{"id":3267,"date":"2016-11-08T17:12:21","date_gmt":"2016-11-08T22:12:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.musikalessons.com\/blog\/?p=3267"},"modified":"2023-01-25T15:40:07","modified_gmt":"2023-01-25T20:40:07","slug":"parts-of-an-opera","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.musikalessons.com\/blog\/2016\/11\/parts-of-an-opera\/","title":{"rendered":"Parts of an Opera: A Quick Beginner’s Guide"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you read our previous opera post, \u201cOpera Voice Types<\/a>,\u201d then you might be shocked to see another opera-centered article. Can there really be MORE to learn about the parts of an opera?<\/p>\n

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Yep. A whole lot more.\"royal<\/p>\n

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Opera is a huge undertaking, made up of many different parts: overtures, acts, arias, and recitatives just to name a few. We\u2019ll cover those in this article.<\/p>\n

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The more you know about opera, the more interesting it becomes–you may even find yourself buying tickets to a performance soon. If you don\u2019t get to know the genre at all though, opera will probably look strange and unapproachable. We can understand why.<\/p>\n

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So grab a cup of coffee and spend some time with these parts of an opera. You\u2019ll be glad you did, and we\u2019ve included lots of examples. If you get lost, let us know in the comments below!<\/p>\n

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Overture<\/strong><\/h2>\n

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The history of the opera overture goes back to the very beginning of the 17th century. Instruments were different back then (think gut strings<\/a> and the violoncello), the symphony hadn\u2019t been invented yet, and opera was just getting started. Thanks to guys like Peri, Caccini, and Monteverdi, operas and overtures were able to get off the ground.<\/p>\n

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Parts of an Opera: The Early History of the Overture<\/strong><\/h2>\n

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The word \u201coverture\u201d comes from the Latin word \u201capertura.\u201d You may be familiar with the English word \u201caperture,\u201d which refers to an opening or a hole. Considering the origins of the word, it comes as no surprise that \u201coverture\u201d is often used to describe the instrumental opening <\/em>of an opera prior to the beginning of Act 1.<\/p>\n

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[su_box title=”Side Note on Acts” box_color=”#6a1db0″ title_color=”#fefefe” radius=”0″ class=”width: 200px;height: 400px;”]Operas are made up of \u201cActs;\u201d the composer decides how many acts, or sections, are in the opera. The number is generally from one to five. In a live performance, intermissions will occur between acts, but not necessarily between every act. Example: in a four-act opera, there may be an intermission only after the second act. Surprisingly, one-act operas are not necessarily shorter–Wagner\u2019s Das Rheingold has only one act but it runs for two and a half hours![\/su_box]<\/em><\/p>\n

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The roots of the opera Overture begin with the first surviving opera, Peri\u2019s L\u2019Euridice<\/em> in the year 1600 (it should be noted that Peri composed an earlier opera, Dafne<\/em>, but manuscripts of the music have not survived). Peri included an instrumental \u201critornello<\/a>\u201d at the beginning of the opera; with that ritornello came the first hints of the parts of an opera that would eventually become the full-blown overture.<\/p>\n

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\"operaMonteverdi <\/a>composed his influential L\u2019Orfeo <\/em>just a few years later in 1607. He opened with a toccata performed by the trumpet, and this toccata further contributed to the rise of purely instrumental introductions (or overtures) in opera.<\/p>\n

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It was Jean-Baptiste Lully, a French composer in the first half of the 17th century, who brought the overture to the forefront of operatic form though. In fact, he was the first composer to call his opening section an \u201couverture<\/em>\u201d starting with his ballets in the 1640s.<\/p>\n

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Not only did he introduce the overture as one of the formulaic parts of on opera (operas henceforth needed an overture), but he also created a distinct kind of overture that we refer to today as the \u201cFrench Overture.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Lully\u2019s \u201cFrench Overtures\u201d followed a fast-slow, A-B pattern in two parts:<\/p>\n

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  1. His first section took advantage of a distinct dotted rhythm–give it a listen on this recording of his opera, Thesee<\/em>. The first part of his French Overture was also very slow, stately, and almost ponderous.\n