Portal:Opera

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edit   The Opera Portal Zurich Opera House 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. Opera is part of the Western classical music tradition. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery and costumes and sometimes includes dance. The performance is typically given in an opera house, accompanied by an orchestra or smaller musical ensemble. Opera started in Italy at the end of the 16th century (with Jacopo Peri's lost Dafne, produced in Florence around 1597) and soon spread through the rest of Europe: Schütz in Germany, Lully in France, and Purcell in England all helped to establish their national traditions in the 17th century. However, in the 18th century, Italian opera continued to dominate most of Europe, except France, attracting foreign composers such as Handel. Opera seria was the most prestigious form of Italian opera, until Gluck reacted against its artificiality with his "reform" operas in the 1760s. Today the most renowned figure of late 18th century opera is Mozart, who began with opera seria but is most famous for his Italian comic operas, especially The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, and Così fan tutte, as well as The Magic Flute, a landmark in the German tradition. The first third of the 19th century saw the highpoint of the bel canto style, with Rossini, Donizetti and Bellini all creating works that are still performed today. It also saw the advent of Grand Opera typified by the works of Meyerbeer. The mid to late 19th century is considered by some a golden age of opera, led by Wagner in Germany and Verdi in Italy. This 'golden age' developed through the verismo era in Italy and contemporary French opera through to Puccini and Strauss in the early 20th century. During the 19th century, parallel operatic traditions emerged in Central and Eastern Europe, particularly in Russia and Bohemia. The 20th century saw many experiments with modern styles, such as atonality and serialism (Schoenberg and Berg), Neo-Classicism (Stravinsky), and Minimalism (Philip Glass and John Adams). With the rise of recording technology, singers such as Enrico Caruso became known to audiences beyond the circle of opera fans. Operas were also performed on (and written for) radio and television. More about Opera... edit   Selected article Thespis is an operatic extravaganza that was the first collaboration between dramatist W. S. Gilbert and composer Arthur Sullivan. It was never published, and most of the music is now lost. However, Gilbert and Sullivan went on to become one of the most famous and successful partnerships in Victorian England, creating a string of comic opera hits, including H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado, that continue to be popular. Thespis premièred in London at the Gaiety Theatre on 26 December 1871. Like many productions at that theatre, it was written in a broad, burlesque style, considerably different from Gilbert and Sullivan's later works. It was a modest success—for a Christmas entertainment of the time—and closed on 8 March 1872, after a run of 63 performances. It was advertised as "An entirely original Grotesque Opera in Two Acts". The story follows an acting troupe headed by Thespis, the legendary Greek father of the drama, who temporarily trade places with the gods on Mount Olympus, who have grown elderly and ignored. The actors turn out to be comically inept rulers. Having seen the ensuing mayhem down below, the angry gods return, sending the actors back to Earth as "eminent tragedians, whom no one ever goes to see." edit   Featured picture Italian tenor Enrico Caruso was an opera singer of international renown, and one of the key pioneers of recorded music. His "Vesti la giubba" (from Ruggiero Leoncavallo's Pagliacci) was, in its various versions, the first recording to sell a million copies. edit   In this month 1 March 2010 – Kaija Saariaho's opera Émilie premieres at the Opéra de Lyon with Karita Mattila, in the title role. 2 March 1961 – Simone Young (pictured), the first woman to conduct at the Vienna State Opera, is born in Sydney, Australia. 6 March 1853 – Fanny Salvini-Donatelli stars in the world premiere of Verdi's La traviata. 16 March 1894 – Sibyl Sanderson sings the title role in the world premiere of Massenet's Thaïs. 17 March 1665 – Élisabeth Jacquet is born in Paris. Her Céphale et Procris was the first opera by a woman composer to be performed at the Paris Opera. 20 March 1952 – Birgitta Svendén, mezzo-soprano and General Manager of the Royal Swedish Opera, is born in Porjus, Sweden. 23 March 2006 – Sarah Caldwell, American opera conductor, impresario, and stage director dies in Portland, Maine. 28 March 1911 – Myfanwy Piper, the librettist of Benjamin Britten's operas The Turn of the Screw, Owen Wingrave, and Death in Venice is born in London. More anniversaries... edit   Selected biography Sir Charles Villiers Stanford (30 September 1852 – 29 March 1924) was an Irish composer, teacher and conductor. Born to a well-off and highly musical family in Dublin, Stanford was educated at the University of Cambridge before studying music in Leipzig and Berlin. In 1882, aged 29, he became one of the founding professors of the Royal College of Music, where he taught composition for the rest of his life. From 1887 he was also the professor of music at Cambridge. Stanford composed a substantial number of concert works, including seven symphonies, but his best-remembered pieces are his choral works for church performance, chiefly composed in the Anglican tradition. He was a dedicated composer of opera, but none of his nine completed operas which included The