizn' za tsarya) as it is known in English although its original name was Ivan Susanin ( Ruslan and Lyudmila: Ruslan and Ludmila (poem — a poem by Aleksandr Pushkin published in 1820 Ruslan and Lyudmila (opera — an After him in the 19th century in Russia there were written such operatic masterpieces as Rusalka and The Stone Guest by Alexander Dargomyzhsky, Boris Godunov and Khovanshchina by Modest Mussorgsky, Prince Igor by Alexander Borodin, Eugene Onegin and The Queen of Spades by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, and The Snow Maiden and Sadko by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. Rusalka ( Русалка in Cyrillic; stress on the second syllable is an opera in four acts six tableaux by Alexander Dargomyzhsky, composed The Stone Guest (Каменный гость Kamenny gost is a poetic Drama by Alexander Pushkin based on the Spanish legend of Don Juan Alexander Sergeyevich Dargomyzhsky ( Александр Сергеевич Даргомыжский) ( February 14 1813 &ndash January 17 1869 Boris Godunov ( Борис Годунов, original Orthography Борисъ Годуновъ, Borís Godunóv) is an Opera by For the 1960 Soviet film based on this opera see Khovanshchina (film. Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky (Моде́ст Петро́вич Му́соргский Modest Petrovič Musorgskij) ( March 21 March 9 1839 &ndash March Prince Igor ( Князь Игорь, Knyaz' Igor) is an Opera by Alexander Borodin, written in four acts with a prologue Alexander Porfiryevich Borodin (Александр Порфирьевич Бородин Aleksandr Porfir'evič Borodin) ( &ndash) was a Russian Composer Eugene Onegin ( Евгений Онегин, Yevgény Onégin is an Opera ("lyrical scenes" Opus 24 in 3 acts 7 scenes The Snow Maiden&ndashA Spring Fairy Tale ( Снегурочка&ndashВесенняя сказка, Snegúrochka&ndashVesennyaya Skazka) is an Sadko (Садко was a legendary Hero of a Russian Bylina (epic tale with the same name a merchant and Gusli musician from Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov ( Николай Андреевич Римский-Корсаков, Nikolaj Andreevič Rimskij-Korsakov) also Nikolay These developments mirrored the growth of Russian nationalism across the artistic spectrum, as part of the more general Slavophilism movement. The term nationalism can refer to an Ideology, a sentiment, a form of Culture, or a Social movement that focuses on the Nation A Slavophile is an intellectual movement originating from 19th century that wanted the Russian Empire to be developed upon values and institutions derived from its early history
In the 20th century the traditions of Russian opera were developed by many composers including Sergei Rachmaninov in his works The Miserly Knight and Franchesca da Rimini, Igor Stravinsky in Le Rossignol, Mavra, Oedipus rex, and The Rake's Progress, Sergei Prokofiev in The Gambler, The Love for Three Oranges, The Fiery Angel, Betrothal in a Monastery, and War and Peace; as well as Dmitri Shostakovich in The Nose and Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District, Edison Denisov in L'écume des jours, and Alfred Schnittke in Life With an Idiot, and Historia von D. Johann Fausten. The word tradition comes from the Latin traditionem acc of traditio which means "a giving up delivering up surrendering" and is used in a number of WikipediaWikiProject Composers#Lead section --> Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff (Сергей Васильевич Рахманинов The Miserly Knight, also The Covetous Knight, ( Скупой рыцарь, Skupóy rïtsár) is a Russian Opera in one act with music Francesca da Rimini (Франческа да Римини Op 25 is an Opera in two acts by Sergei Rachmaninoff to a Russian Libretto by Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (Игорь Фёдорович Стравинский) ( &ndash 6 April 1971 was a Russian born Composer, considered by many to The Nightingale (Solovyei is a Russian conte lyrique in three acts by Igor Stravinsky. Mavra is a one-act Opera buffa composed by Igor Stravinsky, and one of the earliest works of Stravinsky's 'neo-classical' period Other musical works on the same subject include the opera Oedipe by George Enescu, "Oedipus Rex" by Tom Lehrer, and The Rake's Progress is an Opera in three acts and an epilogue by Igor Stravinsky. Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev (Серге́й Серге́евич Проко́фьев Sergéj Sergéjevič Prokófjev) ( - 5 March 1953 was a Russian composer who The Gambler ( Russian: Игрок — Igrok in Transliteration) is an Opera in four acts by Sergei Prokofiev The Love for Three Oranges ( Russian: Любовь к трём апельсинам, or Lyubov k Tryom Apelsinam in Transliteration The Fiery Angel ( Russian: Огненный ангел — Ognenny angel in Transliteration) is an Opera in five acts Betrothal in a Monastery ( Obrucheniye v monastïre in Transliteration) was Sergei Prokofiev 's sixth opera with an opus number War and Peace ( Op 91) ( Война и мир in Russian, Voyna i mir in Transliteration) is an Opera in two Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich ( Russian: ru Дмитрий Дмитриевич Шостакович ( &ndash 9 August 1975 was a Russian Composer The Nose ( Нос, Nos in Transliteration) is a satirical Opera by Dmitri Shostakovich to a Russian Libretto Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District (Леди Макбет Мценского уезда in Russian Ledi Makbet Mtsenskogo Uyezda in Transliteration) Edison Vasilievich Denisov ( Эдисо́н Васи́льевич Дени́сов) ( April 6, 1929, Tomsk, Russia &mdash L'écume des jours (English The Foam of Days) is an Opera in three acts (14 scenes by the Russian composer Edison Denisov. Alfred Garyevich Schnittke (Альфре́д Га́рриевич Шни́тке November 24, 1934 Engels - August 3, 1998 Hamburg Historia von D Johann Fausten is an opera by the Russian composer Alfred Schnittke (1934-1998 in three acts with introduction and epilogue to the German libretto by Jörg [12]
Other national operas
Spain also produced its own distinctive form of opera, known as zarzuela, which had two separate flowerings: one in the 17th century, and another beginning in the mid-19th century. Spain () or the Kingdom of Spain (Reino de España is a country located mostly in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Zarzuela (θarˈθwela in Spain in Latin America is a Spanish lyric-dramatic genre that alternates between spoken and sung scenes the latter incorporating Operatic During the 18th century, Italian opera was immensely popular in Spain, supplanting the native form.
