America’s Musical Landscape 5th edition PowerPoint by Brenda Leach Towson University Part 5 Music for Theater and Film Chapter 20: American Opera © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

© 2006 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Part 5: Music for Theater and Film Chapter 20: American Opera2 Opera Combines singing, acting, dance, drama, costume, scenery, lighting effects Solo and Ensemble Singing Recitative Aria ABA Chorus Usually represents characters in the drama

© 2006 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Part 5: Music for Theater and Film Chapter 20: American Opera3 Opera in America Scott Joplin – Ragtime composer who wrote 2 operas Virgil Thompson Often based his music on folk songs, hymns and Civil War songs George Gershwin Porgy and Bess Gian-Carlo Menotti Amahl and the Night Visitors

© 2006 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Part 5: Music for Theater and Film Chapter 20: American Opera4 The Trend Toward Realism 1980s – trend toward operas based on current social and political events Novels inspire the creation of new operas Carlisle Floyd – important American composer and librettist Philip Glass – composed Einstein on the Beach with playwright, Robert Wilson

© 2006 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Part 5: Music for Theater and Film Chapter 20: American Opera5 Opera or Musical Distinctions among musical, opera, operetta, include: Role of the orchestra Relationship between words and music Expectations of the audience Vocal requirements