Opera is a type of Western theater where music plays a key role, and actors are singers. An "opera" (from the Italian word for "work") is usually created by a composer and a librettist, who writes the story and lyrics. It combines many art forms, such as acting, scenery, costumes, and sometimes dance. Performances take place in opera houses and are accompanied by an orchestra or small musical group, led by a conductor since the early 1800s. Although musical theater is related to opera, they are different types of performances.
Opera is an important part of Western classical music, especially in Italy. Originally, operas were entirely sung, unlike plays with songs. Over time, operas included spoken dialogue in styles like Singspiel and Opéra comique. In traditional operas, singers use two styles: recitative, which sounds like speech, and arias, which are complete songs. The 1800s brought the rise of continuous music dramas.
Opera began in Italy at the end of the 1500s, with Jacopo Peri’s lost opera Dafne, performed in Florence in 1598. Claudio Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo helped shape the style, and opera spread across Europe. Composers like Heinrich Schütz in Germany, Jean-Baptiste Lully in France, and Henry Purcell in England developed their own national traditions in the 1600s. In the 1700s, Italian opera was popular in most of Europe, except France, and attracted composers like George Frideric Handel. Opera seria was the most respected Italian style until Christoph Willibald Gluck introduced changes in the 1760s. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, a famous 18th-century composer, is best known for his Italian comic operas, such as The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, and The Magic Flute, as well as works in the German tradition.
The early 1800s saw the peak of the bel canto style, led by composers like Gioachino Rossini, Gaetano Donizetti, and Vincenzo Bellini. This period also introduced grand opera, as seen in the works of Daniel Auber and Giacomo Meyerbeer, and Carl Maria von Weber’s German Romantic operas. The mid-to-late 1800s was a golden age of opera, with Giuseppe Verdi in Italy and Richard Wagner in Germany leading the way. Opera remained popular through the verismo era in Italy and French operas, continuing into the early 1900s with composers like Giacomo Puccini and Richard Strauss.
In the 1800s, operatic traditions also developed in central and eastern Europe, including Russia and Bohemia. The 1900s brought new styles, such as atonality and serialism (by Arnold Schoenberg and Alban Berg), neoclassicism (by Igor Stravinsky), and minimalism (by Philip Glass and John Adams). As recording technology advanced, singers like Enrico Caruso and Maria Callas reached wider audiences. Radio and television allowed operas to be performed on these media. Starting in 2006, major opera houses began broadcasting live high-definition performances in cinemas worldwide. Since 2009, full performances have been downloadable and live-streamed.
Operatic terminology
The written text of an opera is called the libretto, which means "small book." Some composers, like Wagner, have written their own libretti. Others have worked closely with their librettists, such as Mozart and Lorenzo Da Ponte. Traditional opera, often called "number opera," uses two main types of singing: recitative and aria. Recitative is used to move the story forward and is sung in a way that sounds like spoken speech. Aria is a more structured song where characters express their feelings through melody. Duets, trios, and other group singing are common, and choruses often provide commentary on the story. In some types of opera, such as singspiel, opéra comique, operetta, and semi-opera, spoken dialogue replaces recitative. Melodic or semi-melodic parts that appear during or instead of recitative are called arioso. Details about the different types of operatic voices are explained later.
During the Baroque and Classical periods, recitative had two main forms, each with its own type of musical accompaniment. Secco (dry) recitative was sung with a free rhythm based on the words' accents and was accompanied only by basso continuo, a group of instruments like a harpsichord and cello. Accompaniment recitative, also called strumentato, was supported by the full orchestra. By the 18th century, arias were increasingly accompanied by the orchestra. By the 19th century, accompaniment recitative became more common, and the orchestra played a larger role in opera. Wagner changed opera by blending arias and recitative into a continuous melody, which he called "endless melody." Many composers after Wagner followed this style, though some, like Stravinsky in The Rake's Progress, used different approaches. More information about the orchestra's changing role in opera is provided later.
