How to Listen to & Understand Opera
Discover the great beauty and high artistic achievement of opera with this brilliant course by acclaimed musicologist Robert Greenberg. You will develop a methodology for listening to and understanding opera and will be introduced to the concept of opera as a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts in its combination of soliloquy, dialogue, scenery, action, and continuous music. See how music can evoke what words cannot express; the composer is the dramatist. This combination of words and music endows opera with a unique dramatic power. Mon, Mar 4: Introduction to Words and Music Mon, Mar 11: A Brief History in Vocal Expression in Music Mon, Mar 18: Invention of Opera and Monteverdi’s Orfeo 1 Mon, Mar 25: Invention of Opera and Monteverdi’s Orfeo 2