Opera as we know it began in the Baroque period (1600-1750) by a group of Italian composers who decided to imitate the masters of theater: the ancient Greeks. The Italians believed that the Greeks had sung their plays, not spoken them, and thus the Italians decided to set their own stories to music. Although they were completely wrong about the Greeks (Sophocles was so tone deaf), they did produce a totally new art form. Opera today remains very similar to what the Italians developed.
When the Italians created opera, it consisted of two main components, both of which continue to be an integral part of opera:
* Recitatives, which contain dialogue set to music and generally propel the plot forward. This is when you think of the actors just singing their sentences. It's not a song, just tuneful talking.
* Arias, which are more melodic and elaborate on a certain feeling or action. These are the songs that the fat (or thin) ladies sing. Choruses, in which many people sing at once, may also be interspersed.
Part 2: The spread of opera
As opera made its way across Europe, its styles began to change as well. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) helped bring German into the previously Italian-dominated opera scene. He wrote many operas, in both German and Italian, which are very accessible because of their fast-moving plots, interesting stories and beautiful music. Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827), another very famous composer of this period, wrote only one opera, "Fidelio," which propelled German opera forward.
It was during the late 1700s that opera clearly separated into two genres: opera seria (grand, serious opera) and opera buffa (comic opera, meant more for the lower classes). Opera buffa eventually evolved into what became operettas (e.g., Gilbert and Sullivan's "The Mikado"), which in turn evolved into modern musical theater.
It is during the Romantic period (late 1700s to the mid 1800s) that we start to encounter the image of the fat, loud, opera-singing woman. Operas became more melodramatic, prompted by the emotionalism that had started to develop in all of the European arts. Not all of the Romantic composers wrote in such a dramatic style (the Italians Gaetano Donizetti and Vincenzo Bellini wrote many less fancy operas), but the scene was dominated by two names: Richard Wagner (pronounced "VAG-ner") and Giuseppe Verdi. The German Wagner broke away from the recitative/aria tradition and decided to write a particular melody for each character or theme that would appear whenever they/it came on stage. His operas are very complex and hard to listen to, even for the most experienced opera lovers. Verdi, on the other hand, can be very accessible with a little preparation. He wrote a huge number of operas, completing 20 by the end of his life; although not all are masterpieces, he is still regarded as one of the best composers of opera, if not the best.
Part 3: Recent opera
In the early 1900s, the United States tried to shove its way into the opera scene, especially with George Gershwin's "Porgy and Bess," which portrayed the lives of African-Americans in 1920s Charleston. While Gershwin's opera is considered to be an American masterpiece, the U.S. hasn't had much success in continuing the operatic tradition, apart from popularizing some musical performances that are usually not thought of as "operas," such as "Les Miserables" (a British import). Looking ahead, new opera seems to be getting more publicity in the U.S., and the line between musicals and opera is becoming blurrier: Michael-John LaChiusa's Broadway musical "Marie Christine" has been called opera, as have some of Stephen Sondheim's shows.
For some more history, check out the opera-history site in Resources.
on 5/16/2009
HelloCan someone tell me who Tigerlily was? Was she a character in Madame Butterfly, or in The mikado?Or was she in something else?Thank you
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bellbird said
on 5/16/2009 HelloCan someone tell me who Tigerlily was? Was she a character in Madame Butterfly, or in The mikado?Or was she in something else?Thank you