Opera composers

Giacomo Puccini was an Italian composer born in 1858 and is known to have put a considerable amount of thought into creating the mood and literary components of his librettos (Kamien, Roger Music An Appreciation p.280). Richard Wagner was a German composer born in 1813 to a theatrical family (Kamien, Roger Music An Appreciation p. 289). Both of these composers are famous for their operas and are from the Romanic Period. Their compositions, La Boheme and Die Walkure, share the characteristics of…

Known as the “father of Italian opera,” Claudio Monteverdi found a way to bridge the gap between the renaissance and the baroque era. As a composer of the renaissance period, Monteverdi was most popular for his colorful madrigals and motets. Marc Antonio Ingegneri was his teacher growing up in Cremona, Italy. Monteverdi started working for the court of Duke Vincenzo Gonzaga of Mantua in 1591 as a composer and an instrumentalist. He was obligated by his profession to write sacred music but also…

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, born January 27, 1756 in Salzburg, Austria is one of the most well known and prolific composers of the classical era. As a child prodigy Mozart learned to play the piano at the age of three by watching his father teach his is older sister. By the age of six Mozart was composing his own music and with his sister, Nannerl, traveling Europe to preform concerts. During these travels young Wolfgang met Johann Christian Bach (youngest son of…

Ginastera was a Latin American composer from Buenos Aires, Argentina. He was born on April 11, 1916 in Buenos Aires and died June 25, 1983 at the age of 67 in Geneva Switzerland. He was half Catalan and half Italian. Ginastera started his composing career when he was only 18 years old and won first place in a contest for the piano. He studied music at the Conservatorio Williams and the National Conservatory, both in Buenos Aires. Ginastera later co-founded the League of Composers in Buenos…

Puccini was an Italian composer who was widely regarded as one of the most significant exponents of the genre of operatic realism and one of the creators of some of the best-loved operas. Richard Wagner was a German-born composer known not only for his dramatic compositions, but it is said that his artistic philosophy extended and had an enormous influence on not only his contemporaries but to other genres such as painter, playwrights, and poets. It is said that few composers had such a profound…

period, which also lead to the demand from listeners of less “old-fashioned” music. Musicians and composers began to realize the importance of having music as a source of enjoyment and entertainment. There was an important shift of music from the Baroque and Renaissance, which was the rise of a new style in music called opera. Opera reflected trends in the European art that were relevant. Although Opera before this period were mainly based on mythological themes and with promoted aristocratic…

From 1770 to 1820, the Classical Period had given us great musicians that we can learn from. One of these great musicians from this time is Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. He created a variety of piano concertos, symphonies, and operas, during his life. His time in Vienna has impacted many cultural changes there and changed the way music was look at. His music was truly one of a kind, for his time. Before moving to Vienna in 1781, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg, Austria in 1756. He was…

Italian opera and French opera both contrast in many ways but are both as unique as each other and the way in which their music is expressed is very powerful. The first Italian opera house, ‘Teatro San Cassiano’ opened in Venice in 1637. This was an important development of the Italian opera. For the first few years of Italian opera, it was only for the viewing of the upper-class, it was courtly entertainment for invited guests only. As it developed, it became available to the general audience.…

also open the doors to the brilliant composer, Mozart. Now the curtains are pulled back and the spotlights are shining, now sit back, relax and watch as the story of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart unfolds. Behind the makeup, a costume, and arias, there, unfolds not only a love story but a story of this young, talented, and brilliant…

The concert attended was An Evening of Opera Arias and Scenes, at Nightingale Concert Hall, on October 10, 2016. The environment of the concert was informal for most of the audience dress wise, but the performers were fairly formal with their attire. The stage was very simplistic. It was just a plain white background with large white squares and a dark grand piano. The performers were Jamie Flora, Olga Perez Flora, Chris Langton, Albert R. Lee, Helen Lee, and Suzette Thoeni as the…