Opera Essays

An Opera is “… a staged drama set to music in its entirety, made up of vocal pieces with instrumental accompaniment and usually with orchestral overtures and interludes”. (Weinstock, 2014) However, in reality it is far more complicated than that: the genre Opera is broken down into many sub-genres all of which have distinct characteristics which set them apart. Some of these sub-genres include the: German Opera, Italian Opera, Opera Buffa and Opera Seria. By the turn of the seventeenth century the

John Gays''s "The Beggar's Opera" is a prime example of literary parody, a genre that emerged in 18th century England as a form of satire and social commentary. Through his deployment of exaggerated characters, mock-heroic elements, and musical parody, Gay uses the burlesque to satirize his time's social and political norms. The Beggar's Opera is a play set in London's criminal underworld and features a cast of characters, mainly thieves, prostitutes, and highwaymen. Gay employs the burlesque by

French Opera Jean-Baptiste Lully’s Armide consists of five acts and a beginning overture, called a prologue. This is in conformity to the Aristotelian ideal of length in the opera as a musical genre and in contrast to the Italian practices of the time. The French recitative and aria are the focus of Raguenet and Lecerf’s criticism and praise of French opera. This section will evaluate one of the Armide’s recitatives and arias in light of Raguenet and Lecerf’s arguments over French opera.

afternoon tea with John Gay, a more realistic journey would be to engage with technology at the very tips of my fingers. Let me take you three centuries ago and walk through Gay’s life to find out what might have influenced him to write the Beggar’s Opera. It all started on 30 June 1685 in Barnstaple, England where Gay was born. Gay went to London after finishing his studies to be an apprentice to a silk merchant but he disliked the job. He continued exploring other jobs in London; being a secretary

BALLAD OPERA & OPERETTA Ballad operas and operettas both share qualities found in traditional opera. Just like the opera, these genres are both sung in an operatic style. The ballad opera originated in England around the eighteenth century, and developed to become a type of comic opera. It typically featured farcical plots and light-hearted music that was mainly confined to ballads and folk songs that were interspersed with spoken dialogue. The Beggar 's Opera is an example of a ballad opera. An

Aida is an Opera that consists of four acts. This story, written by Giuseppe Verdi, is about the love between the ethiopian princess, Aida, and an Egyptian General and it takes place in ancient Egypt. In Act one starts out with Radames, who is a young egyptian warrior, finding out that war with the Ethiopians is inevitable. Radames and Aida are both secretly in love with each other but neither of them can confess because Amneris is also in love with Radames. The King, who is also the father of Aida

This was the first ever Italian opera, I have attended. In the very beginning, I was lost as to what was being said. After the first intermission and speaking with the people around me they shared some helpful advice in understanding the remaining acts. La Triviata, made me feel as I was living in an Italian fairy tale. The costumes were very elegant and beautiful. In the opening act, the main character (Violetta), was preparing for a party she was having in her house. She was wearing a skirt with

and present tune. Music operas turned into more and more optical with all the circulate and listing of piece videos and concerts. Music of all types also become more and more compact. Headphones allowed other folks lotus adjoining one another to hearken to utterly the different shows or split a similar opera. 20th Century opera brought a new self-determination and extensive experiment including new choral styles and forms a well known challenged the preferred rules of opera of in advance periods.

It latin the word opera means “work” and it has been around as early as the sixteenth century, originally started in italy. As the years went on,Opera started to become more well known towards the eighteenth-century ,when mozart started writing more comedic pieces. During the renaissance period,They started to become very popular at medieval festivals filled with drama, dancing, and secular music. Many operas out there were comedy but others were also very happy and cheerful as well as sad. The characters

1. Opera in the early 18th century consisted of mainly two distinct variants, opera seria and opera buffa. Although both share similar qualities many operas have, such as exposition through musical moments such as arias or ensembles as well as a similar structure, they vary in significant ways. Opera seria, which was a result of the Baroque Period, was a highly structured genre that was made mostly to entertain the aristocracy, by using stories of grandeur and plots between gods as well as recitatives

