This
month, our topic will be opera. Because it is a broad topic that we could
literally spend months discussing, I will only hit a few opera highlights
throughout history this month and perhaps we can explore other additional
operas in future months.
Though
the first opera was not composed until the year 1600, opera characteristics
existed within various Renaissance genres years before operas emerged onto the
musical scene. Here are a few forerunners to opera with their descriptions:
Pastoral
drama: play with songs throughout
Madrigal:
poem set to music with multiple voice parts
Intermedio:
musical interlude performed between acts of a play (usually the topic related
to mythology)
Greek
tragedy
Next
time we will discuss two major early operas, dating around the turn of the 17th
century. Think about how these operas may be similar or different to others you
may be more familiar with.