Czech composers also developed a thriving national opera movement of their own in the 19th century, starting with Bedřich Smetana who wrote eight operas including the internationally popular The Bartered Bride. "Smetana" redirects here For the soured cream see Smetana (dairy product. The Bartered Bride ( Prodaná nevěsta, The Sold Fiancée) is the second Opera, a comedy in three acts by Bedřich Smetana. Antonín Dvořák, most famous for Rusalka, wrote 13 operas; and Leoš Janáček gained international recognition in the 20th century for his innovative works including Jenůfa, The Cunning Little Vixen, and Káťa Kabanová. Antonín Leopold Dvořák ( (often pronounced in English as; DVOR-zhahk; September 8 1841 – May 1 1904 was a Czech composer of Romantic music, who employed Rusalka is an Opera by Antonín Dvořák. The Czech Libretto was written by the poet Jaroslav Kvapil (1868-1950 Leoš Janáček ( (July 3 1854 &ndash August 12 1928 was a Czech Composer, musical theorist, folklorist, publicist and teacher Jenůfa ( Její pastorkyňa, "Her Stepdaughter" in Czech) is an Opera in three acts by Leoš Janáček to a Czech Libretto The Cunning Little Vixen ( Czech: Příhody Lišky Bystroušky, lit Káťa Kabanová is an Opera in three acts with music by Leoš Janáček to a libretto by Vincenc Cervinka, based on The Storm, a
The key figure of Hungarian national opera in the 19th century was Ferenc Erkel, whose works mostly dealt with historical themes. Ferenc Erkel ˈɛrkɛl}} ( November 7, 1810 – June 15, 1893) was a Hungarian composer Among his most often performed operas are Hunyadi László and Bánk bán. The most famous modern Hungarian opera is Béla Bartók's Duke Bluebeard's Castle. Béla Viktor János Bartók (March 25 1881&ndashSeptember 26 1945 was a Hungarian Composer and Pianist, considered to be one of the greatest Duke Bluebeard's Castle (A kékszakállú herceg vára literally The Castle of the Blue-Bearded Prince) is a one-act opera by Hungarian composer
The best-known composer of Polish national opera was Stanislaw Moniuszko, most celebrated for the opera Straszny Dwór. Polish opera is the art of Opera in Poland. It may be regarded as the tradition of staging operas in Poland or the tradition of Polish composers and librettists writing Stanisław Moniuszko (born May 5, 1819 in Ubiel near Minsk - June 4, 1872 in Warsaw, Congress Poland) was a [13] In the 20th century, other operas created by Polish composers included King Roger by Karol Szymanowski and Ubu Rex by Krzysztof Penderecki. King Roger ( Król Roger in Polish) is an Opera by the Polish Composer Karol Szymanowski set to a Libretto by Jarosław Karol Maciej Szymanowski (3 October 1882 in Tymoszówka (present-day Ukraine) – 28 March 1937 was a Polish Composer and Pianist Krzysztof Penderecki (ˈkʂɨʂtɔf pɛndɛrˈɛ͡tski born November 23 1933 in Dębica) is a Polish Composer and conductor of classical
Contemporary, recent, and Modernist trends
Modernism
Perhaps the most obvious stylistic manifestation of modernism in opera is the development of atonality. Atonality in its broadest sense describes Music that lacks a tonal center, or key. The move away from traditional tonality in opera had begun with Wagner, and in particular the Tristan chord. The Tristan chord is a chord made up of the Notes F B D# and G# Composers such as Richard Strauss, Claude Debussy, Giacomo Puccini, Paul Hindemith and Hans Pfitzner pushed Wagnerian harmony further with a more extreme use of chromaticism and greater use of dissonance. Richard Georg Strauss (11 June 1864 &ndash 8 September 1949 was a German Composer of the late Romantic era and early modern era particularly noted Achille-Claude Debussy (aʃil klod dəbysi (August 22 1862 &ndash March 25 1918 was a French Composer. WikipediaWikiProject Composers#Lead section --> Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini ( December 22, 1858 Paul Hindemith (16 November 1895 &ndash 28 December 1963 was a German Composer, Violist, violinist teacher music theorist and conductor. WikipediaWikiProject Composers#Lead section --> Hans Erich Pfitzner ( May 5, 1869 &ndash May 22,
Operatic Modernism truly began in the operas of two Viennese composers, Arnold Schoenberg and his acolyte Alban Berg, both composers and advocates of atonality and its later development (as worked out by Schoenberg), dodecaphony. Arnold Schoenberg ( pronounced ˈʃøːnbɛrk (13 September 1874 &ndash 13 July 1951 was an Austrian and later American Composer, associated with Arnold Schoenberg ( pronounced ˈʃøːnbɛrk (13 September 1874 &ndash 13 July 1951 was an Austrian and later American Composer, associated with Alban Maria Johannes Berg (February 9 1885 &ndash December 24 1935 was an Austrian Composer. Twelve-tone technique (also dodecaphony, especially in British usage twelve-note composition) is a method of musical composition devised by Arnold Schoenberg's early musico-dramatic works, Erwartung (1909, premiered in 1924) and Die glückliche Hand display heavy use of chromatic harmony and dissonance in general. Erwartung (translation Expectation) is a one-act Opera, with music by Arnold Schoenberg, composed in 1909 to a libretto by Marie Pappenheim Die glückliche Hand (Op18 The Fortunate Hand, is a Drama mit Musik by Arnold Schoenberg. Schoenberg also occasionally used Sprechstimme, which he described as: "The voice rising and falling relative to the indicated intervals, and everything being bound together with the time and rhythm of the music except where a pause is indicated". Sprechgesang and Sprechstimme ( German for spoken-song and spoken-voice) are musical terms used to refer to an expressionist vocal
