An extremely brief history of opera

What is opera?
Opera is a story told through song.  It is a combination of art forms using words, music, visual art, drama, and dance.  The subject matter of operas has evolved to include contemporary plays, biographies, and folk tales.

Score The blueprint to an opera, consisting of the words, music, stage directions, and often performance notes for the entire show.  It is often divided into the sections listed below.
Overture Musical introduction played by the orchestra that sometimes consists of excerpts from major pieces in the opera.
Act A grouping of scenes with a common theme, such as a specific time or place. Most operas consist of one to five acts.
Recitative
(ress-it-uh-TEEV)		 Speech-like singing that advances the plot. It fills the spaces between the arias, duets, or choruses.
Aria
(AR-ee-uh)		 A musical piece sung by one character. Arias allow singers to demonstrate their vocal skills while reflecting on one emotion.
Duet A musical piece sung by two people.
Trio A musical piece sung by three people.
Chorus A song sung by a group of people. The chorus may sing on or off stage.

What is the difference between an opera and a musical?
The musical is an American art form that grew out of the rich music and theatre traditions of Europe. Operas are generally composed in a classical style, while musicals are composed in a popular and/or jazz style. Also, operas are usually completely sung while musicals consist of spoken dialogue and songs. Most often, the composer of the work specifies whether it will be an opera or a musical.

An Extremely Brief History of Opera
The concepts behind opera arose centuries before the first opera was written.  Its beginnings can be traced to the ancient Greeks.  They fused poetry and music, creating plays that incorporated song, spoken language, and dance, accompanied by string or wind instruments.

In the 1100s, during the Middle Ages, the early Christian church set religious stories to music in a style known as the liturgical drama. 

Renaissance artists and philosophers alike revisited themes from antiquity, allowing European composers to expand upon the liturgical drama.  In an effort to revive Classical Greek drama and mythology, composer Jacopo Peri and librettist Ottavio Rinuccini wrote the first opera, Dafne.  It was initially performed in Florence, Italy, during the Carnival of 1598 at the house of arts patron Jacopo Corsi.  Sadly, only small portions of the score remain.

Opera grew in popularity during the 17th century.  As such, performances shifted from private environments to public stages.  It was the wealthier families of Venice, Italy, that increased opera’s momentum: they financed opera performances as part of the Venetian Carnival festivities.  By the end of the 1600’s, Italy had successfully exported opera to most of Europe.   

Women in Opera
Women performed in the very first Italian operas, even though there were few other occupations available to them in the 1600s.  In the early decades of opera, the prima donna, or the leading woman in Italian opera, would be paid more than any other musician in the performance.  A woman was also more likely to be an opera singer than any other kind of musician during the 1700s. 
Only one opera remains from the first female opera composer, Francesca Caccini, performed in 1625.  After Caccini, only a few women ever successfully composed and produced operas.  Few women realized success as composers or librettists until the 20th century, despite the existence of compositionally-talented women. (See Judith Weir below)

Opera Today
Opera has thrived ever since its birth, evolving in response to changing social influences and musical trends.  Today we perform operas that were once considered contemporary works.  We also perform newly-composed operas: modern composers are still fascinated by this centuries-old art form!

While mythology and Shakespearean genius are just as inspirational to twentieth century opera composers, these modern composers are more adamant in their investigation of human psychology and weakness.  Protagonists are just as likely to be heroes as they are to be anti-heroes. 

Composers of twentieth century opera also began to question how opera was previously defined: 

  • Does opera need to take place in an opera house, or can it survive in a chamber music setting? 
  • Does opera need melodic arias? 
  • Is this newly-composed work an opera or a musical? 
  • Can opera describe current events? 
  • Does opera even need a score?

Some Recently-Composed Operas:
Philip Glass:  Einstein on the Beach (1976)
John Cage: Europeras(1985-1991)
John Adams:  Nixon in China (1987)
Judith Weir:  A Night at the Chinese Opera (1987), Blond Eckbert (1993), Armida (2005)

Locally Produced Contemporary Opera:
Jonathan Dove:  Flight (1998)                  (BLO production, 2004-2005 Season)
Tod Machover:  Resurrection (1999)   (BLO production, 2001-2002 Season)
Osvaldo Golijov:  Ainadamar (2005)

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An extremely brief history of opera
Writing an opera: From story to score
Behind the scenes
On the stage…and below it
Your opera experience