Editing Opera (section)

{{Short description|Art form combining sung text and musical score in a theatrical setting}}
{{About|the Western art form|the web browser|Opera (web browser)|other uses|Opera (disambiguation)}}
{{Distinguish|Soap opera|Horse opera|Space opera}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}
[[File:Macbeth applause at Savonlinna Opera festival in 2007 - panoramio.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|''[[Macbeth (Verdi)|Macbeth]]'' at the [[Savonlinna Opera Festival]] in [[St. Olaf's Castle]], [[Savonlinna]], Finland, in 2007]]
'''Opera''' is a form of [[History of theatre#European theatre|Western theatre]] in which [[music]] is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by [[Singing|singers]]. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a [[composer]] and a [[libretto|librettist]]<ref>[[Richard Wagner]] and [[Arrigo Boito]] are notable creators who combined both roles.</ref> and incorporates a number of the [[performing arts]], such as [[acting]], [[Theatrical scenery|scenery]], [[costume]], and sometimes [[dance]] or [[ballet]]. The performance is typically given in an [[opera house]], accompanied by an [[orchestra]] or smaller [[musical ensemble]], which since the early 19th century has been led by a [[conducting|conductor]]. Although [[musical theatre]] is closely related to opera, the two are considered to be distinct from one another.<ref>Some definitions of opera: "dramatic performance or composition of which music is an essential part, branch of art concerned with this" (''[[Concise Oxford English Dictionary]]''); "any dramatic work that can be sung (or at times declaimed or spoken) in a place for performance, set to original music for singers (usually in costume) and instrumentalists" ([[Amanda Holden (writer)|Amanda Holden]], ''Viking Opera Guide''); "musical work for the stage with singing characters, originated in early years of 17th century" (''[[Pears' Cyclopaedia]]'', 1983 ed.).</ref>

Opera is a key part of [[Western culture#Music|Western]] [[classical music]], and Italian tradition in particular.<ref>Comparable art forms from various other parts of the world, many of them ancient in origin, are also sometimes called "opera" by analogy, usually prefaced with an adjective indicating the region (for example, [[Chinese opera]]). These independent traditions are not derivative of Western opera but are rather distinct forms of [[musical theatre]]. Opera is also not the only type of Western musical theatre: in the ancient world, [[Theatre of ancient Greece|Greek drama]] featured singing and instrumental accompaniment; and in modern times, other forms such as the [[musical theatre|musical]] have appeared.</ref> Originally understood as an [[sung-through|entirely sung piece]], in contrast to a play with songs, opera has come to include [[:Category:Opera genres|numerous genres]], including some that include spoken dialogue such as ''[[Singspiel]]'' and ''[[Opéra comique]]''. In traditional [[number opera]], singers employ two styles of singing: [[recitative]], a speech-inflected style,<ref name="Apel, p. 718">{{harvnb|Apel|1969|p=718}}</ref> and self-contained [[aria]]s. The 19th century saw the rise of the continuous [[Gesamtkunstwerk|music drama]].

[[File:Teatro alla Scala interior Milan.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|[[La Scala]] of Milan]]
[[File:Paris Opera full frontal architecture, May 2009.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|[[Palais Garnier]] of the [[Paris Opéra]]]]
[[File:Berlin - Staatsoper Unter den Linden.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|[[Berlin State Opera]]]]
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[[Origins of opera|Opera originated]] in [[Italy]] at the end of the 16th century (with [[Jacopo Peri]]'s mostly [[Lost literary work|lost]] ''[[Dafne]]'', produced in [[Florence]] in 1598) especially from works by [[Claudio Monteverdi]], notably ''[[L'Orfeo]]'', and soon spread through the rest of Europe: [[Heinrich Schütz]] in Germany, [[Jean-Baptiste Lully]] in France, and [[Henry 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 [[George Frideric Handel]]. [[Opera seria]] was the most prestigious form of Italian opera, until [[Christoph Willibald Gluck]] reacted against its artificiality with his "reform" operas in the 1760s. The most renowned figure of late 18th-century opera is [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart]], who began with opera seria but is most famous for his Italian [[comic opera]]s, especially ''[[The Marriage of Figaro]]'' (''Le nozze di Figaro''), ''[[Don Giovanni]]'', and ''[[Così fan tutte]]'', as well as ''[[Die Entführung aus dem Serail]]'' (''The Abduction from the Seraglio''), and ''[[The Magic Flute]]'' (''Die Zauberflöte''), landmarks in the German tradition.

The first third of the 19th century saw the high point of the [[bel canto]] style, with [[Gioachino Rossini]], [[Gaetano Donizetti]] and [[Vincenzo Bellini]] all creating signature works of that style. It also saw the advent of [[grand opera]] typified by the works of [[Daniel Auber]] and [[Giacomo Meyerbeer]] as well as [[Carl Maria von Weber]]'s introduction of German [[Romantische Oper]] (German Romantic Opera). The mid-to-late 19th century was a golden age of opera, led and dominated by [[Giuseppe Verdi]] in Italy and [[Richard Wagner]] in Germany. The popularity of opera continued through the [[verismo]] era in Italy and contemporary [[French opera]] through to [[Giacomo Puccini]] and [[Richard Strauss]] in the early 20th century. During the 19th century, parallel operatic traditions emerged in central and eastern Europe, particularly in [[Russian opera|Russia]] and [[Bohemia]]. The 20th century saw many experiments with modern styles, such as [[atonality]] and [[serialism]] ([[Arnold Schoenberg]] and [[Alban Berg]]), [[Neoclassicism (music)|neoclassicism]] ([[Igor Stravinsky]]), and [[minimalism]] ([[Philip Glass]] and [[John Adams (composer)|John Adams]]). With the rise of [[sound recording|recording technology]], singers such as [[Enrico Caruso]] and [[Maria Callas]] became known to much wider audiences that went beyond the circle of opera fans. Since the invention of radio and television, operas were also performed on (and written for) these media. Beginning in 2006, a number of major opera houses began to present live [[high-definition video]] transmissions of their performances in [[Movie theatre|cinemas]] all over the world. Since 2009, complete performances can be downloaded and are [[Livestreaming|live streamed]].