The two operas of Schoenberg's pupil Alban Berg, Wozzeck and Lulu (left incomplete at his death) share many of the same characteristics as described above, though Berg combined his highly personal interpretation of Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique with melodic passages of a more traditionally tonal nature (quite Mahlerian in character) which perhaps partially explains why his operas have remained in standard repertory, despite their controversial music and plots. Wozzeck is the first Opera by the Austrian composer Alban Berg. Lulu is an Opera by the Composer Alban Berg. The Libretto was adapted by Berg himself from Frank Wedekind 's plays Schoenberg's theories have influenced (either directly or indirectly) significant numbers of opera composers ever since, even if they themselves did not compose using his techniques. Composers thus influenced include the Englishman Benjamin Britten, the German Hans Werner Henze, and the Russian Dmitri Shostakovich. Edward Benjamin Britten Baron Britten, OM CH (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976 was an English Composer, conductor, Hans Werner Henze (born July 1 1926 Gütersloh, Germany is a German composer well known for his left-wing political convictions Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich ( Russian: ru Дмитрий Дмитриевич Шостакович ( &ndash 9 August 1975 was a Russian Composer (Philip Glass also makes use of atonality, though his style is generally described as minimalist, usually thought of as another 20th century development. WikipediaWikiProject Composers#Lead section --> Philip Glass (born January 31 Minimalist music is an originally American genre of experimental or Downtown music named in the 1960s based mostly in consonant harmony, steady )
However, operatic modernism's use of dodecaphony sparked a backlash among several leading composers. Prominent among the vanguard of these was the Russian Igor Stravinsky. Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (Игорь Фёдорович Стравинский) ( &ndash 6 April 1971 was a Russian born Composer, considered by many to After composing obviously Modernist music for the Diaghilev-produced ballets Petrushka and The Rite of Spring, in the 1920s Stravinsky turned to Neoclassicism, culminating in his opera-oratorio Oedipus Rex. Sergei Pavlovich Diaghilev (Серге́й Па́влович Дя́гилев / Sergei Pavlovich Dyagilev) also referred to as Serge, ( March 31, Petrushka (Петрушка is a Stock character of Russian folk Puppetry ( Rayok) known at least since 17th century This article is about the ballet music For the emo/hardcore band see Rites of Spring The Rite of Spring, commonly referred Neoclassicism in music was a 20th century development particularly popular in the period between the two World Wars in which composers drew inspiration from music of the 18th century Oedipus the King ( Ancient Greek: tyrannos Modern Greek: ( "Oedipus the Tyrant" also known as Oedipus Rex, is a [14] When he did compose a full-length opera that was without doubt an opera (after his Rimsky-Korsakov-inspired works The Nightingale (1914), and Mavra (1922)), in The Rake's Progress he continued to ignore serialist techniques and wrote an 18th century-style "number" opera, using diatonicism. The Nightingale (Solovyei is a Russian conte lyrique in three acts by Igor Stravinsky. Mavra is a one-act Opera buffa composed by Igor Stravinsky, and one of the earliest works of Stravinsky's 'neo-classical' period The Rake's Progress is an Opera in three acts and an epilogue by Igor Stravinsky. His resistance to serialism (which ended at the death of Schoenberg) proved to be an inspiration for many other composers. In Music, serialism is a technique for composition that uses sets to describe musical elements, and allows the manipulation of those [15]
Other trends
A common trend throughout the 20th century, in both opera and general orchestral repertoire, is the downsizing of orchestral forces. As patronage of the arts decreases, new works are commissioned and performed with smaller budgets, very often resulting in chamber-sized works, and one act operas. Many of Benjamin Britten's operas are scored for as few as 13 instrumentalists; Mark Adamo's two-act realization of Little Women is scored for 18 instrumentalists. Edward Benjamin Britten Baron Britten, OM CH (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976 was an English Composer, conductor, Mark Adamo (born 1962 is an Italian American composer and librettist born in Philadelphia Pennsylvania. Little Women (1998 is the first opera composed by American composer Mark Adamo to his own Libretto after Louisa May Alcott 's tale
