1. Describe the difference between opera, light opera, and musical theater
Opera is an elevated style of musical theatre as defined by the age of Mozart from about 1775-1910. The performers are accompanied by an orchestra or a musical ensemble. Light opera is less demanding form of operatic theatre. It incorporates spoken words and appeals to broader audiences. But, it still requires operatic voices and live orchestra. Musical theatre is a type of theatre that songs, dance, and spoken dialogue. Musical theatre is performed all around the world. Many of these shows are performed on Broadway in New York City and London. While musical theatre can be very similar to opera, it differs because it can have spoken dialogue. Operas are all music and that is the way the story is told. Personally i prefer musical theatre, because I like listening to both music and spoken dialogue. One of my favorite Broadways that I saw in New York was the Lion King! I saw this show when I was only six years old, but I still remembering almost the entire show. I loved hearing the characters sing! The scenery was also amazing in the show and the way they portrayed the animals! It was a great experience and I have seen several Broadway shows since!
No one is naturally born with an operatic voice. An individual’s peak performance voice is not until after 30. Opera singers are known for being notoriously demanding. Opera singers are classified by the type of voice they have. The soprano is the highest voice which is followed by mezzo soprano, contralto, tenor, baritone, and then bass. Some famous singers are Senesino and Farinelli. So, even if an opera singer has been singing almost their whole life, their voice will not fully be trained and formed correctly until after they are 30 years of age.
3. Choose an Opera by Puccini? Describe and interpret.
Puccini wrote the opera Madama Butterfly. He based this opera on part of the short story Madama Butterfly by John Luther Long. The opera premiered on February 17, 1904 in Milan. It had noble singers such as, Rosina Storicho and Giovanni Zentatello. Act one of the opera starts off with a US navy lieutenant wanting to marry a fifteen year old Japanese girl. The young girl is madly in love with husband to be! So, the lieutenant is warned not to take this marriage lightly. The bride to be is known as Madama Butterfly and the lieutenant claims he is just as in love with Butterfly. Madama Butterfly’s family refused her from marrying this man, but the lieutenant ordered then to leave and the two said their vows. The two have a house in Japan and the lieutenant was gone for three years and had another wife in the US, but Madama had confidence that he would return. Madama tells the lieutenant that they have a son and he wants to take him to the US with his and his new wife. After all this drama Madama commits suicide and the lieutenant is the one who finds her dead. This opera is a drama and yes it was written a long time ago, but it tells a story of how things were at the time. Throughout the opera you could foreshadow that Madama was going to be betrayed and the lieutenant was up to no good.
This video is a scence from the opera whre the lieutenant and madama are singing a love duet to eachother. You can see on madama face and her emotion that she is truely in love with this man and deep down he doesn't have the same feelings for her! It is a very emotional song and the two are expressing their love for each other through song. This shows how powerful opera's can be and how engaging they can be to their audience!
No comments:
Post a Comment