Not me, you say? Rethink. If you’ve ever seen Sound of Music, Sweeny Todd, Oklahoma, or Beauty and the Beast, you’ve seen opera. Opera is simply a drama where some, or all, of the words are sung.

Could it be that simple? If so, why do people think opera is inaccessible, or—let’s be honest—boring and unattractive?  That’s a huge question, and it needs to be answered in several stages. First, let’s consider the name itself, which causes part of the confusion. 

The term opera came into usage around 1600. It derives from the Latin word opus which means a “work,” in particular a creative work, such as a novel. Sometimes we hear a big accomplishment called a magnum opus (great work). Opus becomes opera in Italian. For a good half-century, operas appeared under a variety of names, including azione per musica (action with music) and favola per musica (fable with music). Eventually, the term opera stuck.

Opera is one of the few artistic forms whose exact origin is known. In a nutshell, it started c. 1580 when a group of educated Italian fellows in Florence decided to “recreate” Greek drama.  These men (known as the Florentine Camerata) took elements of Greek drama and fashioned them into the newest style of singing called recitative.   Recitative means that statements are delivered in a lilting musical speech. Once a person accepts the idea that characters recite the dialogue in musical tones, then opera starts making sense.

Serious operas were the rage for a good century and a half.  They told stories of tragic Greek myths and messy Roman history. Accordingly, they were called opera seria and they played a big role in European court entertainment. In opera seria, information was conveyed in free-flowing recitative. But the emotional content was poured out in song-like episodes called arias.

Arias became the heart and soul of opera. Plus, more voices could be added.  Two, three, four, or more characters might sing a song together (ensemble), yet each could express a contrasting emotion. That works fine in opera, but would be chaos in a spoken play.

 As time went on, audiences demanded more intensity of action, and more opulence  of sound. Especially from the 19th century on, composers gave a big role to large groups of characters known as the chorus, whose glorious resonance generates much of opera’s punch.

Let’s jump to our favorite form of opera in America today, the musical.  In this type of opera, characters mostly talk, talk, talk. But, at emotional moments, they sing.  This particular format (talk, talk, talk . . . sing) has the name Singspiel in German (Mozart’s “Magic Flute” was one). In France, it was called opéra comique. And the Brits initially used the name ballad opera.

In any kind of opera, the key to enjoyment is understanding the language, or at least the plot. Nothing is more frustrating than hearing something without understanding.  That’s why technology allowing opera houses to run supertitles has been such a hit. 

But, wait! If opera has so much appeal, how come so many people have limited, often negative ideas about it? Let’s tackle that in the next post.  Meanwhile, take stock of your own connection to opera, both your overall sense of it and specific experience with individual performances. That will give us a framework to compare notes when we take up the topic again.

Carol Reynolds, aka Professor Carol, a retired music history professor from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, has launched Silver Age Music. Her latest product is a multimedia course: “Discovering Music: 300 Years of Interaction in Western Music, Art, History, & Culture.” Prof. Carol now lives on a ranch, raises goats, and writes and lectures on classical music (to humans).