testsuite/data/Opera.txt

   1 '''Opera''' (or '''Melodramma''') is an [[art]] form that consists of a stage performance of a [[drama]] (whose text is called the "[[libretto]]").
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   3 The drama is presented utilizing [[scenery]], [[costume]]s, [[acting]].  Much of the [[dialogue]] is presented through [[singing]]:  [[Recitative]] is singing in much the form of speaking, [[aria]] is an extended solo passage. Arioso is a smaller, more limited in subject matter aria.
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   5 In opera, [[Voice]]s represent perhaps the most important (or the more famous) [[musical instrument|instruments]], and [[singers]] (and roles) are classified depending on their respective pitches.
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   7 Opera draws from many other art forms. Its backbone is certainly [[music]], it is performed with dialoges, so it is a [[drama]] with music, on a stage, so [[decorative art]]s are important, as is [[dance]], which sometimes appears in it. [[Giuseppe Verdi]] used to call it: the art of ''recitar cantando''.
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   9 ----
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  11 ==== History ====
  12 Opera began in [[Italy]] in the [[Renaissance]], as an attempt to revive Classical Greek drama. Opera means simply "work" in [[Italian]]. The first opera was written around [[1597]] in Northern Italy, sources differ on the exact date and place.
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  14 For centuries, Italian opera was the standard form, and many operas written by English- or German-speaking composers, [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]], for example, are in [[Italian]]. A separate French tradition, sung in [[French]], was founded by [[Jean-Baptiste Lully]], and well into the middle of the nineteenth century, operas performed in [[France]] were usually written or translated into French. [[Spain]] produced its own distinctive form: [[zarzuela]].
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  16 The form of the opera consists of several sung pieces, ([[aria]]s), separated by recitation over accompaniment. Recitation in opera is a form of singing intermediate between ordinary [[melody|melodic]] singing and formal spoken [[recitation]].
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  18 Early operas consisted of recitative accompanied only by [[basso continuo]] and arias accompanied by full [[orchestra]]. Later operas involved the full orchestra throughout the opera to provide a smoother transition between parts.
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  20 This change reached a climax when [[Richard Wagner]] introduced the idea of the ''Gesamtkunstwerk'' or the ''Total Work of Art'', where the action is continued, with no stops or repetitions, and the music is a continuous flux, not a few pieces separated
  21 by recitatives. Wagner also introduced [[leitmotif]], where each character or idea in the story is represented by a musical line that appears whenever they appear or are mentioned.
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  23 The themes of the opera at the beginning were mythological or historical, usually tragic and moral.  Later, composers introduced more everyday themes.
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  25 ==== Famous Opera Composers ====
  26 See [[List of opera composers]]
  27 ==== Famous Operas ====
  28 See [[List of famous operas]]
  29
  30 ==== Famous Theatres ====
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  32 *[[La Scala, theatre|La Scala, Milan]]
  33 *[[La Fenice, Venice]]
  34 *[[San Carlo, Naples]]
  35 *[[Teatro Regio, Parma]]
  36 *[[Arena, Verona]]
  37 *[[Sydney Opera House]]
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  40 See also [[operetta]], [[musical]], [[singspiel]], [[zarzuela]].
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  43 ''Opera'' is also the name of a popular alternative [[web browser]]; see '''[[Opera browser]]'''
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