Opera

The term Opera (or in some countries referred to as "The Opera") is traditionally seen as part of the Western classical music tradition. It therefore laregely falls outside the ambit of this encyclopaedia.

However, some works and productions actually qualify as theatrical forms and are taken up here (see below).

For the use of the term to refer to a performance venue (e.g. The Opera or Opera House), see the entry on Opera House.

Opera as performance form

Opera originated in Italy at the end of the 16th century (with Jacopo Peri's mostly lost Dafne, produced in Florence in 1598) and soon spread through the rest of Europe. It was initially viewed as an entirely sung piece, in contrast to a play with songs, but opera gradually began to include numerous genres, including some that include spoken dialogue - such as musical theatre, Singspiel and Opéra comique.

The classic operas , like ballet, often took its material from well-known literary and dramatic sources, e.g. the works of Shakespeare, Racine and Moliere other dramatists.

A feature of the late 20th and 21st centuries saw many experiments with the form, including modern styles of music, and in some cases the theatricalization of opera, drawing it closer to popular musicals (e.g. the so-called Jazz opera and Rock Opera and the works of Lloyd-Webber) and radicalization of opera for protest and political comment (Brecht, for example).

For more on Opera as form, see for example Wikipedia[1]

Opera and South Africa

Besides its history as a musical form in South Africa, opera has also been intertwined with live theatre since the early years. Many of the theatrical companies visiting South Africa for example tended to have repertoires that included both dramatic and operatic work - especially in the 19th century. Similarly, many performers worked in a range of forms, including opera, musicals, cabaret, and so on, and therefore these performances will be reflected here.

Later in the 20th century, as the theatre became radicalized, the work of theatre director/creators such as [[]], William Kentridge, Brett Bailey and so on became influential with a number of "African" styles of operatic performance emerging. In this encyclopaedia their work is considered as theatrical events, and therefore represented in the encyclopaedia.

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