Italian Opera vs. French Opera
According to R. Wagner opera does not mean so much a musical work, as a musical, poetical, and spectacular work all at once; opera is the work par excellence, to the production of which all the arts are necessary (Sutherland, 1). " Opera starts not with music but with its literary source (story or plot), whether it be history, biography, fiction, or mythology in the form of poem, play, drama, novel, or original libretto"(Knapp 6). Opera is a combination of mangled drama, the singers, the music and many different arts (Knapp, 3). An opera is not an opera without the music. The musical representation uplifts the words and adds magic to an opera (Knapp 3). The two major components of an opera are the human singers and the orchestra. From the soprano to bass of the singers, their voice is not what characterizes the person (Knapp 3). What characterizes them is the mood and technique associated with their everyday activities. For example, the way you would talk over the phone in a singing mode. When you think of the opera, you think of a masterpiece of the arts. When you research an opera you start to view the different characteristics and cultures of the art. The difference between the French Opera and Italian opera reflects their respective cultures and their history as well.
Italy was the birthplace of opera. Italian opera was opera in its purest form. This Italian tradition was the central tradition, which all other nations admired and imitated (Kimbell 1). Operas usually took place at the palaces of nobility (Kupferberg 21). The Italians in terms of opera were mostly known for singers (Kupferberg 22). Peri's Euridice was the first opera to survive in its entirety. It owes it's origin to a wedding by proxy of Maria de' Medici and King Henry IV of France in October 1600 (Kimbell 53). What started it all was the opera called Florentine Camerata. With the combination of each individual creature, it brought out the astonishing creature called,
Italy was the birthplace of opera. Italian opera was opera in its purest form. This Italian tradition was the central tradition, which all other nations admired and imitated (Kimbell 1). Operas usually took place at the palaces of nobility (Kupferberg 21). The Italians in terms of opera were mostly known for singers (Kupferberg 22). Peri's Euridice was the first opera to survive in its entirety. It owes it's origin to a wedding by proxy of Maria de' Medici and King Henry IV of France in October 1600 (Kimbell 53). What started it all was the opera called Florentine Camerata. With the combination of each individual creature, it brought out the astonishing creature called,