Another feature of 20th century opera is the emergence of contemporary historical operas. The Death of Klinghoffer and Nixon in China by John Adams, and Dead Man Walking by Jake Heggie exemplify the dramatisation on stage of events in recent living memory, where characters portrayed in the opera were alive at the time of the premiere performance. The Death of Klinghoffer is an Opera by the contemporary American composer John Adams to an English Libretto by the poet Alice Nixon in China (1985-87 is an Opera with music by the American composer John Adams and a Libretto by Alice Goodman, about the John Coolidge Adams (born February 15 1947 is an American Composer with strong roots in minimalism. Dead Man Walking is the first Opera by Jake Heggie, with a Libretto (based on the book of the same name by Sister Helen Prejean Jake Heggie (born on March 31, 1961 in West Palm Beach Florida) is an American composer and pianist Earlier models of opera generally stuck to more distant history, re-telling contemporary fictional stories (reworkings of popular plays), or mythical/legendary stories. [16]
The Metropolitan Opera reports that the average age of its patrons is now 60. Many opera companies have experienced a similar trend, and opera company websites are replete with attempts to attract a younger audience. This trend is part of the larger trend of greying audiences for classical music since the last decades of the 20th century. Classical music is a broad term that usually refers to mainstream music produced in or rooted in the traditions of Western liturgical and Secular music [17] In an effort to attract younger audiences, the Met offers a student discount on ticket purchases. [18] Smaller companies like Opera Carolina offer discounts and happy hour events to the 21–40 year old demographic. [19] In addition to radio and television broadcasts of opera performances, which have had some success in gaining new audiences, broadcasts of live performances in HD to movie theatres have shown the potential to reach new audiences. Since 2006, the Met has broadcast live performances to several hundred movie screens all over the world. [20]
From musicals back towards opera
Also by the late 1930s, some musicals began to be written with a more operatic structure. Musical theatre is a form of Theatre combining Music, Songs spoken Dialogue and Dance. These works include complex polyphonic ensembles and reflect musical developments of their times. Porgy and Bess, influenced by jazz styles, and Candide, with its sweeping, lyrical passages and farcical parodies of opera, both opened on Broadway but became accepted as part of the opera repertory. Porgy and Bess is an Opera, first performed in 1935, with music by George Gershwin, Libretto by DuBose Heyward, and Candide (1956 is an Operetta with music composed by Leonard Bernstein, based on the Novella of the same name by Voltaire Broadway theater, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 39 large professional theaters with 500 seats or more located Show Boat, West Side Story, Brigadoon, Sweeney Todd, Evita, The Light in the Piazza and others tell dramatic stories through complex music and are now sometimes seen in opera houses. Show Boat is a musical in two acts with music by Jerome Kern and book (based on a novel by Edna Ferber) and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein West Side Story is a musical by Arthur Laurents (book Leonard Bernstein (music and Stephen Sondheim (lyrics Brigadoon is a musical with a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. Evita is a musical with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice. The Light in the Piazza is a musical with a book by Craig Lucas and music and lyrics by Adam Guettel. Some musicals, beginning with Tommy (1969) and Jesus Christ Superstar (1971) and continuing through Les Miserables (musical) (1980), Rent (1996) and Spring Awakening (2006), utilize various operatic conventions, such as through composition, recitative instead of dialogue, leitmotifs, and dramatic stories told predominantly through rock or pop music. Jesus Christ Superstar is a Rock opera by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber. Les Misérables ( in French, le mize'ʁaːbl colloquially known as Les Mis or Les Miz, is a musical composed Rent is a Rock musical, with music and lyrics by Jonathan Larson based on Giacomo Puccini 's Opera La Bohème Spring Awakening is a Tony Award -winning rock musical with music by Duncan Sheik and book and lyrics by Steven Sater. Music is described as through-composed when it is relatively continuous non- sectional and/or non- Repetitive.
