Opera (English plural: operas; Italian plural: opere) is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text (called a libretto) and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. 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 is part of the Western classical music tradition. It 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. 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 was a "golden age" of opera, led and dominated by Wagner in Germany and Verdi in Italy. The popularity of opera continued 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), Neoclassicism (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.

Noun

opera c.

1. an opera; a musical theatre play
2. an opera house; an institution or building where opera is performed

Declension Declension of opera singular plural common indefinite definite indefinite definite nominative opera operan operor operorna genitive operas operans operors operornas

Quotes regarding Opera.

Sourced

• No good opera plot can be sensible, for people do not sing when they are feeling sensible.
  • W. H. Auden, in TIME magazine (29 December 1961)

Unsourced

• The theatre only knows what it's doing next week, not like the opera, where they say: What are we going to do in five years' time? A completely different attitude.
  • Harrison Birtwistle

• Opera is when a guy gets stabbed in the back and, instead of bleeding, he sings.
  • Ed Gardner

• Opera is an 18th- and 19th-century art that must find a 20th-century audience.
  • Goeran Gentele

• If you put together all the ingredients that naturally attract children — sex, violence, revenge, spectacle and vigorous noise — what you have is grand opera.
  • Judith Martin

• Because I want to do a piece about real people! And I want to set it in a real place! A boudoir! — because that to me is the most exciting place on earth. Underclothes on the floor! Sheets still warm from a woman’s body! A pisspot brimming under the bed!
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart as portrayed in Amadeus by Peter Shaffer

• There are shrinking audiences for opera. Things are not going well, and the support has to be at the base, not the top, of the pyramid. Nonetheless, we continue to willfully exclude the public. People hide behind phrases such as 'dumbing down' as a way of avoiding the fact that this thing we care about is becoming more and more isolated.
  • Graham Vick

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Arts: Performing Arts: Theatre: Stagecraft: Set ...
Klingelhoefer, Robert - Resident designer at Fulton Opera House, Pennsylvania, and the Contemporary American Theatre Festival. Resume and design images.

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Arts: Performing Arts: Theatre: Community Theatre ...
The Gilbert and Sullivan Society of Chester County - Amateur comic light opera troupe dedicated to annual productions of shows in the Gilbert and Sullivan repertoire.

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Arts: Performing Arts: Theatre: Community Theatre ...
TownSquare Players,Inc. - Community theatre performing annual musical and comedy/drama at the Woodstock Opera House, and summer musical at Raue Center for the Arts.