History
The Italian word "opera" means "work," referring to both the effort put into something and the result achieved. This word comes from the Latin word "opera," which was a singular noun meaning "work" and also the plural of "opus," another Latin word for "work." According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the Italian word "opera" was first used to describe a type of performance that combines poetry, dance, and music in 1639. The first time this meaning appeared in English was in 1648.
The earliest known opera, as we understand it today, was Dafne by Jacopo Peri. It was written around 1597, inspired by a group of educated Florentine humanists called the "Camerata de' Bardi." These people wanted to revive the style of ancient Greek drama, which was part of the Renaissance’s interest in classical art and ideas. They believed that the chorus parts in Greek plays were originally sung, and possibly all parts of the play. This idea led to the creation of opera as a way to bring back this style. However, Dafne is lost, meaning no copies of it remain. A later work by Peri, Euridice (1600), is the first surviving opera score. But the first opera still regularly performed today is L'Orfeo by Claudio Monteverdi, written for the court of Mantua in 1607. The Gonzaga family, who ruled Mantua, supported Monteverdi and helped develop opera. They used court singers, including one of the first true "opera singers," Madama Europa.
Opera was not only for people in royal courts. In 1637, Venice began offering publicly attended operas during the carnival season, supported by ticket sales. Monteverdi moved to Venice and wrote operas like Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria and L'incoronazione di Poppea for Venetian theaters in the 1640s. Francesco Cavalli, one of Monteverdi’s followers, helped spread opera across Italy. In these early Baroque operas, comedy and tragedy were mixed, which some people found strange. This led to reform movements, such as the one started by the Arcadian Academy, which worked with the poet Metastasio. His libretti (the words of operas) helped shape opera seria, the most important form of Italian opera until the late 1700s. Comedy in Baroque opera was later moved to a separate style called opera buffa. This change happened partly because opera houses wanted to attract wealthy merchants who were not as educated as nobles. These comic plots were later used in intermezzi, short operas that started as intermissions during opera seria performances but became popular enough to be shown on their own.
Opera seria was serious and highly structured, often featuring secco recitative (spoken-like singing) and long, repeating songs called da capo arias. These songs allowed singers to show their skill. During the golden age of opera seria, singers became the stars of the operas. The hero’s role was usually written for a male castrato, a singer who had been castrated before puberty to keep his high voice. Famous castrati like Farinelli and Senesino, along with female sopranos like Faustina Bordoni, were in high demand across Europe. Italian opera set the standard for the Baroque period, even when composers like Handel wrote operas in other countries using Italian libretti (the words of the operas). This remained true during the classical period, as seen in the works of Mozart. Leading composers of opera seria included Alessandro Scarlatti, Antonio Vivaldi, and Nicola Porpora.
Critics of opera seria pointed out that the focus on singers’ skills and elaborate stage effects sometimes overshadowed the story. In 1755, Francesco Algarotti’s Essay on the Opera inspired Gluck to reform opera. He believed that all parts of an opera—music, ballet, and staging—should serve the story. Gluck’s first reform opera, Orfeo ed Euridice, used simple melodies and a strong orchestra. His ideas influenced later composers like Weber, Mozart, and Wagner. Mozart, often seen as Gluck’s successor, wrote both comic operas with libretti by Lorenzo Da Ponte, such as Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni, and Così fan tutte, and serious operas like Idomeneo and La clemenza di Tito. However, by Mozart’s time, opera seria was declining.
In the early 19th century, the bel canto movement, meaning "beautiful singing," became popular. It emphasized smooth, complex vocal lines and was seen in the works of composers like Rossini, Bellini, and Donizetti. Famous bel canto operas include Il barbiere di Siviglia by Rossini and *
Operatic voices
Operatic singing techniques developed before electronic amplification was available, allowing singers to project their voices above an orchestra without requiring instrumentalists to reduce their volume.
