Opera

a form of drama in which music is an essential factor. The dialogue is usually sung in opera, the music being varied and elaborate. The modern opera was developed in Italy near the close of the sixteenth century. Its origin is not widely separated from that of ordinary drama. The musical recitations of the rhapsodes among the ancient Greeks doubtless marks its historical beginning. In the Miracle Plays of the Middle Ages music was usually an accompaniment of the dialogue. In its modern form, the opera offers opportunity for every variety of musical effect. It has reached greatest perfection in Germany. Among celebrated writers of opera are Mozart, Handel, Gluck, Meyerbeer, Rubinstein, and Paderewski, but, above all, the German Wagner. Grand opera is a name given to lyric opera performed in an elaborate manner. French musicians, however, have established an arbitrary class of operas to which they give the name of grand opera. The finest opera house in the world is the Grand Opera of Paris. Thirty-three varieties of stone are employed in interior decoration. See Drama; Comedy; Tragedy; Orchestra