Opera is a complex and multifaceted stage performance with an original plot, the action of which always takes place with music. The massive genre of opera is made up of many components.
Types and forms
It is not for nothing that opera, translated from Italian, is labor, work, business. This is a joint work of not only a composer, but also a choreographer, director, musicians, singers, dancers. In this musical genre, vocal and instrumental music, poetry and dramatic art, choreography, facial expressions, sets and costumes merge together.
The grand opera is considered a classic version. In addition, there are comic operas, operas-ballets, romantic operas and operettas. Comic ones are based on a comedy plot. The romantics are laid on the romantic plot. In the opera-ballet, vocal numbers are interspersed with choreographic ones. Operetta combines vocals, choreography and conversational genre.
Plot
The plot of an opera can be based on a historical or mythological fact, a fairy tale, romantic or dramatic story. To understand what the opera is about, a libretto is created. It is usually written in verse, based on some literary work.
Structure
The opera begins with an overture - a musical introduction, which is performed by a symphony orchestra and tunes the viewer to the perception of the operatic performance. The opera ends with an epilogue, which can be presented as a summary, as morality, or as a story about the further fate of the heroes and the further development of the plot presented.
The largest parts into which the opera is divided are called acts. Each act is preceded by a prologue, which introduces the viewer to the characters or informs about the events preceding the beginning of the action. The act is a completed part of the work, separated from the rest of the parts by a break (both long - intermission, and short conditional - lowering and raising the curtain). In between acts, the scenery is usually changed.
Acts, in turn, are subdivided into paintings, scenes and numbers. A painting is a finished part of an act, limited to a fixed place of action. It is presented without changing the scenery.
Scenes are semantic plot segments represented by the same actors.
Numbers are individual performances, complete in form, representing vocal or choreographic parts performed by singers or dancers.
The opera is also composed of recitatives - musical recitation, serving as a link between numbers; songs; arias and arioso - solo numbers; ensembles, duets, trios, quartets, choral parts.
