Grand Opera

The Grand Opera House is a Community Theater located in the heart of Dubuque, Iowa. Featuring a year round schedule of entertainment. 'Grand Opera is the latest and certainly one of the most fascinating literary explorations of the colorful history of the Metropolitan Opera. In this thoroughly documented narrative, rich with succulent detail, Charles and Mirella Jona Affron provide the reader an engrossing account of the genesis of America's premiere opera company and its oft.

1. Grand Opera House Galveston
2. Houston Grand Opera
3. Grand Opera Definition

Grand Opera House Galveston

• The early history
  • The role of Florence
• From the 'reform' to grand opera
• Grand opera and beyond

Houston Grand Opera

Our editors will review what you've submitted and determine whether to revise the article.

Opera, a staged drama set to music in its entirety, made up of vocal pieces with instrumental accompaniment and usually with orchestralovertures and interludes. In some operas the music is continuous throughout an act; in others it is broken up into discrete pieces, or 'numbers,' separated either by recitative (a dramatic type of singing that approaches speech) or by spoken dialogue. Cool sketches girl. This article focuses on opera in the Western tradition. For an overview of opera and operalike traditions in Asia (particularly in China), see the appropriate sections of Chinese music, Japanese music, South Asian arts, and Southeast Asian arts; see also short entries on specific forms of Chinese opera, such as chuanqi, jingxi, kunqu, and nanxi.

Grand Opera Definition

The English word opera is an abbreviation of the Italian phrase opera in musica ('work in music'). It denotes a theatrical work consisting of a dramatic text, or libretto ('booklet'), that has been set to music and staged with scenery, costumes, and movement. Aside from solo, ensemble, and choral singers onstage and a group of instrumentalists playing offstage, the performers of opera since its inception have often included dancers. A complex, often costly variety of musico-dramatic entertainment, opera has attracted both supporters and detractors throughout its history and has sometimes been the target of intense criticism. Its detractors have viewed it as an artificial and irrational art form that defies dramatic verisimilitude. Supporters have seen it as more than the sum of its parts, with the music supporting and intensifying the lyrics and action to create a genre of greater emotional impact than either music or drama could achieve on its own. In his 1986 autobiography, stage and film director Franco Zeffirelli warned against taking opera too literally:

Short men in armour and large ladies in chiffon singing about ancient Egypt don't make much sense at one level [but] they can…reveal to us the confusions of emotion and loyalty, the nature of power and pity, that could not be so movingly expressed in any other way.

The preparation of an opera performance involves the work of many individuals whose total contributions sometimes spread across a century or more. The first, often unintentional, recruit is likely the writer of the original story. Then comes the librettist, who puts the story or play into a form—usually involving poetic verse—that is suitable for musical setting and singing. The composer then sets that libretto to music. Architects and acousticians will have designed an opera house suited or adaptable to performances that demand a sizable stage; a large backstage area to house the scenery; a 'pit,' or space (often below the level of the stage) to accommodate an orchestra; and seating for a reasonably large audience. A producer (or director) has to specify the work of designers, scene painters, costumers, and lighting experts. The producer, conductor, and musical staff must work for long periods with the chorus, dancers, orchestra, and extras as well as the principal singers to prepare the performance—work that may last anywhere from a few days to many months. All of this activity, moreover, takes place in conjunction with the work not only of researchers and editors who painstakingly prepare the musical score, especially in the case of revivals of works long forgotten or published long ago, but also of the theatre's administrative staff, which includes the impresario and others responsible for bookings, ticket sales, and other business matters.

One of the most variable facets of opera during its long history has been the balance struck between music and poetry or text. The collaborators of the first operas (in the early 17th century) believed they were creating a new genre in which music and poetry, in order to serve the drama, were fused into an inseparable whole, a language that was in a class of its own—midway between speaking and singing. In the decades and centuries that followed, the balance between these elements repeatedly shifted to favour the music at the expense of the text and the integrity of the drama, only to be brought back into relative equilibrium by various 'reforms.' More than one desirable balance between music, text, and drama is possible, however, and over time the aesthetic ideals of opera and its creators have successfully adapted to the changing tastes and attitudes of patrons and audiences, while also accommodating linguistic diversity and assorted national preferences. As a result, opera has endured in Western culture for more than 400 years.

