Opera in the 21st Century Essay Example

Opera music plays a crucial role today. Having been created around four hundred years ago, opera offered one of the best ways to tell a story through music as envisioned by the Florentine Camerata, a group of Italian musicians, artists, and writers who told Greek drama through music (Grout, Grout, and Williams, 124). Jacopo Peri gets credited as the father of opera after composing Dafne in 1957 (San Francisco Opera 1). Opera music grew in popularity during the Classical period between 1750 and 1830 as more musicians developed the music. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart stood out among the new crop of musicians for bringing excitement and perfection to opera music.

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Opera music is still relevant today. One indicator of the importance of opera music today is that popular music today is produced using beats, harmonies, and melodies used in opera music. For instance, several music productions use 2/4 rhythm while others have perfected the 4/4 rhythm for dance hits to fit the modern world (Stempel 645). These rhythms get modernized by incorporating other beats to give them a modern rhythm, but they retain the building blocks obtained from opera. This shows that 21st-century music still borrows from the opera music.

A detailed example showing relevance of this music today tend to be seen in the invention of the rock opera. Rock opera was developed to give the modern-day music ability to tell stories through music. For instance, the song titled Mindcrime by Queensryche where the artist uses real orchestras in the song (Arts, Culture Theater 1). This gives the song a modern feeling and a great connection with the classical opera. In other cases, some of the most popular hits in the world have been composed using rock opera beats and basics. For instance, the song Arthur by Kinks has the rhythms of a rock opera (Arts, Culture Theater 1). As one listens to the song, one can hear the distinct rock opera beats characterized by musical instruments.

Another reason why opera music is relevant today is its use in motion pictures. The Hollywood has been supportive and played a crucial role in promoting opera music over the decades. Opera music has been widely used in movies, either at the beginning or end of the film. In other motion pictures, the music is played within the video to serve an intended purpose. For instance, the 2015 film "Mission Impossible 5: Rogue Nation" features Turandot, an opera song by Giacomo which is performed at the Vienna Opera House (Mathilda 1). The movie uses the final part of the song Nessun Dorma severally throughout the movie.

Opera music can speak to the modern audience as well as entertain. Opera music brings out the best of the emotions of the audience. It brings out the best of the human voice and perfects it through the use of dramatic narrative complemented by orchestras. This music genre enables the viewer to reflect who they are, how they relate with others and helps them understand what it means to be human (Gerhard 241). These techniques were widely used by Mozart, Hayden, and Beethoven to communicate to their audience.

There are numerous opera music clips on YouTube which depict how opera music is sung and danced. Mozart and Beethoven's songs feature heavily in these clips. Of note is the dancing styles which are captivating and entertaining. The audience is taken away by the dancing moves which are unique and educative. One needs to concentrate on understanding what the songs and dance communicate to the audience.

Works cited

Arts, Culture Theater. Are Opera And Classical Music Still Important Today? 2016. http://www.artsculturetheater.com/are-opera-and-classical-music-still-important-today/. 3 October 2018.

Gerhard, Anselm. The Urbanization of Opera: Music Theater in Paris in the Nineteenth Century. University of Chicago Press, 2000.Grout, Donald Jay, Donald Grout, and Hermine Weigel Williams. A short history of opera. Columbia University Press, 2003.

Mathilda. Top 10 Best Uses of Opera in Movies. 26 October 2017. https://listverse.com/2007/10/26/top-10-best-uses-of-opera-in-movies/. 12 October 2018.

San Francisco Opera. A Brief History of Opera. 2015. https://sfopera.com/discover-opera/intro-to-opera/a-brief-history-of-opera/. 3 October 2018.

Stempel, Larry. Showtime: a history of the Broadway musical theater. New York:: WW Norton, 2010.