Opera

Opera

Industry: Drama

Contributors in Opera

Opera

The group of musicians that accompany a staged presentation. In the Baroque period, an orchestra consisted of strings and pairs of woodwinds, and continuo; from 1760 forward, orchestras grew in size. ...

Basso profundo

Drama; Opera

The lowest and often serious bass voice. Sarastro in Mozart’s The Magic Flute or Osmin in Mozart’s The Abduction from the Seraglio are typical examples.

Beat

Drama; Opera

The basic regular unit of time in a musical composition; also, the hand or baton movement used by the conductor to indicate this unit.

Bel canto

Drama; Opera

“Beautiful song.” The art of Italian singing that emphasises beautiful tone, masterful vocal technique, elegant phrasing. Bel canto flourished in the early 19th c. in the works of Donizetti, Bellini ...

Blocking

Drama; Opera

The moving of people around the stage by the stage director to effect the patterns to be followed in the performance of the opera.

Bravo

Drama; Opera

Literally, “brave, courageous.” A form of applause when shouted by members of the audience at the end of an especially pleasing performance. Strictly speaking, bravo is for a single man, brava for a ...

Cantata

Drama; Opera

A musical form usually encompassing chorus and soloists or a solo voice and instrument based on a narrative text. The most well-known cantatas are by J. S. Bach who set scriptural texts.