Moreover, since the late 20th century, new ways of delivering opera to the public—on video and DVD, in cinematography, or via high-definition simulcast in movie theatres—have increasingly made the genre more accessible to a larger audience, and such novelties will inevitably change public attitudes and appreciation of the art form. Cute and simple drawings. It remains to be seen, however, how these media might also change the way in which composers, librettists, impresarios, and performers approach opera, and whether the genre's musical and theatrical values will consequently be altered in fundamental ways.

The early history

Music historians have continued to debate opera's ancestry. Apache tomcat spring boot. The plays of the ancient Greek dramatists Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides combined poetic drama and music. During the Middle Ages, biblical dramas that were chanted or interspersed with music were known under various labels, including liturgical dramas (ordines) and similar plays performed in church. These and related musico-dramatic forms may have become indirect ancestors of opera, but the earliest universally accepted direct ancestors of opera appeared in 16th-century Italy.

The role of Florence

The courts of northern Italy, especially that of the Medici family in Florence, were particularly important for the development of opera. Indeed, Florence became the birthplace of opera at the end of the century, as the result of the confluence of three cultural forces: an established theatrical tradition, a strong sense of civic humanism, and a distinctly Florentine view of music and music's relation to the cosmos.

Intermedi in the Florentine musical theatre

Foremost among the factors that made 16th-century Florence ripe for the advent of opera was its long tradition of musical theatre, manifested principally in the musical productions known as intermedi (or interludes) that were staged between the acts of spoken plays. Intermedi served both to signal the divisions of the spoken drama, since there was no curtain to be dropped, and to suggest the passage of time by suspending the action between one act of the play and the next and, during the interval, by employing characters and themes unrelated to the main plot and only loosely connected from one interlude to another. The Florentine court offered lavish intermedi, planned and rehearsed months in advance and intended to impress invited guests with the wealth, generosity, and power of their Medici hosts. For the so-called 1589 intermedi, which climaxed a monthlong series of events to celebrate the marriage of Grand Duke Ferdinando de' Medici (Ferdinand I) of Tuscany to the French princess Christine of Lorraine, a huge team of artists, artisans, poets, musicians, architects, and technicians was assembled under the intellectual guidance of the prominent Florentine aristocrat Giovanni Bardi. As the moving spirit behind the program, Bardi worked closely with local poets and musicians—some of whom were involved in the first experimental opera productions a decade later. In fact, the 1589 intermedi had many of the same players and almost all the ingredients of opera—costumes, scenery, stage effects, enthralling solo singing, colourful instrumental music, large-scale numbers combining voices and orchestra, and dance. Yet to be created, however, were the unified action and the innovative style of dramatic singing that have remained among the hallmarks of opera.

St. Louis, MO63101

1 person favorited this theater

Additional Info

Architects:Oscar Cobb

Styles:French Renaissance

Previous Names: Varieties, DeBar's Opera House, Grand Opera House

Nearby Theaters

The Grand Opera House dates back to 1852 and began as the Varieties, a unique oval-shaped building that resembled the Barthelems Theatre of Paris. Opened by Joseph M. Field on May 10, 1852, the opulent Varieties had nothing moderate about it – not even the admission charge which eventually discouraged people from attending.

Aside from its oval design, the Varieties had another unique feature. The floor could be raised to slope downard during plays and levelled flat for the renowned Grand Balls held there. It has been the only theatre in St. Louis that had a floor with interchangeable levels – fancy technology for the mid-nineteenth century. The building soon became more popular for its dances than its plays. Unfortunately, St. Louisians did not respond to this expensive theatre which Field had hoped would attract fashionable audiences.

The building closed for three years and reopened under the management of Henry Bernstein. Re-redecorated, the edifice was sold it to Benjamin DeBar, who later named the theatre after himself, DeBar's Opera House. Four years later, DeBar dies: John W. Norton assumed management and changed the name to the Grand Opera House. Under his seven-year management, the Opera House did well.

In 1884, a fire started in the box office and soon spread to the gas jets onstage. The gas caused an explosion and demolished the building. Little was left.

But the Grand Opera House was rebuilt to the designs of architect Oscar Cobb, and became a burlesque house in the twentieth century. This rebuilding so radically changed the facade that it looked like an entirely different edifice.

Located on the south side of Market Street between Broadway and Sixth Street, the Grand Theatre began by producing opera, then legitimate plays, vaudevlle, movies and started the burlesque shows in the 1940's, operating as the Grand Follies Theatre. In 1963, the famous house was slated for demolition which proved to be a cultural loss for the city.

