How to listen to and understand opera
(DVD)

Presenter: Robert Greenberg.

Part 1 begins in ancient Beijing, the exotic setting of Giacomo Puccini's Turandot. Here viewers are exposed to opera's unique incorporation of soliloquy, dialogue, scenery, action, and continuous music into an expressive whole that is far greater than the sum of its parts. Prof. Greenberg shows how the ancient Greeks used music in their dramas and how vocal and instrumental music gradually came together in the Western world to make opera possible, culminating in the 1607 debut of Monteverdi's Orfeo, the first truly successful attempt to combine music and words into musical drama.

Part 2 shows how the invention of the the aria gives operatic composers an extraordinary addition to their musical language. Words and music are on equal footing in the same passages, each amplifying the ability of the other to reveal character and increase the story's dramatic impact. We follow opera through an era known as both its 'golden age' and its 'dark age, learning along the way what distinguishes the different voice parts, the kinds of roles in which these voices have traditionally been cast, and how these conventions often differ from one country to another.

Part 3: By the early part of the nineteenth century, Italian opera had become universally popular. in spite of competitive pressure, composers like Donizetti, Bellini, and Rossini churned out one brilliant work after another, all written in the style known as 'bel canto'--literally,"beautiful singing." This style is illustrated here by Rossini's Barber of Seville. We meet the great Verdi and examine his masterwork, Otello. Finally, we learn about the relatively late emergence of French opera and about how differences in the French language and the French spirit combined to create an operatic style vastly different from that of Italy.

Part IV opens with an examination of the rise of German opera, from its roots in German folklore, through the humble Singspiel and the works of Mozart and Weber to the towering achievements of Richard Wagner, and to the early 20-century with the works of Richard Strauss. We then move on to Russia, where a national artistic and operatic tradition is created by core of committed composers, and we end with an examination of the school of Italian realism known as verismo and its greatest exponent, Giacomo Puccini.