My Opera Space

and welcome to My Opera Space . This blog does not aspire to be an original work; on the contrary, many of the texts are heavily based on Wi...

Bibliography: Jones, M. 1990. The Psychiatry of Opera. In Psychiatric Bulletin.

Florence, the Tuscan capital, was the crucible of what later became known as the Italian Renaissance. This cultural movement, apart from its...

Aria : vocal or instrumental melody, sung with or without accompaniment, it represents the moment when the action stops and allows the chara...

Voice type is a particular kind of singing voice which has identifable qualities or characteristics. Voice classification is where human v...

Soprano is the highest singing voice. Typically, it refers to female singers but, at times, the term male soprano has been used; see, for ...

Although sometimes defined as a musical part rather than as a vocal style, the term countertenor is often used to refer to the highest male...

Curiously, the history of the modern orchestra dates back to Ancient Egypt. The first orchestras were made up of small groups of musicians t...

When we study another language, it is enriching to consider this language in its cultural context. Similarly, when we concern ourselves with...

Revolutionaries actively participate or advocate change in politics, science, invention or art. Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi was reg...

In the late eighteenth century, European society entered into two fundamental transformations: the Industrial Revolution and the Democratic...

Italian opera continued to dominate most of Europe in the C18th, with the possible exception of France. It was the most popular form of ente...

During the 19th century, the Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, and Ottoman empires began to crumble, the Holy Roman Empire was dissolved, and t...

The nineteenth century saw a rise in Nationalism and, as one of its consequences, different operatic styles developed in different countries...

The Bel Canto style of opera, which had begun in the C18th, lasted well into the mid C19th. This term means, most literally, "beautifu...

At the beginning of the ninetheenth century in France, a taste for the Italian Bel Canto was very much in the air, especially after the arr...

The first third of the nineteenth century saw the highpoint of the Bel Canto style, but the mid to late period of this century is considere...

The C19th was also the golden age for opera in Russia. Perhaps as a reaction to the strong foreign influences of Italian, French and German ...

For a musical tour of the twentieth century from an Anglo-American viewpoint, click here .

Just as in art, the twentieth century saw many experiments with different styles. Perhaps it was Arnold Schoenberg's innovations in wha...

The horizons of opera have been given a new dimension through technology. First came the invention of the gramaphone, which, as Orrey and Mi...

Although not directly related to opera, this article from The Guardian may provide some consolation for those of you feeling the pinch in t...