Opera

Baroque 1600-1750

Florentine Opera – stile rappresentativo(theater style) – not polyphonic

Peri, Jacopo (1561-1633) Daphne(lost-1597)
Monteverdi, Claudio (1567-1643) Orfeo(1607)

Roman Opera – religious subjects, distinctions between recitative and aria

Landi, Stefano (1586-1639) Santo Alessio
Rossi, Luigi (1598-1653) Orfeo

Venetian Opera – Teatro San Cassiano – 1st public opera house opened in 1637

Cavalli, Pier Francesco (1602-1676) Giasone
Cesti, Marc Antonio (1623-1690) Il Pomo d’ oro

Neapolitan Opera – da capo arias(ABA) – recitativo secco, recitativo accomp, overture

Scarlatti, Alessandro (1660-1725) wrote 114 operas
Steffani, Agostino (1654-1728)
Handel, George F. (1670-1759)

French Opera – greater emphasis on drama, French Overture, ballet

Perrin, Abbe Peerre (1620-1675) Pastorale
Lully, Jean Baptiste (1632-1687) Alceste
Rameau, Jean Philippe (1683-1764) Hippolyte et Aricie

English Opera

Blow, John (1649-1708) Venus and Adonis
Purcell, Henry (1659-1695) Dido and Aneas

German Opera – Italian Opera was most often performed

Schutz, Heinrich (1585-1672) Daphne (lost)
Fux, Johann (1660-1741) Costanza e fortezza
Hamburg Opera house opened in 1678 – singspiel
Theile, Johann (1646-1724) Adam and Eva
Italian Comic Opera, French Opera Comique, English Ballad, German Singspiel, Spanish Zarzuela

Classical 1750-1820

Opera Reform – greater concern for drama, less formal(less da capo), recit.

Accomp, choral ensembles, larger role for orchestra
Gluck, Christoph Willibald (1747-1779) Orfeo ed Euridice
Bach, Johann Christian (1735-1782)
Spontini, Gasparo (1774-1851)
Mozart, W.A. (1756-1791) 22 operas -13. Idomeneo, 14. Abduduction,
18. Marriage of Figaro, 19. Don Giovanni, 20. Cosi fan tutti, 21. Magic Flute, 22. La clemenza
Beethoven, L.v. (1770-1827) Fidelio(1805, 1806, 1814)
Schubert, Franz (1797-1928) wrote 11 operas!

Romantic 1820-1900

Italian Opera

Rossini, Gioachino (1792-1868) Classical/Romantic
Donizetti, Gaetano (1797-1848) wrote 70 operas including Lucia di Lammermoor, Lucrezia Borgia, Don Pasquale, L’Elisir d’amore, La Fille du regiment
Bellini, Vincenzo (1801-1835) 11 operas including La Sonnambula, I Puritani, Norma
Verdi, Giuseppe (1813-1901) Rigoletto, Il Travatore, La Traviata, Aida, Othello, Falstaff
Puccini, Giacomo (1858-1924) La Boheme, Tosca, Madam Butterfly
Leoncavallo, Ruggerio (1857-1919) I Pagliacci
Mascagni, Pierto (1863-1945) Cavalleria Rusticana

French Opera

Auber, Daniel Francois E (1782-1871) Fra Diavolo
Berlioz, Hector (1803-1869) Beatrice et Benedict
Gounod, Charles (1818-1893) Faust, Le Medecin malgre lui(The Doctor despite himself)
Bizet, Georges (1838-1875) Carmen
Massenet, Jules (1842-1912) Manon, Thaïs
Delibes, Leo (1836-1891) Lakme
Offenbach, Jacques (1819-1880) The Tales of Hoffmann

Grand Opera

Meyerbeer Les Hugenots, L’Africaine, Rossini Guillame Tell, Berlioz Benvenuto Cellini, Les Troyens

Lyric Opera

Gounod Faust, Bizet Carmen, Massenet Manon, Lalo, Offenbach Tales of Hoffmann, Saint-Saëns

German Opera

Weber, Carl Maria von (1786-1826) Der Freischütz, Euryanthe, Oberon
Nicolai, Otto (1810-1849) Die Lustigen Weiber von Windsor
Flotow, Friedirch (1812-1883) Martha,
Wagner, Richard (1813-1883) Flying Dutchman – Ring- Parsifal
Humperdinck, Engelbert (1854-1921) Hänsel und Gretel
Strauss, Richard (1864-1949) Salome, Electra, Rosenkavalier

Russian Opera

Glinka, Mikhail (1804-1857) A Life for the Czar, Russlan and Ludmilla
Mussorgsky, Modest (1839-1881) Boris Godnuov
Borodin, Alexander (1833-1893) Prince Igor
Tchaikovsky, P.I. (1840-1893) Eugen Onegin
Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908) Sadko, Le Coq d’or (The Golden Cockerel)

Czech Opera

Smetana, Bedrich (1824-1884) The Bartered Bride
Dvorak, Antonin (1841-1904) King and Collier, Rusalka
Janacek, Leos (1854-1928) Jenufa, From the House of the Dead

English Opera

Gilbert (1836-1911) & Sullivan (1842-1900) H.M.S. Pinafore, Mikado

20th Century 1900-present

Debussy, Claude (1862-1918) Pelleas and Melisande
Schoenberg, Arnold (1874-1951) Moses and Aaron
De Falla, Manuel (1876-1946) La Vida breve (Life is short)
Ravel, Maurice (1875-1937) L’Heure Espagnole
Bartok, Bela (1881-1945) Blue Beard’s Castle
Stravinsky, Igor (1882-1971) The Rakes Progress
Berg, Alban (1885-1937) Wozzeck, Lulu
Prokofiev, Sergei (1891-1953) Love for Three Oranges
Hindemith, Paul (1895-1963) Mathis der Maler
Gershwin, George (1898-1937) Porgy and Bess
Krenek, Ernest (1900-1991) Johnny spielt auf
Shostakovitch, Dmitri (1906-1975) Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, The Nose
Britten, Benjamin (1913-1976) Peter Grimes, Billy Budd
Schuller, Gunther (1925-) The Visitation