Singers are grouped into categories based on their voice type, which includes the range, flexibility, strength, and tone of their voices. Male singers are classified as bass, bass-baritone, baritone, baritenor, tenor, or countertenor. Female singers are classified as contralto, mezzo-soprano, or soprano. Sometimes men sing in female voice categories, and they are called sopranists or countertenors. Countertenors often perform roles originally written for castrati—men who were castrated as children to achieve a higher singing range. Singers are further divided by the size and characteristics of their voices. For example, sopranos can be described as lyric, coloratura, soubrette, spinto, or dramatic sopranos. These terms help match singers with roles that best suit their vocal abilities.
Another way to classify singers is by their acting skills. For example, a basso buffo must be skilled in fast, rhythmic singing and comic acting. This system is detailed in the Fach system used in German-speaking countries, where opera and spoken plays were often performed by the same theater groups.
A singer’s voice can change significantly over time, often not reaching full maturity until their 30s or even later. Two French voice types, premiere dugazon and deuxieme dugazon, were named after stages in the career of Louise-Rosalie Lefebvre (Mme. Dugazon). Other terms, like baryton-martin and soprano falcon, originated from the casting practices of Parisian theaters.
The soprano voice has been the standard for female leads in operas since the late 18th century. Earlier, these roles were sometimes sung by any female voice or even castrati. The emphasis on a wide vocal range became common during the Classical period. Before that, singers were judged more on their skill than their range. Soprano parts rarely reached above a high A, though some castrati, like Farinelli, could sing as high as a D. Mezzo-sopranos, a term that appeared more recently, have a broad range of roles, from lighter parts to heavier ones. Contraltos, with a narrower range, are often cast in roles like witches or villains, leading to a humorous saying about their roles. In recent years, many "trouser roles" from the Baroque era—originally for women or castrati—have been assigned to countertenors.
The tenor voice has traditionally been used for male leads since the Classical era. Many challenging tenor roles were written during the bel canto period, such as Donizetti’s famous sequence of nine Cs in La fille du régiment. Wagner introduced the Heldentenor, a powerful voice type for heroic roles, with Italian counterparts like Calaf in Turandot. Basses have long been used in opera, often for supporting roles or comic relief, with parts ranging from the comedic Leporello in Don Giovanni to the noble Wotan in Wagner’s Ring Cycle. Baritones, which fall between basses and tenors, vary in strength, from characters like Guglielmo in Così fan tutte to Posa in Don Carlos. The term "baritone" became standard in the mid-19th century.
In the early days of opera, singers could not rely on opera alone for income because performances were rare. However, with the rise of commercial opera in the 17th century, professional singers began to emerge. Male leads were often played by castrati, who became international stars by the 18th century. The first major female star, Anna Renzi, appeared in the mid-17th century. By the 18th century, Italian sopranos like Faustina Bordoni and Francesca Cuzzoni gained fame, even engaging in a physical fight during a performance. French audiences preferred male leads to be sung by haute-contre, a type of high tenor.
Although opera’s popularity has decreased in recent decades due to other art forms, famous singers like Anna Netrebko, Maria Callas, Enrico Caruso, and others have gained widespread recognition through mass media and recordings.
Changing role of the orchestra
Before the 1700s, Italian operas used a small group of string musicians, but this group rarely played to support the singers. During this time, solo singing parts were usually accompanied by the basso continuo, a group that included the harpsichord, plucked instruments like the lute, and a bass instrument. The string orchestra typically played only during moments when the singer was not singing, such as during a singer’s entrances, exits, or between songs, or to accompany dancing. Another task for the orchestra was playing an orchestral ritornello, a short musical passage that marked the end of a singer’s solo. In the early 1700s, some composers began using the string orchestra to highlight certain arias or recitatives as special. By 1720, most arias were accompanied by an orchestra. Composers like Domenico Sarro, Leonardo Vinci, Giambattista Pergolesi, Leonardo Leo, and Johann Adolph Hasse added new instruments to the opera orchestra and gave these instruments new roles. They included wind instruments with the strings and used orchestral instruments to play instrumental solos, a way to emphasize certain arias.
