Nineteenth-Century Opera

1800-1904

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Learning Modules

Introduction

The 19th century saw the biggest growth in the production and creation of new operas, as well as the expansion of the operatic identity away from Italy and France, and into Russia and other territories. As with the great shifts of the operatic canon thus far, the changes in the 19th century grew initially as a reaction to the streamlining work completed by Mozart and Gluck in the Classical Era. This guide will look at the move away from classical opera and the national identities emerging across Europe.

Terminology

Baroque: Relating to or denoting a style of European music, art, and architecture of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
Bel Canto: Translates as “beautiful singing��; a popular singing style in Italian opera from the mid-eighteenth to early nineteenth centuries.
Verismo: A genre of opera based in reality, as composed principally by Puccini, Mascagni, and Leoncavallo.
Zarazuela: A Spanish traditional form of musical comedy.

Key Dates & Events

1791 - Giacomo Meyerbeer is born
1803 - Hector Berlioz is born
1813 - Giuseppi Verdi and Richard Wagner are both born
1816 - 1840 - The Bel Canto Movement is at its height
1816 - Meyerbeer moves to Italy
1820 - Weber’s Der Freischütz is first performed
1824 - Bedrich Smetana born
1831 - Meyerbeer has his first operatic success with Robert le Diable
1836 - Glinka’s A life for the Tsar / Zhizn za tsarya premieres, the first opera to feature a Russian national identity
1838 - Georges Bizet born
1839 - Verdi’s first opera Oberto premiered
1840 - Piotr Tchaikovsky born
1842 - Jules Massenet born
1842 - Wagner’s Rienzi proves to be his first operatic success
1856 - Premiere of Dargomizhsky’s Rusalka
1856 - Formation of ‘The Mighty Handful�� in Russia
1858 - Giacomo Puccini born
1862 - Berlioz’s Beatrice et Benedict premieres; his first favorably received opera
1866 - Smetana has his first operatic success with The Brandenburgers in Bohemia
1875 - Bizet’s Carmen premieres
1879 - Eugene Onegin premieres, Tchaikovsky’s first well-received opera
1881 - Massenet’s Herodiade has great success in Brussels, putting Massenet on the map as one of the great opera composers of the era
1884 - Puccini’s first opera Le Villi premieres

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