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- Opera is not just a relic of the past—it is a living, breathing art form that continues to evolve and inspire new generations. It combines the best of music, theater, and visual arts into one unique experience, exploring themes that are as relevant today as they were centuries ago.
friendsoftheopera.org/what-is-operaWhat is Opera? Opera History, Myths, Stories, Eras, and More
By the late nineteenth century, opera was viewed as the ultimate art form, suitable for portraying the grandest aspirations not only of heroic men and women but also of peoples and nations.
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The elaborate border of floral scrolls on this example...
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Opera is not just a relic of the past—it is a living, breathing art form that continues to evolve and inspire new generations. It combines the best of music, theater, and visual arts into one unique experience, exploring themes that are as relevant today as they were centuries ago.
- Overture – A Short History of Opera
- Act 1 – Opera During Baroque and Enlightenment
- Act 2 – 19th Century Bloom of Opera
- Intermission – Gesamtkunstwerk in Other Arts
- Act 3 – Opera as Total Work of Art
- Finale – Applause!
You are dressed in your finest, sitting in your theater seat and the stage lights come on. The conductor steps onto his platform to an ovation, raises the baton. The world stops breathing for a brief moment before music fills the whole room. It’s the beginning of an adventure! In his class, How to Listen to and Understand Great Opera, Professor Rob...
Scene I – Recitative
The curtain opens to the first operatic masterpiece, originally performed in 1607. It was composed by Claudio Monteverdi and called Orfeo. It is appropriate that Orpheus is the protagonist of the first great opera, since he was the greatest musician of all and represented the power of music. In Orfeo, Monteverdi successfully combines many different elements: instrumental music, song, spoken dialogue, dancing, drama, stage scenery, and machinery. All are directed to move the audience, calm the...
Scene II – Aria
The next big development in the history of opera came some hundred years later with the aria. An ariais a musical number where all action stops and a character reveals his thoughts and feelings to the audience, with a song. Where the recitative was mostly descriptive, the aria brought the audience one step closer by revealing the character’s emotions. Opera became incredibly popular during the Baroqueera. Composers and librettists worked to meet the demand, but such speedy work did not always...
Scene III – Opera Seria & Opera Buffa
Opera seria was inspired by mythological characters and ancient history. In this category we find works such as Mozart’s Idomeneo, King of Crete, or Handel’s Rinaldi. Opera buffa was a comic opera that had its roots in popular entertainment. The Enlightenment had brought with it a desire for equality for all classes. Philosophers saw opera buffa as an ideal medium, through its accessible melodies and everyday dramatic situations. A good example of an opera buffa is Mozart’s The Marriage of Fí...
Scene I – Opera Goes International to Become National
The action continues headlong to its peak. The 19th century was marked by deep nationalism across Europe, which manifested itself in all forms of art. Many composers began experimenting with different styles and local flavors, though still heavily influenced by Italian opera. Opera began to be written in other languages, though it was difficult to achieve the same effects or rely on the same strategies that made Italian music so unique. Here is where things began to change, as composers sough...
Scene II – Singspiel Like Musical
In Germany, the Singspiel, part opera-part theater, laid the foundation for a truly German art form. The singspiel was similar to the American musical, or the French opéra comique. Its origins within German tradition ensured that singspiels were free from the conventions of Italian opera, so the folk themes, verbal puns, and popular tunes, deeply resonated with audiences. The most famous singspiel is Mozart’s The Magic Flute, still performed today. Carl Maria von Weber’s opera, Der Freischütz...
Scene III – Gesamtkunstwerk & Leitmotif
Gesamtkunstwerk is a work of art produced by a synthesis of various art forms. The term comes from the combination of three German words: gesamt—whole, kunst—art, werk—work. Wagner was trying to unite resources from poetry, literature, instrumental music, acting, costumes, scenery, vocal music, into the presentation of myth. He chose mythbecause it comes nearest to reaching the human unconscious and gets closest to the core of the human experience. The resulting work would be transformative,...
Gesamtkunstwerk, as a concept, appeared in other movements at the turn of the 19th century. In literature, writers like Proust tried to awaken one sense while appealing to another, as Wagner had done with the leitmotif. Baudelaire and the Symbolist poets spoke of correspondences between the arts and the senses. Artists during this time were concern...
Scene 1 – Work of Many
With all this in mind, we return to the final act: Opera as Gesamtkunstwerk—the total work of art. The whole is always greater than the sum of the parts. To achieve this unity, Wagner became his own librettist, but this is rare. In our own day, creatives work together to accomplish a single vision. One of the things that makes opera such a compelling medium is, precisely, this interaction between all the arts! It takes an incredible number of people to put together an opera. First, the head o...
Scene 2 – A Masterpiece is Born
When all these aspects work seamlessly, a masterpiece is born. And, in opera, it usually begins with a libretto.
Libretto—the Writer
Libretto simply means “booklet” in Italian, and it is the text that the composer will set to music. The libretto provides the literary drama in an opera, musical, cantata, or other extended musical work. It is generally written in verse and, usually, written by a famous poet. Composers have tended to receive more attention than their literary counterparts. However, brilliant librettistsdeserve credit for giving words to such unforgettable characters as Carmen, Fígaro, and, in the case of cont...
The final notes drown in the applause and the adventure comes to an end. Or, does it? Critics and art amateurs continue to debate the definition of art, what classifies as art, and what it has to do with our daily living. Regardless of the many technical definitions, what is art but the deepest expression of our own selves? The artist Joan Miróexpr...
Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librettist [1] and incorporates a number of the performing arts, such as acting, scenery, costume, and sometimes dance or ballet.
Opera is a unique art form that combines music, drama, and spectacle. It tells stories through singing, using arias, recitatives, ensembles, and choruses. The vocal performances are often accompanied by an orchestra, and the music is carefully crafted to convey the emotions and mood of the characters and the story.
Opera as an Art Form MR. KERMAN'S book1 is good reading. Not only is he an intelligent young man, whose love for music is genuine and obvious, and with whom it is a pleasure to match wits; but the subject is a challenging, elusive, and fascinating one, which is often misunderstood in the most radical manner.
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We’ll get into the literal meaning of the word in a minute; but, for the purposes of this journey, “opera” is a musical and theatrical art form in which a story unfolds through song with performers singing their lines instead of speaking them.
