Appreciating the Western Opera Music

Appreciating the Western Opera Music{The opera is actually an art form in which singer actors as well as musicians perform a dramatic work.The presentation is a combination of a text called libretto and a musical score, and is staged.Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and even includes dance.What is Western Opera?It had its origin in the last years of the 16th century, and eventually this new form of entertainment spread through the rest of Europe.Italian composer Pietro Francesco Cavalli held the stage for some 50 years.Opera began as an entertainment at the courts of the Italian aristocracy, with outdoor terraces and even enclosed tennis courts being adapted for performances.How did Western Opera came about?4. Italian opera continued to dominate most of Europe, except France, attracting foreign composers such as Handel.5. Throughout its history, opera has exerted great influence on other forms of music and vice versa.6. Singing is at the center of opera.7. The most renowned figure of late 18th-century opera is Mozart.How did Western Opera came about?Mozart began with opera seria. He is however most famous for his Italian comic operas, like The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, Cosi fan tutte, and The Magic Flute.Opera is part of the Western classical music tradition.How did Western Opera came about?

One of the worlds most famous opera housePalais Garnier of the Paris Opera{Comic operas generally deal with ordinary people and places and end happily, whereas opera seria treats mythological or historical subjects and typically ends tragically.What is Palais Garnier of the Paris Opera?The most famous examples of comic opera are Carmen (1875) by French composer Georges Bizet and Fidelio by German composer Ludwig van Beethoven.What is Palais Garnier of the Paris Opera?

2. A form of light, sentimental comic opera that flourished in Paris and Vienna in the late 19th and early 20th centuries came to be called operatta.What is Palais Garnier of the Paris Opera?3. Imported to the United States, the operetta evolved into the musical, a play that includes songs, choruses and dances in its narrative.What is Palais Garnier of the Paris Opera?The entire text in a grand opera is sung in present-day grand opera.In present day, comic opera, singing alternates with passage that are half sung and half-spoken and usually accompanied by a keyboard instrument.What is the Opera today?First of the four operas that constitue Richard Wagners Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung)Das Rheingold (The Rhine Gold

{The symphony, for example, began as an instrumental introduction (called a sinfonia) to 18th Italian opera.What is the Opera today?4. The glittering runs and cadenzas (extended virtuosic solos) of violin and piano concertos stem, in large part, from an attempt to replicate some of operas vocal brilliance for these instruments.

What is the Opera today?5. The innovations in harmony and orchestration (assigning parts in an orchestral composition to different instruments) that 19th century German composer Richard Wagner developed for his sprawling operas shaped the subsequent course of many musical forms.

What is the Opera today?6. Indeed many modern musicians regard the effort to emerge from the gigantic shadow of Wagner as the principal struggle of Classical music after the 19th century.What is the Opera today?The instruments in a full orchestra may be divided into main four sections. These are strings, woodwinds, brass and percussion. Among the four sections, the strings section is the largest in the orchestra. These instruments usually include the violins, violas, cellos, basses, and harps.What are the musical instruments in an orchestra? Woodwinds include oboes, flutes, saxophones, clarinets, and bassoons.The brass section includes trumpets, French horns and trombones.The percussion section can include timpani, bells, chimes and xylophone.What are the musical instruments in an orchestra?The first opera ever written, Dafnewas, was performed in 1597 in Florence in Italy, it was composed by was Jacopo Peri. In 1600, he worked together with another composer, Guilio Caccini, to write an opera called Euridice. This genre of writing was new. The characteristic of the new genre was having solo singer who can tell a story through singing. It was presented in a sort of a club called camerata.The Baroque Opera (1600-1750)Claudio Monteverdi, in 1607 wrote the opera titled Orfeo, which was produced in Mantua. In 1637, the first public opera house was opened in Venice. A number of theaters in Italy soon started to produce operas. The stories were usually about ancient times, like the Roman Empire or Greek myths. This period is known as the Baroque period, the opera was used as a means to entertain the upper classes.The Baroque Opera (1600-1750)Christoph Willibald Gluck was a composer known for his dedication in developing the Opera. In 1762, he wrote an opera titled Orfeo which was performed in Vienna. It had a number of choruses and ballet numbers. The lyrics were in Italian and the music concentrated on the story rather than being just a display of singers' vocal skills.Classical Opera (Late 18th Century)Classical Opera (Late 18th Century)Taking cognizance of Gluck, Moxart composed a number of opera pieces like Idomeneo which is all about a Greek story. Mozart also wrote for the Italian Opera. His works include Don Giovanni, Le Nozze di Figaro, and osi fan tutte. For the German Opera, Mozart wrote The Abduction from The Serai and The Magic Flute. Ludwig van Beethoven also wrote an opera titled Fidelio, which is about a story of a woman who rescues her lover from prison.Wagner composed both text and music of his operas. His subjects are from German folklore and myths. Wagner used leitmotifs which means that there are tunes which are used for particular characters or ideas in the opera. This allows the music to develop with the story, and can be used in interesting ways. The Spaniards had their own kind of opera called zarzuela. The Russian Mikhail Glinka wrote Ruslan and Lydumia, which was based on a Russian fairytale.Romantic Opera (19th Century)