The English word ‘opera’ is derived from the Italian expression Opera in musica, which means ‘a musical work’. Opera, in fact, is a mixture of music and drama, i.e. it’s basically an extended dramatic composition in which all parts are sung to instrumental accompaniments. It is essentially a refined kind of entertainment and has attracted audiences for nearly five centuries. Complex in nature, it is a costly entertainment. The story of the opera is sung, usually in the language in which it was originally written, and this can make it difficult to follow.
Opera originated in Florence, Italy, in about 1582 when the classicists were trying to revive Greek drama — which had music as well as words. The first opera house was opened in Venice in 1637. It soon spread from Italy to France and Germany before 1650 but it did not catch popular imagination for quite a long time. Gradually it spread to other countries of the world such as Austria, England, Russia, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Spain, USA and China. There are also light operas, which are humorous and combine with songs and dialogues.
The operas performed today are the compositions of some of the greatest musicians of the world. They include: Ressini, Verdi, Puccini (Italian), Mozart (Austrian and German); Wagner (German); Gounod and Bizet (French), Tchaikovsky (Russian), Glinka, Borodin, Rimska-Karsakov (Russian).