Acoustic enhancement with speakers
A subtle type of sound reinforcement called acoustic enhancement is used in some concert halls where operas are performed. Acoustic enhancement is a subtle type of Sound reinforcement system used to augment direct reflected or reverberant sound Acoustic enhancement systems help give a more even sound in the hall and prevent "dead spots" in the audience seating area by ". . . augment[ing] a hall's intrinsic acoustic characteristics. " The systems use ". . . an array of microphones connected to a computer [which is] connected to an array of loudspeakers. " However, as concertgoers have become aware of the use of these systems, debates have arisen, because ". . . purists maintain that the natural acoustic sound of [Classical] voices [or] instruments in a given hall should not be altered. "[21]
Kai Harada's article Opera's Dirty Little Secret[22] states that opera houses have begun using electronic acoustic enhancement systems ". . . to compensate for flaws in a venue's acoustical architecture. " Despite the uproar that has arisen amongst operagoers, Harada points out that none of the opera houses using acoustic enhancement systems ". . . use traditional, Broadway-style sound reinforcement, in which most if not all singers are equipped with radio microphones mixed to a series of unsightly loudspeakers scattered throughout the theatre. " Instead, most opera houses use the sound reinforcement system for acoustic enhancement, and for subtle boosting of offstage voices, onstage dialogue, and sound effects (e. g. , church bells in Tosca or thunder in Wagnerian operas). Tosca is an Opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian Libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on
Operatic voices
Vocal classifications
Singers and the roles they play are classified by voice type, based on the tessitura, agility, power and timbre of their voices. A voice type is a particular kind of human Singing voice perceived as having certain identifying qualities or characteristics In Music, the term tessitura ( Italian for texture) generally describes the most musically acceptable and comfortable Timbre for a given Vocal weight refers to the perceived "lightness" or "heaviness" of a singing voice In Music, timbre (ˈtæm-bər' like timber, or, from Fr timbre tɛ̃bʁ is the quality of a Musical note or sound that distinguishes different Male singers can be loosely classified by vocal range as bass, bass-baritone, baritone, tenor and countertenor, and female singers as contralto, mezzo-soprano and soprano. Human voices may be classified according to their vocal range &mdash the highest and lowest pitches that they can produce A bass-baritone is a high-lying bass that shares certain qualities with the Baritone Voice type. This article is related to a series of articles under the main article Voice type. The tenor is the highest male voice within the Modal register, just above the Baritone voice This article is related to a series of articles under the main article Voice type. This article is related to a series of articles under the main article Voice type. This article is related to a series of articles under the main article Voice type. This article is related to a series of articles under the main article Voice type. (Men sometimes sing in the "female" vocal ranges, in which case they are termed sopranist or countertenor. A sopranist (also sopranista or male soprano) is a male classical singer who is able to sing in the vocal Tessitura of a Soprano usually through This article is related to a series of articles under the main article Voice type. Of these, only the countertenor is commonly encountered in opera, sometimes singing parts written for castrati -- men neutered at a young age specifically to give them a higher singing range. This article is related to a series of articles under the main article Voice type. A castrato is a man with a singing voice equivalent to that of a Soprano, Mezzo-soprano, or Contralto voice produced either by Castration ) Singers are then classified by voice type - for instance, a soprano can be described as a lyric soprano, coloratura, soubrette, spinto, or dramatic soprano. A voice type is a particular kind of human Singing voice perceived as having certain identifying qualities or characteristics Coloratura has several meanings The word derives from the Italian colorare (to Colour; to heighten to enliven or colorazione (colouring coloration Soubrette is a term referring to a type of female role&mdashspecifically a Stock character &mdashin Opera and Theatre. Spinto (from Italian "pushed" is a vocal term used to characterize a Soprano or Tenor voice of a weight between lyric and dramatic These terms, although not fully describing a singing voice, associate the singer's voice with the roles most suitable to the singer's vocal characteristics. A particular singer's voice may change drastically over his or her lifetime, rarely reaching vocal maturity until the third decade, and sometimes not until middle age.
Historical use of voice parts
The following is only intended as a brief overview. For the main articles, see soprano, mezzo-soprano, alto, tenor, baritone, bass, countertenor and castrato. This article is related to a series of articles under the main article Voice type. This article is related to a series of articles under the main article Voice type. Alto is a musical term derived from the Latin word altus, meaning "high" that has several possible interpretations The tenor is the highest male voice within the Modal register, just above the Baritone voice This article is related to a series of articles under the main article Voice type. This article is related to a series of articles under the main article Voice type. A castrato is a man with a singing voice equivalent to that of a Soprano, Mezzo-soprano, or Contralto voice produced either by Castration
The soprano voice has typically been used throughout operatic history as the voice of choice for the female protagonist of the opera in question. The current emphasis on a wide vocal range was primarily an invention of the Classical period. The dates of the Classical period in Western music are generally accepted as 1750 to 1810 Before that, the vocal virtuosity, not range, was the priority, with soprano parts rarely extending above a high A (Handel, for example, only wrote one role extending to a high C), though the castrato Farinelli was alleged to possess a top D (his lower range was also extraordinary, extending to tenor C). Farinelli ( January 24, 1705 &ndash September 16, 1782) was the Stage name of Carlo Maria Broschi, one of the most famous The mezzo-soprano, a term of comparatively recent origin, also has a large repertoire, ranging from the female lead in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas to such heavyweight roles as Brangäne in Wagner's Tristan und Isolde (these are both roles sometimes sung by sopranos; there is quite a lot of "movement" between these two voice-types). For the true contralto, the range of parts is more limited, hence the saying that contraltos only sing "Witches, bitches, and britches". A breeches role (also pants role or trouser role) is a role in which an actress appears in male clothing ( Breeches being tight-fitting knee-length pants In recent years many of the trouser roles from the Baroque era, originally written for women, and those originally sung by castrati, have been assigned to countertenors.
