Berkley Center

The small church filled as the music built to its peak. The opera singer’s mouth contorted as impossibly high notes floated out of her mouth. She and her male counterpart carefully constructed each syllable, complimenting each other as they weaved high and low notes together.

Tucked in an ally, the Santa Monica Church perpetuates the Italian opera tradition by converting into an opera venue at night. Here, I was fortunate to attend an intimate performance of the best arias from La Traviata, La Boheme, Tosca, Madame Butterfly, The Marriage of Figaro, and the Barber of Seville. Two performers shared the pieces, accompanied by a sole pianist. Although my Italian is not strong enough to understand the majority of the lyrics of each song, the singers were expressive and, despite the lack of a set or costumes, acted out each song. As opera is a characteristically dramatic art form, one is able to understand the meaning of the performance regardless of language barriers.

Opera has never been at the forefront of my mind when thinking about musical performances. However, it is a quintessential part of Italy’s historical artistic development and continues to be a prominent form of musical expression. Invented in 1598 in Florence with the composition of Jacopo Peri’s lost work Dafne, the art form quickly spread throughout Europe. The first-known surviving opera was Euridice by Rihucci, performed in 1600 at the Pitti Palace, which is roughly 30 minutes from where I am currently living, for the wedding of Henry IV of France and Marie de Medici.

The Medicis' supported the development of opera, and opera eventually spread throughout Europe, gaining popularity in Germany and England. It eventually dominated most of Europe until the eighteenth century. Many of the most notable composers to date have been Italian, including the more contemporary composer Giacomo Puccini, whose house I visited in Lucca during my travels through Italy. However, Mozart, Purcell, Schütz, and Lully were among the well-recognized international composers that joined the Italian composers.

Opera has evolved throughout the years. It has seen more modern times, with the neoclassic and minimalistic periods. It has been adapted to be performed on radio and television. It has included dance, as I witnessed upon attending an opera ballet performance of Dido and Aeneas at the Opera di Firenze. This piece demonstrated the fusion of different cultures. The actors spoke in Italian while the opera singers sung in English. Above the stage there were Italian and English subtitles to accommodate the varied audience. The ballet was classical in its content but had a more modern and risqué approach in its execution, as the ballet dancers donned modern clothes.

Having entered the classical music and performance world of Florence, I have developed a new appreciation for opera and Italy’s musical heritage. What once appeared to me as a homogeneous and incomprehensible art form has revealed itself to be quite diverse and relatable. While Italy may be more widely known for its innovations of the visual arts, its musical innovations are similarly impressive and have come to influence musical art around the world.