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An Introduction to Opera

Vocabulary and Voice Types

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James FloraNessun Dorma

Turandot

Have you ever heard an opera singer?

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What is opera?

• It’s a story told in music.• Performances are given in opera houses and

the singers are accompanied by an orchestra.• Operas have beautiful scenery and costumes.• Opera singers are trained to used their voices

and do not use microphones.• The story is told in several musical ways.

– Main characters sing by themselves. (aria)– Sometimes groups of 2, 3, 4 or more singers sing

together and at the same time. (ensembles)– Many times there is a chorus too.

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Operas are performed in opera houses.

La Scala Opera House, Milan, Italy

Metropolitan Opera House, New York City, New York

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Operas have scenery and costumes.

Hansel and Gretel

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Operas singers do not use microphones.

Hai-Ting Chinn (left, as Hansel), Leon Natker as The Witch and Kate Oberjat as Gretel in Lyric Opera's "Hansel and Gretel." (Photo by Ken Jacques)

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Aria: a musical piece for one singer.

• Aria is the Italian word for song. The letter aria in Eugene Onegin is 14 minutes long.

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Chorus: a group of singers

Children’s Festival Chorus of Pittsburgh performing Children’s Chorus in Turandot by Puccini

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Composer: a person who writes music; in opera the composer sets the words to music to tell the story

Giacomo Puccini , composer of Madame Butterfly

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Diva: female singer

Renee Fleming, in Verdi's La Traviata at the Metropolitan Opera

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Divo: male singer

Bryn Terfel as Sir John Falstaff; Falstaff

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Duet: a musical piece for two voices

Nannetta and Fenton (Resident Artists Shannon Kessler Dooley and James Flora) in Pittsburgh Opera's Falstaff.

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Ensemble: Group of musicians playing or singing together. When the chorus, or all the main

characters are singing, it is called an “ensemble” number.

• Ensemble: On the country estate of the widowed Madame Larina, the peasants return from the fields celebrating the harvest with song and dance from Vancouver Opera’s Eugene Onegin.

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Librettist: a person who writes the text of the opera

Libretto means “little book.”

Henri Meilhac Ludovic Halévy

Librettists for Carmen

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Libretto: The words to an opera, usually in book form

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Quartet: a musical piece for four voices

Alice Ford, Meg Page, Nannetta and Dame Quickly laugh as they plot their revenge on Falstaff for sending identical love letters to Alice and Meg in Pittsburgh Opera's Falstaff.

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Overture

Overture: music played by the orchestra before an opera begins

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Prompter: the person in a booth at the foot of the stage who gives singers cues

Prompter in Prompt Box at Opera: Prompter Phillip Eisenberg conducts from the prompt box during a staging rehearsal of Giacomo Puccini's Tosca at the San Francisco Opera House.

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Score:a printed sheet with the words and music of an opera

Georges Bizet, Carmen Act II Quintet; Nous avons en tête une affaire

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Tempo: the speed of a musical piece

The speed of music as indicated by such terms as allegro, presto, adagio, lento, and andante.

Tempo (Italian for time, plural: tempi) is an important element of composition, as it can affect the mood and difficulty of a piece.

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Trio: musical piece for three voices

Falstaff and his cronies in the opera's opening scene at the Sydney Opera House.Photo: Lisa Wiltse

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Each voice type is illustrated on this PBS site

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/shows/operatunity/multimedia/

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Soprano

Range of soprano voice

A soprano is a singing voice with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" (C6, two octaves above middle C) or higher in operatic music.

http://www.arts.gov/national/GAV/voicetypes.html Soprano "Jewel Song" from Gounods's Faust, featuring Mary Mills as Marguerite (coloratura soprano) and the Opera Company of Philadelphia Orchestra, conducted by Jacques Lacombe. Excerpt courtesy of Opera Company of Philadelphia.

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Mezzo-soprano

Range of mezzo-soprano voice

A mezzo-soprano is the "medium" classical female singing voice whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices.

