Assignment #8- Opera

1.An opera generally has no speaking parts. In an opera, everything is sung, including any dialogue between characters. Light opera, on the other hand, has small speaking parts. The majority of it is still sung, but there are significantly more speaking parts. Basically, musical theater is a story with songs thrown in. The majority is spoken and there are some songs. You have to be trained in acting to do well in musical theater and trained in singing to do well in opera.

2.An opera singer is never “fully trained”. Some may claim that they’re fully trained, but it is a continual learning process. Throughout time, singers’ voices can change and they may be able to sing in a different tone. Some altos may change to tenors. It could take 30 years for someone to have their perfect opera voice. It could also take only a few years. Even though more experienced person has more practice, there is no such thing as a fully trained opera singer.

3.Describe- Madame Butterfly is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini. Puccini based his opera in part on the short story "Madame Butterfly" by John Luther Long. Puccini also based it on the novel Madame Chrysanthème by Pierre Loti. According to one scholar, the opera was based on events that actually occurred in Nagasaki in the 1890s. The original version of the opera, in two acts, was very poorly received despite the presence of notable singers such as Giovanni Zenatello.

Interpret- The plot of the opera is simple: Callous American Pinkerton in Japan has fun with local girl, goes through a marriage charade, and gets her pregnant, then takes off back home again. But this isn't enough. He returns to Japan with his new American wife & wants to take Butterfly's son back with them to America. Butterfly realizes she's been betrayed & dishonored, but also has to admit that giving up her son could result in great advantages to the boy. She makes the unselfish decision to give custody to Pinkerton & his wife, but she also decides to kill herself. It’s a great story and it’s very prevalent to today’s society. There is much symbolism is this story. The woman is like a butterfly; always out of reach and hard to catch.