Opera: Passport to the Liberal Arts
Edition: 1
Copyright: 2021
Pages: 348
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$84.00
Opera: Passport to the Liberal Arts draws students into a fervent connection with the arts through a form that combines music, art, theatre, dance, history, mythology, literature and society, communicating across cultures, languages and national boundaries.
Upon completion of the publication, readers will understand that the arts are rigorous disciplines, not casual activities, and they should be encountered critically. Personal choices are involved, and they carry weight. In a successful career, the choices that a serious artist makes must be analyzed in a critical manner, while at the same time understanding the context. Far from being a niche subject for the music major, opera has proven to be an ideal vehicle for learning about the societies that have prepared the soil for its growth.
There are books on opera and books on history and culture, but few that link them together. This publication opens many doors for the expansion of knowledge over a lifetime.
Bio
Acknowledgements
Preface
Chapter 1 Preparing for the Trip
To Know Opera is to LOVE Opera
Chinese Opera
Setting the Stage for Opera: What Is Civilization?
The Earliest Recorded Civilization
What Is Culture?
What Is Art?
Interweaving Opera with History and Culture
Terms and People to Know
Notes
Chapter 2 What Is Opera?
Women Opera Composers
Opera Composers of Color
Operas with a Political Voice
The Music
Stage Direction
Opera as a Business
Terms and People to Know
Notes
Chapter 3 The Classical Voice
Part I
What Is the Operatic Voice?
The Voice . . . Breathing
The Anatomy of the Instrument
Using the Voice
Part II
Voice Classications and Who’s Who in Opera
Operatic Voice Fachs
Soprano
Mezzo-Soprano
Contralto/Alto
Countertenor, Sopranist (Male Soprano), and Haute-Contre
Tenor
Baritone
Bass
Dramatic Bass
Terms and People to Know
Notes
Chapter 4 The Roots of Opera: The Middle Ages: 476–c. 1400
The Rise of the Monastery
The World Meets Islam
The Birth of the Holy Roman Empire
A Turning Point in Western Europe: 1000 AD
The Crusades
The Roman Catholic Church and Music during the Middle Ages
Medieval Theatre
Mystery and Morality Plays
Terms and People to Know
Notes
Chapter 5 The Renaissance: c. 1400–c. 1600 Florence, Italy
The Era of the Human Initiates the Birth of Opera
Humanism
The Renaissance in Germany
The Reformation
The Counter-Reformation
Music in the Renaissance: The Roman Catholic Church
Secular World: Intertwining Text with Music
Renaissance Madrigal
Words, Music, and Theatre
Other Renaissance Theatrical Forms on the Road to Opera
The Immediate Forerunner of Opera . . . the Intermedio
Opera Officially Begins: La Camerata Fiorentina
The Words
A Revolution in Music: Stile Antico versus Stile Nuovo
Jacopo Peri & Giulio Caccini – Euridice
Terms and People to Know
Notes
Chapter 6 The Baroque: c. 1600–c. 1759 Opera Takes Off Nexus: Italy
Part I
The Baroque: A Change in Style
“Taste” in Art
Scientific Revolution
Protestantism, the Counter Reformation and the Baroque
Gian Lorenzo Bernini: Baroque Artist, Apostle of the Church
Music in the Baroque Style
Monteverdi and the Baroque
Monteverdi and the Birth of the Orchestra
The Rise of the Virtuoso Castrato Voice
Elements of Baroque Italian Opera
Opera Seria—a Baroque genre
Claudio Monteverdi and the Melodramma
La Favola d’Orfeo
The Baroque: Part II
Objectives
Baroque Opera Moves Beyond Italy
Henry Purcell—Dido and Aeneas
The Late Baroque—An Eighteenth-Century Seismic Shift
Georg Frideric Hande—Julius Caesar in Egypt
The Baroque: Part III
Objectives
The Transition to Classicism
Terms and People to Know
Notes
Chapter 7 A Return to Classicism: c. 1759–c. 1820 Nexus: Vienna, Austria
Classicism: The Pendulum Swings
The Classical Aesthetic in Music
Viennese Classicism
The Gluck Opera Reform
The Classical Giants
Mozart—The King of Opera
Breeches Role—Pants Role
Numbers Opera
The Class in Classicism—Don Giovanni
Independent Project: The Magic Flute
Ludwig van Beethoven
Terms and People to Know
Notes
Chapter 8 Romanticism: c. 1820–c. 1900 Opera Reaches its Zenith: Germany, Vienna, Paris, Italy
Part I
Romanticism: The Heart Leads and the Mind Follows
Understanding Romanticism through the Eyes
The Romantic Orchestra in Opera
Paris as the Center of Culture
Innovations in Bel Canto
Opera Buffa at Its Best: Gioacchino Rossini—The Barber of Seville
Il Signor Crescendo
The Barber of Seville, or The Useless Precaution (1816)
Part II: French Opera in the Nineteenth Century
Operetta—What Is It?
Most Famous French Opera of All Time: Georges Bizet—Carmen
Bizet Adopts the Genre: Opéra Comique
Part III: Romanticism: Giuseppe Verdi and his beloved Italy
Napoleon Bonaparte: The “Italian” Messenger of Democracy
Giuseppe Verdi
Verdi and Politics: Early Period (1842–1859)
Verdi’s Style
The Middle Years (1849–1859)
The Curse
Verdi’s Evolution of Style in His Later Years
Terms and People to Know
Notes
Chapter 9 An Introduction to 19th-Century German Opera
German Romanticism Inspires Opera Composers
The German Fairy Tale: The Brothers Grimm and Opera
Carl Maria von Weber: Father of German Romantic Opera
Richard Wagner: Founder of a German Nationalist Style
Richard Wagner: The Greatest Reformer in the History of Opera
The Music Drama: A Rupture from, or a Continuation of, Italian Opera
A Revolutionary Chord that Changed the World
Suggested Methods to Study Das Rheingold
Wagner’s Last Years
Terms and People to Know
Notes
Chapter 10 Bridging into the New Century
Italy during Puccini’s Lifetime
Puccini, the Young Boy and the Theater
Love Is in the Air
Puccini’s Operas
Puccini and His Librettists
His Style
Historical Background
Tosca, the Love Story . . . with Murder, Torture, and Suicide
Tosca: Musical Study Guide
Puccini—The Later Years
Terms and People to Know
Notes
Chapter 11 On the Road to Modern Opera…Not to Miss
Czech Nationalism
Russian Nationalist Opera
20th- and 21st-Century Eclecticism
20th-Century Opera in Russia
Terms and People to Know
Notes
Chapter 12 Opera Today—Avenues for Exploration
Modern Opera: What Is It?
What Happened to Words?
Minimalism: An American Style
Philip Glass: Portrait Operas
Met Opera on Demand
Coming Full Circle: Matthew Aucoin’s Eurydice
Opera Houses and Festivals to Visit!
Terms and People to Know
Notes