Opera

Opera refers to a dramatic art form, originating in Europe, in which the emotional content or primary entertainment is conveyed to the audience as much through music, both vocal and instrumental, as it is through the lyrics. more...

Home
Brass
DJ Gear & Lighting
Electronic
Equipment
Guitar
Harmonica
Instruction Books, CDs,...
Keyboard, Piano
Other Instruments
Percussion
Pro Audio
Sheet Music, Song Books
Sheet Music
Blues, Jazz
Classical
Band
Brass
Chamber
Choral
Opera
Orchestral
Organ
Other Classical
Piano
String
Vocal
Country, Western
Instrumental Collections
Military, Historical
Movies, TV
New Age
Other Sheet Music
Popular, by decade
1900 - 1909
1910 - 1919
1920s
1930s
1940s
1950s
1960s
1970s
1980s
1990s to present
Pre 1900
Radio
Rag
Rock
Sacred, Gospel
Theater, Showtunes
Transportation
Vocal Collections
Song Books
String
Wholesale Lots
Woodwind

From the beginning of the form (about 1600), there has been contention whether the music is paramount, or the words, a theme that Richard Strauss took up in his final opera, Capriccio (1942). Also, dramatic speech in opera is often sung in recitative. By contrast, in musical theater, dialogue is spoken and an actor's dramatic performance is generally more important than in opera.

Comparable art forms from various parts of the world, many of them quite ancient in origin, exist and are also sometimes called "opera" by analogy, usually prefaced with an adjective indicating the region (for example Chinese opera). However, other than superficial similarities, these other art forms developed independently from and are completely unrelated to opera but are art forms in their own right, not derivatives of opera.

The drama is presented using the primary elements of theatre such as scenery, costumes, and acting. However, the words of the opera, or libretto, are customarily sung rather than spoken. The singers are accompanied by a musical ensemble ranging from a small instrumental ensemble to a full symphonic orchestra.

Besides words and music, opera draws from many other art forms. The visual arts, such as painting, scenery and sculpture, are employed to create the visual spectacle on the stage; in the Baroque "English opera" or Restoration spectacular, visual arts are especially important, even predominant. Finally, dancing is often part of an opera performance, particularly in France and Germany. Generally, however, opera is distinguished from other dramatic forms by the importance of song.

Singers and the roles they play are initially classified according to their vocal ranges. Male singers are classified by vocal range as bass, bass-baritone, baritone, tenor and countertenor. Female singers are classified by vocal range as contralto, mezzo-soprano and soprano. Additionally, singers' voices are loosely identified by characteristics other than range,such as timbre or color, vocal quality, agility, power, and tessitura. Thus a soprano may be termed a lyric soprano, coloratura, soubrette, spinto, or dramatic soprano; these terms, although not fully describing a singing voice, associate the singer's voice with the roles most suitable to the singer's vocal characteristics. The German Fach system is an especially organized system of classification. A particular singer's voice may change drastically over his or her lifetime, rarely reaching vocal maturity until the third decade, and sometimes not until middle age.

Traditional opera consists of two modes of singing: recitative, the dialogue and plot-driving passages often sung in a non-melodic style characteristic of opera, and aria, during which the movement of the plot often pauses, with the music becoming more melodic in character and the singer focusing on one or more topics or emotional affects. Short melodic or semi-melodic passages occurring in the midst of what is otherwise recitative are also referred to as arioso. In the late 19th century, many composers abolished much of the distinction between recitative and aria, writing opera that is essentially presented in a restlessly melodic arioso style throughout. All types of singing in opera are accompanied by musical instruments, though until the late 17th century generally, and persisting until even later in some regions, recitative was accompanied by only the continuo group (harpsichord and 'cello or bassoon). During the period 1680 to roughly 1750, when composers often used both methods of recitative accompaniment in the same opera, the continuo-only practice was referred to as "secco" (dry) recitative, while orchestral-accompanied recitative was called "accompagnato" or "stromentato." The complexity of orchestral accompaniment to recitative continually tended to become more complex until, in the late 18th century, composers began to write recitativo obbligato at dramatic junctures of opera seria, in which the orchestra has independent passages of a violent or pathetic character, sometimes reflecting musical motifs or the melodies of important arias.

Read more at Wikipedia.org