A Brief History of Opera

Opera is a form of musical theatre that originated in Italy in the 16th century. It is typically characterized by lavish costumes, grand sets, and elaborate musical scores. While opera has undergone many changes over the centuries, it remains a popular and beloved form of entertainment.

Origins of Opera

Opera is a performing art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera originated in Italy in the late 16th century, and quickly spread throughout Europe. The word “opera” comes from the Italian word for “work”.

Ancient Greece

Opera is a form of theatre in which music has a leading role and the parts are taken by singers. Opera combines many different arts, including singing, acting, stage design and often ballet.

Most people think of opera as a very serious art form, but in fact it covers a wide range of styles, from the serious to the comic.

The word ‘opera’ comes from the Italian word for work, which is a good description of what an opera is – it is a work of art that is usually very ambitious in scale!

The origins of opera can be traced back to ancient Greece. In around 600BC, the Greeks began to develop a type of drama that was intended to be sung. This was called ‘dithyramb’.

Ancient Rome

Ancient Romans were the first to create plays with musical accompaniment and singing. These entertainment events were held in large auditoriums called amphitheaters. The first of this kind was the Theater of Pompey, built in Rome in 55 BCE. The most famous Roman playwright who wrote musical dramas was Livius Andronicus, who wrote his first play in 240 BCE. Andronicus is also credited with inventing Latin tragedy and comedy.

The Renaissance

The term “opera” is derived from the Italian word for “work”, specifically, the word “opus”. Opera began during the Renaissance period in Italy. The first operas were written around 1597 and were performed in private homes.

The Birth of Opera

While the exact origins of opera are disputed, most scholars agree that it emerged sometime in the late 16th or early 17th century in northern Italy. Opera was born out of a desire to revive classical Greek drama, which included singing, and to restore it to its original glory. At the time, many ancient Greek plays were known only through fragmented manuscripts and oral tradition. Italian humanists such as Giovanni Bardi and Francesco Patrizi saw in these works a model for perfecting their own language and literature.

Opera developed rapidly in the early 17th century. One of the first operas, Dafne by Jacopo Peri, was performed in 1597. It is also believed that Peri’s work was influential in the development of Monteverdi’s Orfeo, which is widely considered to be the first masterpiece of opera. In Orfeo, Monteverdi combined elements of Recitative (a declamatory style of singing that was commonly used in spoken drama at the time) with Aria (a more melodic style of singing), creating a new form that would come to define opera.

The first public opera house, called the Jefferson Theater opened in Venice in 1637. The popularity of opera quickly spread throughout Italy and Europe. By the early 18th century, operas were being performed not only in public theaters but also in private homes and palaces. As opera became more popular, composers began to experiment with different genres, such as comedy and tragedy. Different regional schools of opera also began to develop, each with its own unique characteristics.

Opera in the Baroque Era

Opera began in the Baroque era, which ran from approximately 1600 to 1750. The first operas were written in Italy, and the form soon spread throughout Europe. Opera was an evolution of courtly entertainments that had existed in various forms since the Middle Ages. These earlier entertainments had often included music, but opera represented a new synthesis of words, music, and visual spectacle.

During the Baroque era, opera was generally based on mythological or biblical stories that were familiar to the average member of the audience. The first operas were short and simple, lasting only a few hours. They were performed in large halls or outdoor arenas where audiences could move about freely during the performance. In addition to singing, actors in early opera often performed acrobatic feats and engaged in sword fights.

As opera evolved, it became more complex and sophisticated. Stories were often based on contemporary events or classical literature, and composers began to experiment with new musical styles. Operas became longer, averaging four or five hours in length. They were performed in purpose-built theatres where the audience was seated and expected to remain quiet throughout the performance.

The Baroque era saw some of opera’s greatest works, including Claudio Monteverdi’s Orfeo (1607) and Henry Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas (1689).

Modern Opera

Opera is a western musical genre that originated in the Italian city of Florence in the late 16th century. Opera was initially an improvisatory form of musical theatre, which was developed and codified by a group of poets, musicians, and scholars at the Florence court. The first opera, Dafne, was performed in 1597.

Opera in the 20th Century

The roots of modern opera can be traced back to the late 19th century. Composers such as Richard Wagner and Giacomo Puccini pushed the boundaries of opera, creating longer, more complex works that incorporated new styles of music.

In the early 20th century, composers began to experiment with atonality and other harmonic techniques that were not common in opera. These new techniques allowed for greater expressive potential, and helped to further distance opera from its traditional roots.

Opera continued to evolve in the 20th century, with composers such as Benjamin Britten and Leonard Bernstein creating works that incorporated elements of popular music and other genres. Today, opera is a vital and vibrant part of the musical landscape, with new works being created all the time.

Contemporary Opera

Opera continued to evolve in the 20th century. Musically, the most obvious change was the abandonment of tonality, or key, as the organizing principal of composition in favor of atonality and dissonance. This musical style was pioneered by such composers as Arnold Schoenberg, Alban Berg, and Anton Webern in Austria and later developed by many others, including Igor Stravinsky in Russia, Darius Milhaud in France, Aaron Copland in the United States, and Benjamin Britten in England.

The influence of popular music also became evident in opera compositions of the 20th century. Giacomo Puccini’s La Bohème (1896), one of the most popular operas ever written, draws heavily on Italian folk music and popular sung ballads known as canzonette. Folk music from various cultures has been used extensively in modern operas such as Benjamin Britten’s Peter Grimes (1945), which is based on an English folk ballad, and Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story (1957), which uses themes from jazz and Latin American dances.

Minimalist composers such as Philip Glass have also made major contributions to contemporary opera. Glass’s Einstein on the Beach (1976), although it does not tell a conventional story, is one of the most influential operas of recent years. Other significant works include Hans Werner Henze’sEl Cimarrón (1970), Luigi Nono’s Al gran sole carico d’amore(1975), John Adams’s Nixon in China (1987), Kaija Saariaho’sL’amour de loin (2000), and George Benjamin’s Written on Skin (2012).