• http://www.music.appstate.edu/faculty/greene/ Mezzo-soprano: "Why do they shut me out of heaven?" Number 3, Twelve Poems of Emily Dickenson by Aaron Copland

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Contralto

Range of contralto voice

In music, a contralto is a type of classical female singing voice with a vocal range somewhere between a tenor and a mezzo-soprano.

•  http://www.xenia-maria-mann.com/english/ Contralto ORFEO ED EURIDICE Orfeo from the recitativ of the aria „Che farò"

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Tenor

Range of tenor voice

The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice.

•  http://www.roberto-sacca.com/frameengl.html Tenor RIGOLETTO: Possente amor

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Baritone

Range of baritone voice

Baritone is a type of classical male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice.

• http://www.peterharvey.com/audio.html Baritone Henry Purcell"Wond'rous Machine!", from Hail Bright CeciliaCollegium Vocale Orchestra and Choir, dir. Philippe Herreweghe

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Bass

Range of bass voice

A bass is a type of classical male singing voice and possesses the lowest vocal range of all voice types.

• http://www.arts.gov/national/GAV/voicetypes.html Bass Me voici" from Gounod's Faust, featuring William Burden as Faust, Richard Bernstein as Méphistophélès, and the Opera Company of Philadelphia Orchestra, conducted by Jacques Lacombe. Excerpt courtesy of Opera Company of Philadelphia

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Common vocal ranges represented on a keyboard

                                 

Soprano

                                 

Mezzo-soprano

                                 

Contralto

                                 

Tenor

                                 

Baritone

                                 

Bass

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Madame Butterfly

• Puccini wrote 5 versions of this famous opera. • It first premiered in 1904.• It takes place in Nagasaki, Japan.• A United States Naval officer Pinkerton falls in

love with a Japanese woman, Cio-Cio San, nicknamed Butterfly.

• Butterfly falls in love with the officer, Pinkerton.• He leaves to go back to the United States• Madame Butterfly loves him for the rest of her

life.

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Madame Butterfly

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Works Cited• http://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/shows/operatunity/multimedia• http://www.arts.gov/national/GAV/voicetypes.html Soprano "Jewel Song" from Gounods's Faust, featuring

Mary Mills as Marguerite (coloratura soprano) and the Opera Company of Philadelphia Orchestra, conducted by Jacques Lacombe. Excerpt courtesy of Opera Company of Philadelphia.

•  http://www.music.appstate.edu/faculty/greene/ Mezzo-soprano: "Why do they shut me out of heaven?" Number 3, Twelve Poems of Emily Dickenson by Aaron Copland

•  http://www.xenia-maria-mann.com/english/ Contralto ORFEO ED EURIDICE Orfeo from the recitativ of the aria „Che farò"

•  http://www.roberto-sacca.com/frameengl.html Tenor RIGOLETTO: Possente amor•  http://www.arts.gov/national/GAV/voicetypes.html Bass Me voici" from Gounod's Faust, featuring William Burden

as Faust, Richard Bernstein as Méphistophélès, and the Opera Company of Philadelphia Orchestra, conducted by Jacques Lacombe. Excerpt courtesy of Opera Company of Philadelphia

• http://www.peterharvey.com/audio.html Baritone Henry Purcell"Wond'rous Machine!", from Hail Bright CeciliaCollegium Vocale Orchestra and Choir, dir. Philippe Herreweghe

• www.ptttsburgh.org• Voice types http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bass_(voice_pe)• Bravo! Brava! A Night at the Opera: Behind the Scenes with Composers, Cast, and Crew by Anne Siberell and

Frederica von Stade, 2002, University Press • http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://blogs.princeton.edu/wri152-3/f05/eharwood/

ludovic2.jpg&imgrefurl=http://blogs.princeton.edu/wri152-3/f05/eharwood/degas_turns_his_back.html&usg=__nfkZx6Kl6o8L8Rv4uq2EsOWhbsU=&h=271&w=208&sz=15&hl=en&start=1&tbnid=b4P2KGe9UtCtxM:&tbnh=113&tbnw=87&prev=/images%3Fq%3DLudovic%2BHal%25C3%25A9vy%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Dactive%26sa%3DG

