Parts of the Opera Story

Today I begin a new "DO NOW" with my sixth grade general music students.  I am asking them to define these words: "Setting", Character, Conflict, Rising Action, Climax, and Resolution.  If they know what they mean, then they can write a viable opera story that will meet expectations for the project.  We have talked about all this before, but I am not sure that we are all on the same page.

So- this blog is for everyone looking for a definition for each one of these components of an opera story.  (Or any story, really)- The setting is the place and time where the action will take place.  Be sure that it is a place you are willing to be in for a long time.  If you don't care about the place and time, then your listeners and readers won't care either, and won't be intrigued by your story.

  The characters make an opera, as you probably have gathered at this point.  You need to have at least three characters, and they should have different types of singing voices- tenor is the male higher voice, baritone or bass are the lower ones, and the female voices are soprano and mezzo and alto.  If they all have the same type of voice, you won't have contrast!  When they sing together, they will also sing in harmony, which is always exciting and pleasing to the audience.  They must have interesting personalities that are complex, and not one-sided or easy to understand at first sight.  Take the example of the Queen of the Night.  She and her gang of people help to kill the serpent for the prince Tamino, and she has a beautiful and kind and thoughtful daughter, and yet, she is angry and spiteful and full of vengeance!  Not so easy to understand right away, not bad at first, but maybe not a good person in the end, and not happy, anyway-

 The conflict is the problem that will cause the rising action to take place.  The rising action is what will continue to happen while the conflict is going on, the climax is the biggest and most exciting moment in the opera and you cannot get there too quickly or the opera will fall flat, so will a story if that is what you are writing.

Finally, the resolution is what will happen at the end, and the characters will be changed forever, as Louis is in my opera story, as Susannah is at the end of my opera story, because they have found each other and can find happiness and joy where there has always been just grit and hard work.  Keep grit and hard work with your writing, and you will be changed as well.  Life is art, art is life.  Think on that, my artistic blog fans, and keep up the good writing and reading and listening!  Ach ich fuhls!