Romantic opera was opera written during the Romantic time period. The Romantic Time period in music began in 1820 and ended in 1910. The term opera is defined as an extended dramatic composition, in which all parts are sung to instrumental accompaniment that usually includes arias, choruses, and recitatives, and that sometimes includes ballet. Opera is also an Italian word meaning work and is the plural of the Latin word opus meaning a musical composition. Opus originally meant a service, work, or

In its lifetime, now spanning over four hundred years, opera has influenced many music genres. Names like Mozart, Verdi, Wagner, and countless others have become household names, perhaps due to the use of their melodies in advertisements for household cleaners and other products. However, the commercial enterprise of opera isn’t limited just to these brief television displays. They are merely one facet of modern culture that opera has pervaded. Another facet, and the focus of the intended paper,

As opera developed throughout the Baroque era, distinct styles emerged from the countries of Italy and France. Each country held specific goals with the composition and production of opera. Italy desired to make money from public opera houses, therefore, they hired the most famous divas to sing their most virtuosic arias to guarantee a full house. France, however, wished to preserve their cultural traditions and maintain a distinction between themselves and the rest of Europe. Under the supervision

The relationship between the music and the drama – the story – is the essence of what any opera is. Both the West and China have produced numerous operas in many different traditions and genres. As a much-cherished traditional art form in China, Peking Opera was formed through the combination of various music and performing techniques. Having a history of 160 years, Peking opera was formally created in 1790 through the merging of several regional styles in China that have their roots in the 13th

within the performances of The Phantom of the Opera and Cats both composed by Andrew Lloyd Weber. The opulent gothic context, the external realistic style, and the ability to explore musical theatre with a higher soprano singing from The Phantom of the Opera contrast with the bleak modernistic context, internal realistic style, and the ability to explore musical theatre with an alto pitched singing from Cats. In the context of The Phantom of the Opera musical the inspiration was sourced from the French

Operas started to come into existence in the late 16th Century. These works are entirely sung, and usually tell a story of some sort. They began in Italy and were put into motion by the Florentine Camerata. One could think of Opera as a rebirth of Greek dramas. Prior to the 16th Century, storytelling was done in various forms of singing and dancing. Operas stemmed from Greek dramas, and were an attempt to recreate it. Almost all of the characters in the early operas were taken from Greek and Roman

My husband and I have season tickets to the Seattle Opera. It’s something we’ve done for two seasons now and it’s become as much a part of our lives as work, only more fun. I love going to the opera. It evokes a feel of times past, where one dressed up and men wore suits and top hats, and the women wore beautiful gowns, glittering jewels and sweeping long coats. Last night we had a “parking lot picnic”. Sandwiches sitting in the car in the Mercer street parking garage. While we dine, an SUV whips

shy and timid to confident and caring towards the Phantom. And finally, the Phantom went from angry and self-loathing to empathetic and overall more confident. Raoul has changed quite significantly throughout the two plays. In The Phantom of the Opera, his personality and characteristics were very centered around himself. Since he only saw Christine for her talent and beauty, his love for her had the possibility of being shallow. Raoul said, “Christine, I love you,” after just meeting her for

The Italian opera Don Giovanni is into two acts. It is about a character known better as Don Juan. The music piece was written by none other than Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The libretto was written by Lorenzo da Ponte. Don Giovanni was first performed at the National Theatre in Prague on October 29, 1787. It was a great success. Mozart who most commonly called himself wolfgang Amade’ or Wolfgang Gottlieb came from a musical background such as myself. He never attended a proper school, which was a

In Phantom of the Opera, there were many conflicts in this story. One key conflict from the play is Christine and Phantom’s relationship and how they felt about each other. Their relationship is what caused many other conflicts to happen and more. When the Phantom first encountered Christine, he only heard her lovely singing on stage. He thought that her voice was beautiful and that’s how he feels most of the story. He appreciated the beauty of the music, unlike Count de Chagny, who may have other