Opera
Located in 1 route
Opera is classical theater in which characters sing the drama, supported by orchestra or ensemble, staging, text, and visual design. Its sound centers on projected trained voices, dramatic recitative, lyrical aria, ensemble conflict, chorus, orchestral underscoring, and a heightened emotional scale that makes private feeling public.
History
Early opera developed in Italy from courtly experiments around Peri, Caccini, and Monteverdi, then became public entertainment in Venice and spread into French, German, English, Russian, Czech, and global traditions. Handel, Gluck, Mozart, Rossini, Donizetti, Bellini, Verdi, Wagner, Bizet, Puccini, Strauss, Janáček, Britten, Glass, Adams, Saariaho, and many others reshaped its balance of spectacle, vocal display, psychological realism, myth, politics, and modern theater.
Defining artists
Essential listening
- Bellini: Norma, Casta diva — Maria CallasSpotifyYouTube
- Puccini: Turandot, Nessun dorma — Luciano PavarottiSpotifyYouTube
- Verdi: Otello, Niun mi tema — Plácido DomingoSpotifyYouTube
- Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoor, Il dolce suono — Joan SutherlandSpotifyYouTube
- Dvořák: Rusalka, Song to the Moon — Renée FlemingSpotifyYouTube
- Mozart: Don Giovanni, Madamina, il catalogo è questo — Bryn TerfelSpotifyYouTube
Sources
- Grove Music Online
- The Oxford Illustrated History of Opera
- Kobbé's Complete Opera Book
- Encyclopaedia Britannica