Sara Stewart, age 11, of Hennessey, Okla., for her question:
WHERE DID OPERA ORIGINATE?
Opera uses music to express emotions. Many consider the musical drama to be the most complex of all our art forms. It not only brings together acting, singing and the ballet, or some other type of dancing, and it also uses fine orchestral music, costumes and often spectacularly complicated scenery and stage settings.
Operettas and musical comedies are a bit like operas, except they have much more spoken dialogue and their music is lighter. The opera usually tells a highly emotional story and often features such passions as anger, cruelty, jealousy, joy love, sadness or triumph.
The world's first opera was written and staged in Florence, Italy, in the 1590s. A number of poets, musicians and noblemen at that time became interested in Greek culture. Called the Camerata, the group decided that Greek drama had been meant to be sung rather than spoken. The Camerata then took stories from ancient Greek and Roman history and mythology and told them with music.
The Camerata called their compositions " drama per musical' or "opera in musica. "The terms mean drama for music or musical work. A member of the group, Jacopo Peri, composed what is believed to be the world's first opera. Called " Dafne, " it was written in 1597.
Opera became a true art form across Western Europe during the Baroque period, which stretched from about 1600 to 1750.
An Italian composer named Claudio Monteverdi composed the first great Baroque opera in 1607. It was called " Orfeo " and is considered to be a masterpiece.
The world's first opera house was built in Venice, Italy, in 1637. And by the late 1600s, operas were being composed and performed in England, France and Germany as well as Italy. The Italian style, however, was considered to be the best and many non Italian composers wrote their operas in the Italian manner and used the Italian language.
During the late Baroque period, operas were classified as either serious or comic.
By the late 1600s, a distinct French style of opera developed. Expressive melodies and simple songs were included. Ballet became an important part of many productions. French royalty became the chief patrons of opera and scenic effects in many of the shows became spectacular.
Today famous opera companies include La Scala in Milan, Italy, the Paris Opera, the Royal Opera at Covent Gardens in London and the State Opera in Vienna. In the United States, the Metropolitan Opera in New York ranks with the world's best. Other outstanding opera companies in the United States include those in Boston, Chicago, San Francisco and Santa Fe, N.M.
Opening night at the opera is considered to be one of the most glamorous social events of the entire year in many of the world's musical cities.