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edit   The Opera Portal Oslo 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 Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria (SV 325, The Return of Ulysses to his Homeland) is an opera in a prologue and five acts (later revised to three), set by Claudio Monteverdi to a libretto by Giacomo Badoaro. The opera was first performed at the Teatro Santi Giovanni e Paolo in Venice during the 1639–1640 carnival season. The story, taken from the second half of Homer's Odyssey, tells how constancy and virtue are ultimately rewarded, treachery and deception overcome. After his long journey home from the Trojan Wars Ulisse, king of Ithaca, finally returns to his kingdom where he finds that a trio of villainous suitors have seized the realm and are importuning his faithful queen, Penelope. With the assistance of the gods, his son Telemaco and a staunch friend Eumete, Ulisse vanquishes the suitors and recovers his kingdom. Il ritorno is the first of three full-length works which Monteverdi wrote for the burgeoning Venetian opera industry during the last five years of his life. Together with Monteverdi's other Venetian stage works, it is considered one of the first modern operas. Its music, while showing the influence of earlier works, also demonstrates Monteverdi's development as a composer of opera, through his use of fashionable forms such as arioso, duet and ensemble alongside the older-style recitative. By using a variety of musical styles, Monteverdi is able to express the feelings and emotions of a great range of characters, divine and human, through their music. edit   Featured picture The Vase of Peace and western facade of the Palace of Versailles. Its permanent theatre and opera house, L'Opéra of the Palace of Versailles, was inaugurated in 1770 with a performance of Lully's Persée. The palace itself is the setting of Marc-Antoine Charpentier's opera Les plaisirs de Versailles, first performed in the private apartments of Louis XIV in 1682, and John Corigliano's 20th century opera The Ghosts of Versailles. edit   In this month 1 July 1995 – Powder Her Face, an opera by Thomas Adès and based on the scandalous life of Margaret, Duchess of Argyll, had its world premiere at the Cheltenham Music Festival. 5 July 1953 - Titta Ruffo, considered one of the greatest Italian baritones of his generation, died in Florence at the age of 76. 6 July 1845 – Soprano Ángela Peralta, a leading figure in the operatic life of 19th century Mexico, was born in Mexico City. 11 July 1937 - George Gershwin, the composer of Porgy and Bess, died in Los Angeles at the age of 38. 13 July 1924 – The Italian tenor Carlo Bergonzi, admired for his warm timbre and elegant phrasing, was born in Vidalenzo, near Parma. 17 July 1852 – Salvadore Cammarano, who wrote the libretto for Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, died in his native Naples at the age of 51. 22 July 1847 – Verdi's opera I masnadieri had its world premiere at Her Majesty's Theatre in London. The performance was conducted by Verdi himself, with Jenny Lind (pictured) singing the role of Amalia. 30 July 1793 – The Teatro Nacional de São Carlos in Lisbon, Portugal's leading opera house, was opened by Queen Maria I. More anniversaries... edit   Selected biography Sir Michael Kemp Tippett (2 January 1905 – 8 January 1998) was an English composer who rose to prominence during and immediately after the Second World War. In his lifetime he was considered to rank with his contemporary Benjamin Britten as one of the leading British composers of the 20th century. Among his best-known works are the opera The Midsummer Marriage and the oratorio A Child of Our Time inspired by Kristallnacht (pictured), the Nazi government's violent pogrom against its Jewish population. Having briefly embraced communism in the 1930s, Tippett avoided identifying with any political party. A pacifist after 1940, he was imprisoned in 1943 for refusing to carry out war-related duties required by his military exemption. His initial difficulties in accepting his homosexuality led him in 1939 to Jungian psychoanalysis; the Jungian dichotomy of "shadow" and "light" remained a recurring factor in Tippett's music. He was a strong advocate of music education, and was active for much of his life as a radio broadcaster and writer on music. edit   Selected quote edit   Selected audio 1851 – Rigoletto: "Bella figlia dell'amore" From Giuseppe Verdi's Rigoletto. This 1907 Victor Records recording starred Enrico Caruso, Bessie Abott, Louise Homer and Antonio Scotti. edit   Did you know... ... that although Antonio Maria Bononcini's (Bononcini pictured) 1718 opera Griselda was successful, his older brother, Giovanni Bononcini, composed a more popular version in 1722? ... that the Balık sisters from Turkey are the only identical twins singing opera? ... that composer Jonathan Battishill once performed several airs from Samuel Arnold's oratorio The Prodigal Son without the sheet music, and after not hearing the work for more than 20 years? 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 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 • List of operas by composer • 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 L'Arianna The Bartered Bride Georges Bizet Benjamin Britten Carmen English National Opera Falstaff (opera) Kathleen Ferrier Gianni Schicchi Handel's lost Hamburg operas Her Majesty's Theatre L'incoronazione di Poppea Lost operas by Claudio Monteverdi Jules Massenet Carl Nielsen Nixon in China Noye's Fludde L'Orfeo Les pêcheurs de perles Maurice Ravel Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov Rinaldo (opera) Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria The Royal Opera Dmitri Shostakovich Bedřich Smetana Charles Villiers Stanford Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Michael Tippett Tosca Richard Wagner Featured lists List of important operas List of operas by Mozart Good articles W. H. Auden Ferruccio Busoni The Castafiore Emerald Patrice Chéreau Erik Chisholm Doctor Ox's Experiment (opera) The Fairy-Queen Fatinitza Éva Gauthier Grant Park Music Festival Julius Harrison Leoš Janáček Felix Mendelssohn André Messager Giacomo Meyerbeer Jacques Offenbach Orfeo ed Euridice Antonio Paoli Parsifal Sergei Prokofiev Maria Radner Robert le diable Johann Strauss II Twice Through the Heart Va tacito e nascosto Giuseppe Verdi Wales Millennium Centre Welsh National Opera Steuart Wilson 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 country ► Opera competitions ► Opera composers ► Opera critics ► Opera designers ► The Devil in opera ► 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 publishing companies ► Opera recordings ► Répétiteurs ► Opera scholarship ► Opera singers ► Stagecraft ► Opera terminology ► Works about opera ► Opera stubs edit   Related portals Arts Music Classical music Theatre Musical Theatre Gilbert and Sullivan edit   Associated Wikimedia

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