The orchestra has also played an instrumental overture before the singers performed onstage since the 1600s. Peri’s Euridice begins with a short instrumental ritornello, and Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo (1607) starts with a toccata, a fanfare for muted trumpets. The French overture, as used in Jean-Baptiste Lully’s operas, consists of a slow introduction with a specific "dotted rhythm," followed by a lively section in a fugato style. The overture was often followed by a series of dance tunes before the curtain rose. This style was also used in English opera, such as in Henry Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas. Handel also used the French overture form in some of his Italian operas, like Giulio Cesare.
In Italy, a distinct overture form developed in the 1680s and became popular through the operas of Alessandro Scarlatti. This form spread across Europe and became the standard operatic overture by the mid-18th century. It typically includes three movements: fast, slow, and fast again. The first movement was usually in duple meter and a major key; the slow movement was shorter and sometimes in a different key; the final movement was dance-like, often with rhythms similar to a gigue or minuet, and returned to the key of the opening section. As this form evolved, the first movement sometimes included fanfare-like elements and followed a pattern called "sonatina form" (a simpler version of sonata form without a development section), and the slow section became longer and more expressive.
After about 1800, the "overture" in Italian opera was called the "sinfonia." The term "Sinfonia avanti l’opera" (literally, "symphony before the opera") was an early name for a sinfonia used to begin an opera, distinguishing it from one that started a later section of the work. In the 19th century, the overture, sometimes called the Vorspiel, Einleitung, or Introduction, was the music played before the curtain rose. It no longer needed to follow a strict structure.
The role of the orchestra in supporting singers changed during the 19th century as the Classical style gave way to the Romantic era. Orchestras grew larger, and new instruments were added, such as additional percussion instruments (e.g., bass drum, cymbals, snare drum). The way orchestral parts were written also evolved over time. In Wagnerian operas, the orchestra’s role expanded beyond the overture. In works like the Ring Cycle, the orchestra played recurring musical themes called leitmotifs, giving the orchestra a prominent role that "elevated its status to that of a prima donna." Wagner’s operas used more brass instruments and large ensembles; for example, his Das Rheingold requires six harps. In Wagner’s works and those of later composers like Benjamin Britten, the orchestra often conveyed information about the story that characters were not aware of. This led critics to view the orchestra as performing a role similar to a literary narrator.
As the role of the orchestra and other instrumental groups changed over time, so did the role of leading musicians. During the Baroque era, musicians were usually directed by the harpsichord player, though French composer Lully conducted with a long staff. In the 1800s, during the Classical period, the principal first violinist, or concertmaster, led the orchestra while sitting. Over time, some directors began standing and using hand and arm gestures to guide performers. Eventually, this role became known as the conductor, and a podium was used to help musicians see the conductor clearly. By the time Wagnerian operas were introduced, the complexity of the music and the size of the orchestras made the conductor’s role increasingly important. Modern opera conductors must direct both the orchestra in the pit and the singers on stage.
Language and translation issues
Since the time of composers like Handel and Mozart, many have chosen Italian as the language for the words in their operas. From the Bel Canto era to Verdi, some composers created versions of their operas in both Italian and French. Because of this, operas such as Lucia di Lammermoor or Don Carlos are now considered important in both their French and Italian versions.
Until the mid-1950s, it was common to perform operas in translations, even if the composer or original writers had not approved them. For example, Italian opera houses often performed Wagner’s operas in Italian. After World War II, more study of opera improved, and performers began focusing on the original versions. Learning European languages, especially Italian, French, and German, is now an important part of training for professional singers. "The biggest part of operatic training is learning languages and music skills," says mezzo-soprano Dolora Zajick. "I must understand not only my own lines but also what others are singing. I sing in Italian, Czech, Russian, French, German, and English."