The tenor voice, from the Classical era onwards, has traditionally been assigned the role of male protagonist. Many of the most challenging tenor roles in the repertory were written during the bel canto era, such as Donizetti's sequence of 9 Cs above middle C during La fille du régiment. Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti (29 November 1797 &ndash 8 April 1848 was an Italian composer from Bergamo, Lombardy. La fille du régiment ( The Daughter of the Regiment) is an Opéra comique in two acts by Gaetano Donizetti. With Wagner came an emphasis on vocal heft for his protagonist roles, with this vocal category described as Heldentenor; this heroic voice had its more Italianate counterpart in such roles as Calaf in Puccini's Turandot. Basses have a long history in opera, having been used in opera seria in supporting roles, and sometimes for comic relief (as well as providing a contrast to the preponderance of high voices in this genre). The bass repertoire is wide and varied, stretching from the comedy of Leporello in Don Giovanni to the nobility of Wotan in Wagner's Ring Cycle. Don Giovanni ( K527; complete title Il dissoluto punito ossia il Don Giovanni, literally "The Rake Punish'd or Don Giovanni Der Ring des Nibelungen ( The Ring of the Nibelung) is a cycle of four epic Music dramas by the German composer In between the bass and the tenor is the baritone, which also varies in "weight" from say, Guglielmo in Mozart's Così fan tutte to Posa in Verdi's Don Carlos; the actual designation "baritone" was not used until the mid-nineteenth century.
Famous singers
Early performances of opera were too infrequent for singers to make a living exclusively from the style, but with the birth of commercial opera in the mid-17th century, professional performers began to emerge. The role of the male hero was usually entrusted to a castrato, and by the 18th century, when Italian opera was performed throughout Europe, leading castrati who possessed extraordinary vocal virtuosity, such as Senesino and Farinelli, became international stars. A castrato is a man with a singing voice equivalent to that of a Soprano, Mezzo-soprano, or Contralto voice produced either by Castration Senesino ( Francesco Bernardi) ( October 31 1686 &ndash November 27 1758) was a celebrated Italian alto Castrato Farinelli ( January 24, 1705 &ndash September 16, 1782) was the Stage name of Carlo Maria Broschi, one of the most famous The career of the first major female star (or prima donna), Anna Renzi, dates to the mid-1600s. Originally used in Opera companies " prima donna " is Italian for "first lady" Anna Renzi (c1620-after 1660 was a leading Italian opera singer of the mid-17th century renowned for her acting ability as well as her voice In the 18th century, a number of Italian sopranos gained international renown and often engaged in fierce rivalry, as was the case with Faustina Bordoni and Francesca Cuzzoni, who started a fist fight with one another during a performance of a Handel opera. Faustina Bordoni ( 30 March 1697 &ndash 4 November 1781) was an Italian Mezzo-soprano. Francesca Cuzzoni ( 2 April 1696 &ndash 19 June 1778) was an Italian operatic Soprano of the Baroque era The French disliked castrati, preferring their male heroes to be sung by a haute-contre (a high tenor), of which Joseph Legros was a leading example. The haute-contre is a rare type of high Tenor voice predominant in French Baroque and Classical opera until the latter part of the eighteenth century Joseph Legros (b Monampteuil Laon 7 Sep or 8 Sep 1739 &ndash La Rochelle, 20 Dec 1793) was a French Singer [23]
Though opera patronage has decreased in the last century in favor of other arts and media, such as musicals, cinema, radio, television and recordings, mass media has also supported the popularity of famous singers such as Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, and Jose Carreras ("The Three Tenors"). WikipediaWikiProject Opera#Infoboxes. Thank you--> Luciano Pavarotti, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI ( October 12, WikipediaWikiProject Opera#Infoboxes --> José Plácido Domingo Embil KBE (born January 21, 1941) better WikipediaWikiProject Opera#Infoboxes --> Josep Carreras i Coll (born December 5, 1946, Barcelona The Three Tenors is a name given to a consort of singers who held concerts under this banner during the 1990s and early 2000s Spaniards Plácido Domingo Other famous 21st century performers include Renee Fleming and various other artists who have gained note as "crossover" performers by featuring in pop music and movie scores. WikipediaWikiProject Opera#Infoboxes --> Renée Fleming (born February 14 1959 is an accomplished American Soprano specializing
See also
Lists
- Main list: List of basic opera topics
- Glossary of music terms
- List of important opera companies
- List of important operas - an annotated, chronological, selected list of operas which are included for their historical significance, widespread popularity, or both. This is a list of musical terms that are likely to be encountered in printed scores This list of opera companies lists the most important opera companies in the world by virtue of their long history and size Wikipedia talkFeatured lists#Proposed_change_to_all_featured_lists for an explanation of this and other inclusion tags below -->This list provides a guide to the
- List of major opera composers - an annotated compilation of the most frequently named composers on ten lists published by opera experts. Wikipedia_talkFeatured_lists#Proposed_change_to_all_featured_lists for an explanation of this and other inclusion tags below -->This list provides a guide to the
- List of operas by title - an alphabetical list by title of operas with Wikipedia articles. The following is a list of Operas with entries in Wikipedia The entries are sorted alphabetically by opera title with the name of the composer and the year of the first performance
- List of opera directors
- List of opera festivals
- List of opera houses
- List of Opera singers by ranges
