Deeply ingrained in Western musical tradition, opera is the combination of singers and musicians who together perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score. With roots reaching back to sixteenth century Italy and Jacopo Peri’s lost Dafne, the art form gained popularity through the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries throughout Europe. Opera reached it’s “golden age” in the 19th century with Italian bel canto, a style of smooth, legato singing literally translating to “beautiful song.” Much of opera’s popularity is due to the popular culture it influenced through the many centuries of performance, and the patriotic, nationalistic identity many composers provided to burgeoning European nations, like Purcell, Handel, Verdi, and Wagner, by retelling classic stories in a grand and mighty way.

Run time of European opera varies in length from Puccini’s Gianni Schicci at one hour, to Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg at 4 hours and 35 minuets. The form is typically the same through most European opera, with the show split into acts to reflect the traditional theatre. The opera beings with the overture, an orchestral introduction to the show and a signal for audience members to take their seats. The most famous overtures in today’s popular culture are Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro overture and Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries.

The two main types of singing in opera are: recitative, a speech influenced string of notes and libretto, operatic text, typically used as dialog to further plot development; and arias, sung by one character in a melodic style that allows the character to reflect on or express their thoughts, much like a Shakespearean monologue. Arias and recitatives are often, if not always, accompanied by a series of ensemble pieces to encourage and propel the plot forward. Duets, trios, quartets, quintettes, sextets, septets, and even octets are used on a variety of levels to tell each character’s point of view and often portray how each character is working on their goal, with or against the other characters. The most common, however, are love duets that allow the two characters to passionately express their love through song, as the famous Pavoratti does in Puccini’s La Boheme. 

The end cap of an act or of the opera is called the finale, and typically incorporates the entire cast in one final musical number. In opera buffa (comedic opera) the love triangle is mended and a wedding ensues. However, in opera seria (“serious” opera) the main character typically dies in a dramatic way to tug at the heartstrings or in penance for their sins. In the 1984 movie Amadeus, the jealous (but also, very importantly, exaggerated) Salieri reminisces on the heartfelt Marriage of Figaro finale at the premier, and perfectly describes the Act IV finale.