• http://www.columbia.edu/itc/music/NYCO/carmen/librettists.html• conservapedia.com/images/9/91/Tchaikovsky1.jpg

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Works Cited• mustard.tapor.uvic.ca/.../xq/xhtml.xq?id=126• www.musicweb-international.com/classRev/2006/... • www.andreasschollsociety.org/opera.htm • www.gatheringnote.org/?tag=seattle-opera• pro.corbis.com/Enlargement/Enlargement.aspx?i... • http://www.sarasotaopera.org/blog/uploaded_images/IMG_5905-713910.jpg• www.neac.eat-online.net/.../procida_3/napoli.htm• davidrwhitney.com/wtoc-scenery.php• www.bbc.co.uk/.../director_glossary.shtml• www.gastage.com/ • https:/.../VPAC80/Projects/Marigo/music6.html • http://www.canteach.ca/elementary/music7.html• ionarts.blogspot.com/2008/08/ionarts-in-santa... • 2008blog.glimmerglass.org/2008/07/reclaiming-... • www.life.com/image/50714310 • http://www.dlib.indiana.edu/variations/scores/aaz2552/index.html • http://physicsofthearts3.pbworks.com/f/1174868519/scrim.jpg • www.lyricopera.org

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Works Cited• http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://media.10best.com/Images/Photos/7258/7258400_6_400x400.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.10best.com/

Pittsburgh,PA/Attractions_%26_Activities/Search_All_Attractions_%26_Activities/11741/Benedum_Center_for_the_Performing_Arts_Pittsburgh_PA/%3Ftab%3Dphotos&usg=__RyVTg1XZF7ln-KRRpjt95VxdQQ8=&h=400&w=400&sz=36&hl=en&start=5&tbnid=O90Hgu1lUy6DFM:&tbnh=124&tbnw=124&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dbenedum%2Bcenter%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Dactive

• http://www.pittsburghopera.org/shows/view/11• www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2006/01/16/falstaff_ • www.geraldfinley.info/Articles/Perform/Eugene...

• www.geraldfinley.info/Articles/Perform/Eugene...

• www.nedgallagher.com/.../archives/2007_11.html

• www.musicweb-international.com/SandH/2008/Jan...

• http://www.pittsburghopera.org/

• http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.sdoperascenicstudios.com/images/pfr/aida3.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.sdoperascenicstudios.com/prodforrent.html&usg=__MAd23yHOgkk4D3IFUWoArxCOJ4k=&h=338&w=450&sz=43&hl=en&start=15&tbnid=thigWeqS8NcNBM:&tbnh=95&tbnw=127&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dopera%2Bproductions%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Dactive

• 2008blog.glimmerglass.org/2008/07/reclaiming-...

• Hansel: http://static.sdnn.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/hansel.jpg

• Madame Butterfly: http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/12463/

• Madame Butterfly: http://news.chinaassistor.com/2008/0508/Madame_Butterfly_Held_its_Final_Rehearsal_at_Natio_8673.html, http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.manchestereventsguide.co.uk/img/full/pop/Madama%2520Butterfly.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.manchestereventsguide.co.uk/feature/Puccinis_Madama_Butterfly_at_the_Opera_House_7th_%26_8th_March/186.html&usg=__NPtSnyFJ0Qb9UTWp6KbUuUxVSYU=&h=464&w=300&sz=86&hl=en&start=26&zoom=1&tbnid=rUicQir7fjdkxM:&tbnh=128&tbnw=83&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dmadame%2Bbutterfly%2Bopera%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Dactive%26biw%3D1020%26bih%3D567%26gbv%3D2%26tbs%3Disch:1&itbs=1&iact=rc&dur=370&ei=GRwiTeSNFYH7lwfD2YiTDA&oei=qBsiTZfKJML88AbtzajIDQ&esq=4&page=3&ndsp=19&ved=1t:429,r:6,s:26&tx=53&ty=40