- Voice type, the classification of singers by the tessitura, weight, and timbre of their voices. This ' List of opera directors' is an inclusive register of famous drama producers and directors who have worked or are working in the opera world This is an inclusive list of opera festivals and summer seasons and music festivals which have opera productions Opera houses are listed by continent then by country with the name of the opera house and city the opera company is sometimes named for clarity The following articles contain information about female classical singers Soprano Mezzo-soprano Contralto A voice type is a particular kind of human Singing voice perceived as having certain identifying qualities or characteristics
- The opera corpus - an extended list of more than 1400 works by more than 400 composers. This is a list of over 2100 works by around 600 individual opera composers
Related topics
- Persian opera
- Polish opera
- Russian opera
- French opera
- German opera
- Italian opera
- Comic opera
- Chinese opera
- Music
- Dance
- Orchestra
Notes
- ^ Some definitions of opera: dramatic performance or composition of which music is an essential part, branch of art concerned with this (Concise Oxford English Dictionary); any dramatic work that can be sung (or at times declaimed or spoken) in a place for performance, set to original music for singers (usually in costume) and instrumentalists (Amanda Holden, Viking Opera Guide); musical work for the stage with singing characters, originated in early years of 17th century (Pears Cyclopaedia, 1983 ed. Ta'zieh ( Persian: تعزیه means Condolence Theater and Naqqali are traditional Persian Theatrical genres in which the Drama Polish opera is the art of Opera in Poland. It may be regarded as the tradition of staging operas in Poland or the tradition of Polish composers and librettists writing See also Russian opera articles for the details and additional information Russian opera ( Russian Ру́сская о́пера French opera is one of Europe's most important operatic traditions containing works by composers of the stature of Lully, Rameau, Berlioz, Bizet Opera in German is the Opera of the German-speaking countries, most notably Germany (or the historic states which now form the Federal Republic of Germany Italian opera is both the art of Opera in Italy and opera in the Italian language. Comic opera, or light opera, denotes a sung dramatic work of a light or comic nature usually with a happy ending Chinese Opera ( Chinese: 戏曲/戲曲 Pinyin: xìqǔ is a popular form of Drama and Musical theatre in China with roots going back Music is an Art form in which the medium is Sound organized in Time. Dance (from French danser, perhaps from Frankish) is an Art form that generally refers to movement of the body usually rhythmic An orchestra is an instrumental ensemble, usually fairly large with string brass woodwind sections and possibly a percussion section as well ).
- ^ Comparable art forms from various other parts of the world, many of them ancient in origin, are also sometimes called "opera" by analogy, usually prefaced with an adjective indicating the region (for example, Chinese opera). Chinese Opera ( Chinese: 戏曲/戲曲 Pinyin: xìqǔ is a popular form of Drama and Musical theatre in China with roots going back These independent traditions are not derivative of Western opera, but are rather distinct forms of musical theatre. Musical theatre is a form of Theatre combining Music, Songs spoken Dialogue and Dance. Opera is also not the only type of Western musical theatre: in the ancient world, Greek drama featured singing and instrumental accompaniment; and in modern times, other forms such as the musical have appeared. The theatre of ancient Greece, or ancient Greek drama, is a theatrical Culture that flourished in ancient Greece between c Musical theatre is a form of Theatre combining Music, Songs spoken Dialogue and Dance.
- ^ Oxford Illustrated History of Opera, Chapter 1; articles on Peri and Monteverdi in The Viking Opera Guide.
- ^ Oxford Illustrated History of Opera, Chapters 1-3.
- ^ Man and Music: the Classical Era, ed. Neal Zaslaw (Macmillan, 1989); entries on Gluck and Mozart in The Viking Opera Guide. Neal Zaslaw (b June 28 1939 is an American Musicologist. Born in New York, Zaslaw graduated from Harvard in 1961 with a BA and obtained his master's
- ^ Oxford Illustrated History of Opera, Chapters 5, 8 and 9. Viking Opera Guide entry on Verdi.
- ^ General outline for this section from the The Oxford Illustrated History of Opera, Chapters 1-3, 6, 8 and 9, and The Oxford Companion to Music; more specific references from the individual composer entries in The Viking Opera Guide.
- ^ General outline for this section from the The Oxford Illustrated History of Opera, Chapters 1-4, 8 and 9; and The Oxford Companion to Music (10th ed. , 1968); more specific references from the individual composer entries in The Viking Opera Guide.
- ^ a b c From Webrarian.com's Ivanhoe site. Ivanhoe is a romantic Opera in three acts based on the novel by Sir Walter Scott, with Music by Sir Arthur Sullivan and
- ^ the Daily Telegraph's review of Yeomen stated, "The accompaniments. . . are delightful to hear, and especially does the treatment of the woodwind compel admiring attention. Schubert himself could hardly have handled those instruments more deftly. . . . we have a genuine English opera, forerunner of many others, let us hope, and possibly significant of an advance towards a national lyric stage. (quoted at p. 312 in Allen, Reginald (1975). The First Night Gilbert and Sullivan. London: Chappell & Co. Ltd. ). Sullivan produced a few light operas in the 1890s that were of a more serious nature than those in the G&S series, including Haddon Hall and The Beauty Stone, but Ivanhoe (which ran for 155 consecutive performances, using alternating casts – a record until Broadway's La Boheme) survives as his only grand opera. Haddon Hall is an English light opera with music by Arthur Sullivan and a libretto by Sydney Grundy. The Beauty Stone is "an original romantic musical Opera " in three acts composed by Arthur Sullivan to a libretto by Arthur Wing Pinero Ivanhoe is a romantic Opera in three acts based on the novel by Sir Walter Scott, with Music by Sir Arthur Sullivan and Grand Opera is a genre of 19th-century Opera generally in four or five acts characterised by large-scale casts and orchestras and (in their original productions lavish and
- ^ Oxford Illustrated History of Opera, Chapters 1, 3 and 9. The Viking Opera Guide articles on Blow, Purcell and Britten.