Grand Opera House Galveston

• The early history
  • The role of Florence
• From the 'reform' to grand opera
• Grand opera and beyond

Houston Grand Opera

Our editors will review what you've submitted and determine whether to revise the article.

Opera, a staged drama set to music in its entirety, made up of vocal pieces with instrumental accompaniment and usually with orchestralovertures and interludes. In some operas the music is continuous throughout an act; in others it is broken up into discrete pieces, or 'numbers,' separated either by recitative (a dramatic type of singing that approaches speech) or by spoken dialogue. Cool sketches girl. This article focuses on opera in the Western tradition. For an overview of opera and operalike traditions in Asia (particularly in China), see the appropriate sections of Chinese music, Japanese music, South Asian arts, and Southeast Asian arts; see also short entries on specific forms of Chinese opera, such as chuanqi, jingxi, kunqu, and nanxi.

Grand Opera Definition

The English word opera is an abbreviation of the Italian phrase opera in musica ('work in music'). It denotes a theatrical work consisting of a dramatic text, or libretto ('booklet'), that has been set to music and staged with scenery, costumes, and movement. Aside from solo, ensemble, and choral singers onstage and a group of instrumentalists playing offstage, the performers of opera since its inception have often included dancers. A complex, often costly variety of musico-dramatic entertainment, opera has attracted both supporters and detractors throughout its history and has sometimes been the target of intense criticism. Its detractors have viewed it as an artificial and irrational art form that defies dramatic verisimilitude. Supporters have seen it as more than the sum of its parts, with the music supporting and intensifying the lyrics and action to create a genre of greater emotional impact than either music or drama could achieve on its own. In his 1986 autobiography, stage and film director Franco Zeffirelli warned against taking opera too literally:

Short men in armour and large ladies in chiffon singing about ancient Egypt don't make much sense at one level [but] they can…reveal to us the confusions of emotion and loyalty, the nature of power and pity, that could not be so movingly expressed in any other way.

The preparation of an opera performance involves the work of many individuals whose total contributions sometimes spread across a century or more. The first, often unintentional, recruit is likely the writer of the original story. Then comes the librettist, who puts the story or play into a form—usually involving poetic verse—that is suitable for musical setting and singing. The composer then sets that libretto to music. Architects and acousticians will have designed an opera house suited or adaptable to performances that demand a sizable stage; a large backstage area to house the scenery; a 'pit,' or space (often below the level of the stage) to accommodate an orchestra; and seating for a reasonably large audience. A producer (or director) has to specify the work of designers, scene painters, costumers, and lighting experts. The producer, conductor, and musical staff must work for long periods with the chorus, dancers, orchestra, and extras as well as the principal singers to prepare the performance—work that may last anywhere from a few days to many months. All of this activity, moreover, takes place in conjunction with the work not only of researchers and editors who painstakingly prepare the musical score, especially in the case of revivals of works long forgotten or published long ago, but also of the theatre's administrative staff, which includes the impresario and others responsible for bookings, ticket sales, and other business matters.

One of the most variable facets of opera during its long history has been the balance struck between music and poetry or text. The collaborators of the first operas (in the early 17th century) believed they were creating a new genre in which music and poetry, in order to serve the drama, were fused into an inseparable whole, a language that was in a class of its own—midway between speaking and singing. In the decades and centuries that followed, the balance between these elements repeatedly shifted to favour the music at the expense of the text and the integrity of the drama, only to be brought back into relative equilibrium by various 'reforms.' More than one desirable balance between music, text, and drama is possible, however, and over time the aesthetic ideals of opera and its creators have successfully adapted to the changing tastes and attitudes of patrons and audiences, while also accommodating linguistic diversity and assorted national preferences. As a result, opera has endured in Western culture for more than 400 years.

Moreover, since the late 20th century, new ways of delivering opera to the public—on video and DVD, in cinematography, or via high-definition simulcast in movie theatres—have increasingly made the genre more accessible to a larger audience, and such novelties will inevitably change public attitudes and appreciation of the art form. Cute and simple drawings. It remains to be seen, however, how these media might also change the way in which composers, librettists, impresarios, and performers approach opera, and whether the genre's musical and theatrical values will consequently be altered in fundamental ways.

The early history

Music historians have continued to debate opera's ancestry. Apache tomcat spring boot. The plays of the ancient Greek dramatists Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides combined poetic drama and music. During the Middle Ages, biblical dramas that were chanted or interspersed with music were known under various labels, including liturgical dramas (ordines) and similar plays performed in church. These and related musico-dramatic forms may have become indirect ancestors of opera, but the earliest universally accepted direct ancestors of opera appeared in 16th-century Italy.

