#National styles of opera developed in serial#

#National styles of opera developed in serial#

Repertoire from after the Second World War reveals such a stylistically diverse – if not fragmented – landscape of operas based on jazz and tango, romanticism and minimalism, electroacoustic sounds and serial concepts, that only the bravest of theatres dare to understand them and bring them back to the stage.Īnd the 21st century? Every year, scores of new operas are composed and commissioned, with some companies and festivals trying to premiere at least one new title each season. Janáček’s, Britten’s and Strauss' beautiful operas such as The Cunning Little Vixen and Billy Budd are regularly staged, but far fewer audiences get the chance to experience the joy of works like Schoenberg’s Moses und Aron or Berg’s Lulu. And even experienced opera-goers have to brace themselves for the full five acts of a French grand opéra like Halévy’s La Juive, while Verdi’s La traviata, written less than twenty years later, is still ringing in everyone’s ears. Salieri’s plots seem laboured and his supposed virtuosity less convincing, while we can hardly get enough of Mozart with his ingenious musical settings of perfectly crafted librettos such as The Marriage of Figaro and Don Giovanni. Peri sparks little curiosity today while Monteverdi continues to fascinate audiences and theatre professionals alike. And while we still appreciate and enjoy many works of the past, others can sound incomprehensible and outdated. Audiences were instead turning to Monteverdi, whose operas such as L’Orfeo, according to a poet who attended the premiere, 'depicted the inclinations of the heart so skilfully that it could not have been done better.'įor over four centuries, opera has continually reinvented itself by experimenting with new ideas and adapting to evolving tastes. Within a couple of decades, the long recitatives and fixed aria forms he had invented were already out of fashion.

Jacopo Peri composed Dafne, the earliest known opera, in 1597.