- ^ Taruskin, Richard: Russia in 'The New Grove Dictionary of Opera', ed. Stanley Sadie (London, 1992); Oxford Illustrated History of Opera, Chapters 7-9.
- ^ See the chapter on "Russian, Czech, Polish and Hungarian Opera to 1900" by John Tyrrell in The Oxford Illustrated History of Opera (1994).
- ^ Stravinsky had already turned away from the modernist trends of his early ballets to produce small-scale works that do not fully qualify as opera, yet certainly contain many operatic elements, including Renard (1916: "a burlesque in song and dance") and The Soldier's Tale (1918: "to be read, played, and danced"; in both cases the descriptions and instructions are those of the composer). Renard, Histoire burlesque chantée et jouée (The Fox Burlesque tale sung and played is a one-act chamber opera-ballet by Igor Stravinsky, written in Histoire du soldat (sometimes written L'histoire du soldat; translated as The Soldier's Tale or A Soldier's Tale In the latter, the actors declaim portions of speech to a specified rhythm over instrumental accompaniment, peculiarly similar to the older German genre of Melodrama. Melodrama refers to theatre in which music is used to increase the spectator's emotional response or to suggest character types
- ^ Oxford Illustrated History of Opera, Chapter 8; The Viking Opera Guide articles on Schoenberg, Berg and Stravinsky; Malcolm MacDonald Schoenberg (Dent,1976); Francis Routh, Stravinsky (Dent, 1975).
- ^ However, something similar happened in French opera during the Revolutionary era. The French Revolution (1789–1799 was a period of political and social upheaval in the History of France, during which the French governmental structure previously an One example is Gossec's Le triomphe de la République (1793), depicting the French victory at Valmy the previous year. François-Joseph Gossec ( January 17, 1734 — February 16, 1829) was a Belgian composer of operas string quartets symphonies The Battle of Valmy, also known as the Cannonade of Valmy, was a tactically indecisive artillery engagement but strategically it ensured the survival of the French Such works were obviously intended as propaganda.
- ^ General reference for this section: Oxford Illustrated History of Opera, Chapter 9.
- ^ Information about Metropolitan Opera Company student discounts
- ^ Opera Carolina discount information
- ^ On Air & On Line: 2007–08 HD Season. The Metropolitan Opera (2007). Retrieved on 2008-04-10. 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Events 879 - Louis III becomes King of the Western Franks. 1407 - the lama
- ^ Sound Systems- Why?!
- ^ Entertainment Design, Mar 1, 2001 http://industryclick.com/magazinearticle.asp?releaseid=5643&magazinearticleid=66853&siteid=15&magazineid=138
- ^ The Oxford Illustrated History of Opera (ed. Parker, 1994), Chapter 11
References
- Silke Leopold, "The Idea of National Opera, c. 1800," United and Diversity in European Culture c. 1800, ed. Tim Blanning and Hagen Schulze (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006), 19-34.
- The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, edited by Stanley Sadie (1992), 5,448 pages, is the best, and by far the largest, general reference in the English language. The New Grove Dictionary of Opera is an Encyclopedia of Opera, considered to be one of the best general reference sources on the subject ISBN 0-333-73432-7 and ISBN 1-56159-228-5
- The Viking Opera Guide (1994), 1,328 pages, ISBN 0-670-81292-7
- The Oxford Illustrated History of Opera, ed. Roger Parker (1994)
- The Oxford Dictionary of Opera, by John Warrack and Ewan West (1992), 782 pages, ISBN 0-19-869164-5
- Opera, the Rough Guide, by Matthew Boyden et al. (1997), 672 pages, ISBN 1-85828-138-5
- Opera: A Concise History, by Leslie Orrey and Rodney Milne, World of Art, Thames & Hudson
Further reading
- DiGaetani, John Louis: An Invitation to the Opera Anchor Books, 1986/91. John Louis DiGaetani is a Professor of English at Hofstra University in Hempstead New York. ISBN 0-385-26339-2
- Simon, Henry W. : A Treasury of Grand Opera. Simon and Schuster, New York, 1946.
External links
- vocabulaire de l'Opéra
- OperaGlass, a resource at Stanford University
- HistoricOpera - historic operatic images
- "America’s Opera Boom" By Jonathan Leaf, The American, July/August 2007 Issue
- 100 Greatest Operas
- 100 Top Operas with plot summaries and recommended CDs/DVDs
The American A Magazine of Ideas was founded in November 2006 by James K
Dictionary
opera
-noun
- (music) a theatrical work combining drama, music, song and sometimes dance
- (music) the score for such a work
- A building designed for the performance of such works; an opera house
- A company dedicated to performing such works
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