Canterbury Pilgrims and Much Ado About Nothing has endured in the general repertory. Some critics regarded Stanford, together with Hubert Parry and Alexander Mackenzie, as responsible for a renaissance in English music. However, after his conspicuous success as a composer in the last two decades of the 19th century, his music was eclipsed in the 20th century by that of Edward Elgar as well as his former pupils. edit   Selected quote edit   Selected audio "Stride la vampa" From Giuseppe Verdi's Il trovatore, sung by Gabriella Besanzoni (1920) edit   Did you know... ... that soprano Adele Addison (pictured) stepped into the role of Bess in the 1969 film version of Gershwin's Porgy and Bess as a last-minute replacement of a singer who sounded too shrill? ... that French opera singer Gustave Huberdeau performed roles ranging from lead roles to character roles to mute roles? ... that both Herbert Witherspoon and Göran Gentele died before the opening nights of their first seasons as general directors of the Metropolitan Opera? edit   WikiProjects Parent projects WikiProject Arts • WikiProject Music • WikiProject Theatre Main project WikiProject Opera Descendant projects WikiProject Richard Wagner • WikiProject Gilbert and Sullivan Similar projects WikiProject Classical music • WikiProject Contemporary music • WikiProject Composers What are WikiProjects? edit   Main topics Opera history: Origins of opera • Italian opera • Opera in German • French opera • Opera in English • Polish opera • Russian opera • Hungarian opera • Armenian opera • Opera in Latin America Opera genres: Azione teatrale · Ballad opera · Comédie en vaudeville · Comédie mêlée d'ariettes · Dramma giocoso · Dramma per musica · Farsa · Festa teatrale · Género chico · Grand Opera · Music Drama · Opéra-ballet · Opera buffa · Opéra bouffe · Opéra bouffon · Opéra comique · Opéra féerie · Opera semiseria · Opera seria · Operetta · Pastorale héroïque · Romantische Oper · Savoy opera · Semi-opera · Singspiel · Spieloper · Tragédie en musique · Verismo · Zarzuela · Zeitoper Opera terms: Aria · Aria di sorbetto · Arioso · Bel canto · Breeches role · Burletta · Cabaletta · Cadenza · Cantabile · Castrato · Cavatina · Chest voice · Claque · Coloratura · Comprimario · Convenienze · Coup de glotte · Da capo aria · Diva · Entr'acte · Fach · Falsetto · Fioritura · Gesamtkunstwerk · Head voice · Intermezzo · Kammersänger · Leitmotif · Legato · Libretto · Literaturoper · Mad scene · Maestro · Melodrama · Melodramma · Monodrama · Messa di voce · Opera house · Passaggio · Portamento · Prima donna · Prompter · Recitative · Regietheater · Répétiteur · Sitzprobe · Spinto · Sprechgesang · Squillo · Stagione · Surtitles · Tessitura · Timbre · Vibrato Opera voices: Baritenor · Baritone · Bass · Bass-baritone · Coloratura soprano · Contralto · Countertenor · Dramatic soprano · Haute-contre · Lyric soprano · Mezzo-soprano · Soprano · Soubrette · Spinto soprano · Tenor · Tenore contraltino · Tenore di grazia Opera lists: Opera topics • The opera corpus • Important operas • Major opera composers • Opera librettists • Opera houses • Opera companies • Opera festivals • Opera directors • Operetta composers • Orphean operas • Zarzuela composers • Opera genres • Operas set in the Crusades • The Record of Singing • Bayreuth canon edit   Featured content Featured articles Agrippina (opera) L'ange de Nisida The Bartered Bride Georges Bizet English National Opera Kathleen Ferrier Gianni Schicchi Her Majesty's Theatre L'incoronazione di Poppea Monteverdi's lost operas Nixon in China (opera) L'Orfeo Les pêcheurs de perles Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov Rinaldo (opera) Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria Royal Opera, London Dmitri Shostakovich Bedřich Smetana Charles Villiers Stanford Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Tosca Featured lists List of important operas List of major opera composers List of operas by Mozart Good articles Erik Chisholm Doctor Ox's Experiment (opera) The Fairy-Queen Éva Gauthier Grant Park Music Festival Felix Mendelssohn Orfeo ed Euridice Antonio Paoli Johann Strauss II Twice Through the Heart Wales Millennium Centre edit   Things you can do Add {{Portal|Opera}} to the See also section of opera-related articles. Tag the talk pages of opera-related articles with {{WikiProject Opera}} Join WikiProject Opera and list yourself as a participant in the project. Cleanup: A cleanup listing for this project is available, updated weekly. More information... Rate the Unassessed opera articles in the Opera WikiProject. Requested articles: Create or request an article on an opera-related topic. Stubs needing expansion: English-language opera stubs, French-language opera stubs, German-language opera stubs, Italian-language opera stubs, Opera biography stubs, Opera company stubs, Opera singer stubs, Opera structure stubs, More... edit   Categories ▼ Opera ► Operas ► Opera by nationality ► Opera competitions ► Opera composers ► Opera critics ► Opera designers ► Opera directors ► Opera discographies ► Opera excerpts ► Opera festivals ► Opera genres ► Opera history ► Opera houses ► Opera libretti ► Opera librettists ► Opera-related lists ► Opera managers ► Opera museums ► Music directors (opera) ► Opera organizations ► Opera publishers ► Opera recordings ► Opera singers ► Opera terminology ► Works and media about opera ► Opera stubs ► WikiProject Opera  FA   A   GA   B   C   Start   Stub   FL   List   NA   ???  Total 22 0 11 146 199 4,621 2,707 3 167 1,409 1 9,286 edit   Related portals Arts Music Classical music Theatre Musical Theatre Gilbert and Sullivan edit   Associated Wikimedia

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