The role of Florence

The courts of northern Italy, especially that of the Medici family in Florence, were particularly important for the development of opera. Indeed, Florence became the birthplace of opera at the end of the century, as the result of the confluence of three cultural forces: an established theatrical tradition, a strong sense of civic humanism, and a distinctly Florentine view of music and music's relation to the cosmos.

Intermedi in the Florentine musical theatre

Foremost among the factors that made 16th-century Florence ripe for the advent of opera was its long tradition of musical theatre, manifested principally in the musical productions known as intermedi (or interludes) that were staged between the acts of spoken plays. Intermedi served both to signal the divisions of the spoken drama, since there was no curtain to be dropped, and to suggest the passage of time by suspending the action between one act of the play and the next and, during the interval, by employing characters and themes unrelated to the main plot and only loosely connected from one interlude to another. The Florentine court offered lavish intermedi, planned and rehearsed months in advance and intended to impress invited guests with the wealth, generosity, and power of their Medici hosts. For the so-called 1589 intermedi, which climaxed a monthlong series of events to celebrate the marriage of Grand Duke Ferdinando de' Medici (Ferdinand I) of Tuscany to the French princess Christine of Lorraine, a huge team of artists, artisans, poets, musicians, architects, and technicians was assembled under the intellectual guidance of the prominent Florentine aristocrat Giovanni Bardi. As the moving spirit behind the program, Bardi worked closely with local poets and musicians—some of whom were involved in the first experimental opera productions a decade later. In fact, the 1589 intermedi had many of the same players and almost all the ingredients of opera—costumes, scenery, stage effects, enthralling solo singing, colourful instrumental music, large-scale numbers combining voices and orchestra, and dance. Yet to be created, however, were the unified action and the innovative style of dramatic singing that have remained among the hallmarks of opera.

St. Louis, MO63101

1 person favorited this theater

Additional Info

Architects:Oscar Cobb

Styles:French Renaissance

Previous Names: Varieties, DeBar's Opera House, Grand Opera House

Nearby Theaters

The Grand Opera House dates back to 1852 and began as the Varieties, a unique oval-shaped building that resembled the Barthelems Theatre of Paris. Opened by Joseph M. Field on May 10, 1852, the opulent Varieties had nothing moderate about it – not even the admission charge which eventually discouraged people from attending.

Aside from its oval design, the Varieties had another unique feature. The floor could be raised to slope downard during plays and levelled flat for the renowned Grand Balls held there. It has been the only theatre in St. Louis that had a floor with interchangeable levels – fancy technology for the mid-nineteenth century. The building soon became more popular for its dances than its plays. Unfortunately, St. Louisians did not respond to this expensive theatre which Field had hoped would attract fashionable audiences.

The building closed for three years and reopened under the management of Henry Bernstein. Re-redecorated, the edifice was sold it to Benjamin DeBar, who later named the theatre after himself, DeBar's Opera House. Four years later, DeBar dies: John W. Norton assumed management and changed the name to the Grand Opera House. Under his seven-year management, the Opera House did well.

In 1884, a fire started in the box office and soon spread to the gas jets onstage. The gas caused an explosion and demolished the building. Little was left.

But the Grand Opera House was rebuilt to the designs of architect Oscar Cobb, and became a burlesque house in the twentieth century. This rebuilding so radically changed the facade that it looked like an entirely different edifice.

Located on the south side of Market Street between Broadway and Sixth Street, the Grand Theatre began by producing opera, then legitimate plays, vaudevlle, movies and started the burlesque shows in the 1940's, operating as the Grand Follies Theatre. In 1963, the famous house was slated for demolition which proved to be a cultural loss for the city.

The Grand Theatre – the city's oldest major theatre – had an attractive facade. Classical architecture was its predominant feature. The three story front had two stories of vaulted arches spanning the building and the third story with arched windows. The theatre's personality was formed over time. It was both nostalgic and beautiful.

A sports stadium project, now Busch Stadium, would be built in its place. Busch Stadium is an attractive architectural edifice. Bush Stadium has also been used as a theatre. When The Beatles came to St. Louis in 1966, the stadium, which held 60,000, was sold out. Although St. Louis lost its magnificant Grand Opera House, it gained a significant addition to the city.