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• Techniques
• High Romantic
• Opera

In Italian they called it verismo, in French naturalisme. Bizet’s Carmen was the starting point of a movement that increasingly probed the problems of modern life by representing a series of realistic events. Carmen was an opéra comique where ‘realistic’ spoken dialogue was essential, communicating more like a play than an opera, and raising more contemporary questions than ...

• Techniques
• Opera
• Turn of the Century

incorporate into his work. The result is that we hear the words of the subjects themselves, not polished verse given to them by the author. The associated traits of verismo – stark emotions, brutal violence and strong regional colour – are also part of the desire to give a true reflection of real life. As a result of these ...

• Major Operas
• Modern Era
• Opera

with the festivities accelerating into a wild dance while the national folk music is prevalent. Personalities | Leoš Janáček | Modern Era | Opera Techniques | Realism, Naturalisme & Verismo | High Romantic | Opera ...

• Major Operas
• Opera
• Turn of the Century

characters from the lower social strata and in its attempts to portray the drama in as realistic a manner as possible, the opera belongs in part to the so-called verismo tradition that began with Mascagni’s Cavalleria rusticana. Puccini’s use of artisans enables him to bridge the gap smoothly between the stark hardship of the characters’ lives and the heightened emotions ...

• Major Operas
• High Romantic
• Opera

reacted by substituting a seventeenth-century setting to place La traviata at an acceptable distance. However, in retaining a courtesan as heroine despite the moralists, Verdi was anticipating the verismo of later nineteenth-century opera. In addition, Verdi experimented by changing the vocal music as the tragedy developed: the fun-loving Violetta of Act I, for instance, acquired a ...

• Personalities
• Modern Era
• Opera

made her operatic stage debut as Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro at the Marinsky Theatre, conducted by Valery Gergiev. Netrebko’s repertoire includes a number of bel canto and verismo operas, and she thrives in roles that require great vocal and dramatic commitment; her fearless and flamboyant Violetta (La traviata) being a fine example. Introduction | Modern Era | ...

• Personalities
• Classical
• Composer
• Late Romantic

Rosa (1874) and Maria Tudor (1879), Gomes repeated his success with Lo Schiavo (‘The Slave’, 1889), again on a Brazilian subject. His last opera, Condor, evinced the new verismo style; his oratorio Colombo (1892) was performed on the Columbus Anniversary in Rio. Recommended Recording: Il Guarany, soloists, Beethovenhalle Orchestra & Chorus, Bonn (cond) John Nesching (Sony) ...

• Personalities
• Opera
• Turn of the Century

made before Bruneau turned his attentions elsewhere. Introduction | Turn of the Century | Opera Personalities | John Adams | Modern Era | Opera Techniques | Realism, Naturalisme & Verismo | High Romantic | Opera ...

• Personalities
• Classical
• Composer
• Instrumentalist
• Late Romantic

D’Albert was increasingly drawn to operatic composition. His 22 operas range from comic (Der Rubin) to occult (Der Golem) and introduced into German opera the gutsy realism of the Italian verismo style of Mascagni and Leoncavallo. His best-known opera, Tiefland (‘Lowland’), combines Wagnerian intensity and Puccinian melody in its tale of jealousy, passion and violence. Recommended Recording: Tiefland, ...

• Personalities
• Classical
• Composer
• Modern Era

(Fran-chas’-ko Che-la’-a) 1866–1950 Italian composer Although Francesco Cilea is usually classified as one of the verismo (‘realist’) school of music, of his two well-known operas only L’Arlesiana (‘The Woman of Arles’, 1897), based on Alphonse Daudet’s story of obsessive love set in a peasant community in southern France, really answers to that description. His other opera, more famous ...

• Personalities
• Modern Era
• Opera

moved to America and studied at the Curtis Institute, where he met his lifelong companion and inspiration, Samuel Barber. Menotti’s music is derived from the Puccini school of verismo, and his theatricality often verges on the melodramatic. His one-act Amelia Goes to the Ball (1937) was performed at the Metropolitan Opera, and other early successes included a ...

• Personalities
• Opera
• Turn of the Century

, Italian Librettist Forzano found his métier in writing and was a follower of Arrigo Boito. Forzano also worked with several other leading Italian composers, particularly those representative of verismo such as Mascagni and Leoncavallo. Forzano also worked as a stage director, producing Puccini’s Turandot in 1926. Introduction | Turn of the Century | Opera Personalities | Mary Garden ...

• Personalities
• Modern Era
• Opera

1885–1969, Italian Born in a small Italian village, Martinelli scaled the heights of operatic fame, becoming Caruso’s successor in verismo repertoire at the Met. After making his operatic debut in the title role of Verdi’s Ernani, he achieved his breakthrough when engaged by Puccini to sing Dick Johnson in the 1911 European premiere of La fanciulla del ...

• Personalities
• Opera
• Turn of the Century

the regeneration of Italian literature. Introduction | Turn of the Century | Opera Personalities | Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari | Turn of the Century | Opera Techniques | Realism, Naturalisme & Verismo | High Romantic | Opera ...

• Personalities
• Classical
• Composer
• Late Romantic

Thaïs (1894) displays a post-Wagnerian exoticism, described by D’Indy as ‘semi-religious eroticism’, illustrated in the seductive lyricism of its famous ‘Méditation’, often played as a violin encore. The gutsy verismo style of Bizet’s Carmen infuses La Navarraise (1894, aptly set in Spain) and Sapho (1897) with expressive power, while the medievalism of his later operas (Esclarmonde, 1888 ...