History of Italian Opera
Course Info:
- Department: Liberal Arts
- Area: Italian Studies
- Credit Hours: 3, Contact Hours: 45
- Course Number (SRISA): HUMI 3103
- Course Number (Maryville University): TBA
Course Description:
The origins of opera can be traced all the way back to the Greek, Latin and Elizabethan drama. This course follows the evolution of opera as a "public" entertainment with the rise of the popular culture and the Commedia dell'Arte in the 17th and 18th century. Finally, it centers on the development of the Italian Opera from the early 19th Century (Rossini) to the early 20th Century (Puccini) and on how Italian history is reflected in the operatic melodramas from the heroic epic of the Risorgimento to the social anguish of Verismo.