In the 1980s, supertitles (also called surtitles) began to appear in opera performances. At first, many people thought supertitles were distracting, but now many opera houses use them. Supertitles are usually shown above the stage or on screens in individual seats, allowing audiences to choose from different languages. TV broadcasts often include subtitles even for operas in languages that viewers already know, such as an Italian opera on Italian television. These subtitles help both people who are hard of hearing and others who find it difficult to understand sung words, even for native speakers. Subtitles in one or more languages are now standard in opera broadcasts, live streams, and DVDs.
Today, operas are rarely performed in translation. Exceptions include companies like the English National Opera, the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Opera Theater of Pittsburgh, and Opera South East, which use English translations. Other exceptions are operas for young audiences, such as Hansel and Gretel by Humperdinck and some versions of The Magic Flute by Mozart.
Funding
In many countries outside the United States, especially in Europe, most opera houses receive public money from taxpayers. In Milan, Italy, 60% of La Scala's yearly budget of €115 million comes from ticket sales and private donations, while the remaining 40% is provided by public funds. In 2005, La Scala received 25% of all the money the Italian government gave to performing arts. In the UK, Arts Council England gives money to Opera North, the Royal Opera House, Welsh National Opera, and English National Opera. Between 2012 and 2015, these four opera companies, along with the English National Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet, and Northern Ballet, received 22% of the funds in the Arts Council's national portfolio. During that time, the Council reviewed how much money was given to large opera and ballet companies, setting goals for them to meet before making funding decisions for 2015–2018. In February 2015, worries about English National Opera's plans caused the Arts Council to place it "under special funding arrangements," as reported by The Independent, which called this action "unprecedented" and said the Council threatened to stop giving them public money if their goals were not met by 2017. Public funding for opera in Europe has created a difference between the number of year-round opera houses in Europe and the United States. For example, Germany had about 80 opera houses that operate all year, but the U.S., which has more than three times as many people, has none. Even the Metropolitan Opera only performs for seven months each year.
Television, cinema and the Internet
An important event in opera broadcasting in the U.S. happened on December 24, 1951, when the opera Amahl and the Night Visitors, written by Gian Carlo Menotti, was broadcast live on television. This was the first opera in America created specifically for television. Another key event took place in Italy in 1992, when the opera Tosca was broadcast live from its original settings in Rome. The first act was shown from the 16th-century Church of Sant'Andrea della Valle at noon on Saturday. The second act was shown from the 16th-century Palazzo Farnese at 8:15 pm the same day. The third act was shown from Castel Sant'Angelo on Sunday at 6 am. The broadcast reached 105 countries through satellite transmission.
Major opera companies now show their performances in local cinemas across the United States and other countries. The Metropolitan Opera started sending live high-definition video to cinemas worldwide in 2006. In 2007, Met performances were shown in over 424 theaters in 350 U.S. cities. The opera La bohème was shown on 671 screens globally. San Francisco Opera began sending prerecorded videos to theaters in March 2008. By June 2008, about 125 theaters in 117 U.S. cities were showing these performances. The high-definition videos use the same projectors found in movie theaters. European opera companies, such as The Royal Opera in London, La Scala in Milan, the Salzburg Festival, La Fenice in Venice, and the Maggio Musicale in Florence, also began sending their performances to theaters worldwide starting in 2006. These broadcasts reached 90 cities in the U.S.
The Internet has changed how people watch opera. In 2009, the British Glyndebourne Festival Opera offered a downloadable video of its complete 2007 production of Tristan und Isolde for the first time. In 2013, the festival streamed all six of its productions online. In July 2012, the first online community opera, Free Will, was performed at the Savonlinna Opera Festival. Members of the Internet group Opera By You created the opera. The 400 members from 43 countries wrote the story, composed the music, and designed the sets and costumes using a web platform called Wreckamovie. The Savonlinna Opera Festival provided professional singers, an 80-member choir, a symphony orchestra, and stage equipment. The opera was performed live at the festival and also streamed online.