Outline of opera

Opera is an art form combining sung text and musical score in a theatrical setting

Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work (called an opera), which combines a text (called a libretto) and a musical score.[1] Opera is part of the Western classical music tradition. While the scale of opera can be larger or smaller—there are many different genres of opera—performance typically involves different types of artist (singers, instrumentalists and often dancers and actors) and technical staff. Usually an orchestra led by a conductor accompanies the singers. In contrast to spoken theatre, the opera world is international. Italian, German, French, English, and Russian works are performed worldwide in their original languages, and artists travel from country to country performing.[2]

The following is a list of articles on general opera topics:

Essence of opera

History of opera

  • Origins of opera
  • Querelle des Bouffons

Opera in different national traditions

Operas have been written in a diversity of languages with many countries or regions developing their own operatic style, tradition and history.[3]

  • Italian opera
  • Opera in German
  • French opera
  • Opera in English
  • Spanish opera
  • Russian opera

Component parts

  • Overture – Instrumental introduction to an opera, ballet, or oratorio
    • French – Musical form from the Baroque period
    • Italian – Opening orchestral music for operas, operettas and other large scale works
  • Aria – Musical piece for a single voice as part of a larger work
    • Aria di sorbetto – Short solo by a secondary character
    • Arioso – Vocal solo between recitative and aria in style
    • Cabaletta – Two-part musical form favored for arias
    • Cantabile – Musical term meaning "songlike"
    • Catalogue aria – Opera aria in which the singer recounts a list of information
    • Da capo aria – Baroque musical form
    • Insertion aria – Aria added to previously unrelated operatic composition
    • Rage aria – Operatic aria expressing rage
  • Cavatina – Musical term
  • Intermezzo – Opera genre
  • Mad scene – Conventional scene depicting madness in opera
  • Recitative – Ordinary speech-like singing in opera, cantata, mass or oratorio
  • Chorus – On-stage performers other than the featured players.Pages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
  • Ballet – Form of performance dance

Operatic genres

Over the centuries, the original form of opera, as established by Claudio Monteverdi and his contemporaries, has diversified into distinct and recognisable genres, in addition to the national traditions listed above. These include, but are not limited to, the following.

General opera concepts

English opera terms

French opera terms

German opera terms

Italian opera terms

Opera terms from other languages

Music concepts relevant to opera

Theatre concepts relevant to opera

  • Act
  • Blocking
  • Prop – short for "theatrical property"
  • Rake

Opera house

People in opera

Opera composers, librettists, directors

Opera singers categories

Participants in opera

Opera performer – similar to, but more specialized than performers in other theatrical productions.[2] Opera performers are at the same time both singers and actors, and often dancers as well.

Other participants are
  • Director – in the sense of stage director, not general manager or general director (often also called opera director)

Opera lists

Opera discographies

  • Opera discographies

Books about opera

Films about opera

See also

  • iconOpera portal

References

  1. ^ Some definitions of opera: dramatic performance or composition of which music is an essential part, branch of art concerned with this (Concise Oxford English Dictionary); any dramatic work that can be sung (or at times declaimed or spoken) in a place for performance, set to original music for singers (usually in costume) and instrumentalists (Amanda Holden, Viking Opera Guide); musical work for the stage with singing characters, originated in early years of 17th century (Pears' Cyclopaedia, 1983 ed.).
  2. ^ a b Plotkin, Fred (1994). Opera 101: A Complete Guide to Learning and Loving Opera. Hyperion. ISBN 978-0-7868-8025-6.
  3. ^ Silke Leopold, "The Idea of National Opera, c. 1800," Unity and Diversity in European Culture c. 1800, Tim Blanning and Hagen Schulze (eds), Oxford University Press, 2006, p. 19–34; The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, Stanley Sadie (ed), Grove's Dictionaries of Music, 1992, passim

Additional sources

  • Apel, Willi (1968). Harvard Dictionary of Music (Second ed.). Belknap Press. ISBN 978-0-674-37501-7.
  • Grout, Donald (2003). A Short History of Opera. Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-11958-0.
  • Sadie, Stanley, ed. (1992). The New Grove Dictionary of Opera. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-522186-2.
  • Boyden, Matthew (2007). The Rough Guide to Opera. Rough Guides. ISBN 978-1-84353-538-6.
  • Boldrey, Richard (1994). Guide to Operatic Roles and Arias. Caldwell Publishing Company. ISBN 978-1-877761-64-5.
  • Warrack, John and West, Ewan (1992), The Oxford Dictionary of Opera, 782 pages, ISBN 0-19-869164-5

External links

  • Operabase – database for opera companies, artists, managers and performances
  • OperaGlass – a resource at Stanford University including libretti, source texts, performance histories, synopses, discographies and lists of rôle creators.
  • Operissimo – resource for composers and works as well as houses, companies and artists.
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