development of opera during the baroque era

Operatic development happened profoundly in Florentine culture under the Medici family, due to a rich heritage that comprised of three things – a powerful stage music tradition, civic humanism, and the city’s association of music with the universe. It is a collaborative effort on the part of the whole team, from the director to the actors to the musicians to bring an opera alive on stage. While architects design the props and set, the director oversees how costumers, designers, or artists work on the stage. This is followed by a composer who adds the defining element to the opera - the music - in a way that perfectly blends with the story-setting and the acting. Then comes the writer of the libretto, who converts the prose into a play, keeping to the musical settings of an opera. But most of all, it is the writer of the story, who may have penned down his work hundreds of years ago. It takes a great deal of preparation to get an opera on stage, such as the people, venue, acting, and pitch-perfect voice. The music may accompany the entire drama or be broken up into segments. The opera is a musical performance typically known to consist of vocal and instrumental performances with orchestral interludes and overtures.

The concept developed during Renaissance Italy, in Florence, when a number of artists, musicians, and writers, along with eminent personalities of the time, famously the Florentine Camerata, started depicting Greek drama on-stage with music. It is an English word derived from the phrase in Italian, “opera in musica”, and involves both solo and ensemble singers, and sometimes, even dancers. Opera is a medium which is utilized to tell a story, often epic or heart-rending, through music, dance and drama. Opera: Musically Rendered Storytelling for The Ages

Development of opera during the baroque era