Opera

Drama carried by singing, with aria and recitative holding up the stage.

Related

BaroqueOperaAriaVoice

Opera gives drama to singing. Recitative moves the plot, the aria lets a character stop and feel, and chorus and orchestra turn a private moment into a public scene.

Origins

Late in the sixteenth century, Florentine intellectuals tried to revive Greek tragedy through monody. Around 1600 Peri and Caccini wrote early operas, and Monteverdi's L'Orfeo joined instrumental colour to dramatic tension. Venice opened a ticket-selling opera house in 1637, and opera went public. The eighteenth century split opera seria from buffa; the nineteenth produced national schools and Wagner.

Listening features

Tell recitative from aria: the first follows speech with light accompaniment, the second unfolds in full melodic shape. Then notice voice types, with soprano, tenor and baritone in familiar roles. Ensembles let several characters speak at once, while the orchestra repeats motives that point to people and ideas. Overtures and interludes change the scene and mood.

Composers and works

Monteverdi's L'Orfeo established early opera. Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro and Die Zauberflöte balance comedy and seriousness. Verdi's La traviata, Bizet's Carmen and Puccini's La bohème brought opera to a wide public. Wagner and Richard Strauss expanded harmony and orchestra.

Lineage

It grows from pastoral, intermedio and monody and leads to operetta, musical theatre and film scoring; its vocal writing also shapes art song and oratorio.

Misconceptions

Opera is not a play with music added; music is the dramatic structure. It is not always in Italian, as German, French, Russian and English traditions matter. Nor is it only high-voice display, since ensembles, chorus and orchestra carry the story.

Sources

• The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd ed., entry "Opera" — definitions and dating checked, not quoted
• Richard Taruskin, The Oxford History of Western Music, vol. 2 — context checked, not quoted

Used for fact-checking only; all prose is original.