Costumes and scenery ( Music for Theatre )

Opera and Ballet often use spectacular costumes and scenery.Sometimes and scenery have to move during the performance.

Often complax machinery is needed to do this.This can make ballets and operas very expensive to stage.



Imformation :Book name,Learn to Play more easy piano classics by caroline phipps
(ISBN 0-7460-1698-0)

Overtures ( Music for Theatre )

The Overtures to Rossini's opera,composer

An overture is a piece of music that is played before an opera or ballet begins.It is the first music that the audience hears,so it is often lively and exciting to attract people's attention.

Overtures are also of orchestral concerts.The overture to Rossini's opera The Barber of Seville is often used this way.When this idia first became popular,many composers,such as Mendelssohn,began writing overtures specially for concerts.

The overture to Rossini's opera The Barber of Seville is often used this way.

Ballet ( Music for Theatre )

Ballet

Ballet tells a story using music and dance.There are no spoken words,so the music is very descriptive and the dancers use their movements to tell the story.The first ballets were performaed in private.Wealthy noblemen arranged evenings of entertainment in their homes,in which performers sang,danced and recited poetry.

Ballet Theater
A scene in “The Nutcracker”

The most popular ballets in this style Tchaikovsky.

The dances grandually became the most important past,and the performers instead of singing or reciting words.The first ballet to be shown in a public theatre was staged in 1581 in France.
At first,dancers chose any music to perform to.It was not necessrily dance music.Since the eartist times,music has been a very important part of theatricalperformances.Musicis often added to plays to make them more interting.Sometimes musicians accompany singing and dancing on stage,but music can also be used to emphasize the mood of the play,rather like film or televistion music.

Acting,singing and dancing have always been closely linked.In ancient Greek and Roman times,some actors used to mime the story (act without speaking)while music was played.Later,composers began to write music to go with plays and religous stories.Gradually,two special kinds of theatre music developed.One,Opera,is based on singing.The other,ballet,is based on dancing.

Tchaikovsky,composers

Later,composers such as lully began to write music specially for the ballet.Someone slse worked out the dance steps.The person who arramges the dances is called the choreographer.
Ballet stories are very imaginative.Some are based on fairy tales, like the ballets of Delibes and Tchaikovsky.Two of the most popular ballets in this style are Tchaikovsky'sThe Nutcracker and The Sleeping Beauty.Other ballets are based on plays or books.and can be sad or romantic.

Imformation :Book name,Learn to Play more easy piano classics by caroline phipps
(ISBN 0-7460-1698-0)

Opera (Music for Theatre )

Opera tells a story through songs.The music is played by an orchestra,while the actors sing on stage.The frist opera was performed in the early 17th century.

La Scala opera house in Milan

Opera soon became very poppular in Europe,and many opera houses(special theatres for opera) were built.

The performers were often much more famous than the composers.People would go to an opera to hear singers they liked.
Title page of Verdi's La traviata
There are lots of different types of opera.The styles have changed grandually over the years.In Handel's operas,all the words are sung,and the stories are serious.They are often based on history or mythology.Several of Mozart's operas,including The Marriage of Figaro and Cosi fan tutte,are based on comical stories and contain spoken pasts.In the 19th century,composers like Verdi and Puccini wrote operas with sad,romantic stories. These are often about the lives of ordinary people ,not historical or legendary ones.The story used in the opera is called the libretto.This is the Italian word for 'little book'When opera first began,the people in the audience had this in front of them so that they could read the words while the opera was being performed.later,the audience sat in the dark,and only it too dark to read,but it was easier to see what was happening on the stage.

Imformation :Book name,Learn to Play more easy piano classics by caroline phipps
(ISBN 0-7460-1698-0)

Theatre music ( Music for Theatre )

Inside an opera house

Theatre music

Since the eartist times,music has been a very important part of theatricalperformances.Musicis often added to plays to make them more interting.Sometimes musicians accompany singing and dancing on stage,but music can also be used to emphasize the mood of the play,rather like film or televistion music.

Acting,singing and dancing have always been closely linked.In ancient Greek and Roman times,some actors used to mime the story (act without speaking)while music was played.Later,composers began to write music to go with plays and religous stories.Gradually,two special kinds of theatre music developed.One,Opera,is based on singing.The other,ballet,is based on dancing.

La Scala opera house in Milan

Terzettino-by-Mozart

The barber of Sevelle overture by Rossini


Ficelio by Beethovan


Drinking song by Verdi
imformation :Book name,Learn to Play more easy piano classics by caroline phipps (ISBN 0-7460-1698-0)