The first surviving opera tells the story of Orpheus and Euridice

Operas first began at the end of the Italian Renaissance

Opera is a storytelling art form that has seen various eras including the Renaissance, Baroque period, Classical period, Romantic period, 20th Century, and Modern period. Each era has its own distinct style, reflecting the tastes of its people and prominent composers.

Opera seria and opera buffa differ in their tones and themes

Opera began in the late 1590s with "Dafne" and evolved into two styles by the 18th century. Opera seria catered to elites with heroic, mythological themes, while opera buffa brought humor and relatable stories to wider audiences. Today, modern opera often tackles contemporary social issues.

The most performed operas of the 21st century are largely 19th-century works.

Opera melodies from centuries ago still appear in TV and movies today

Even if you haven't witnessed an 18th century opera, you've likely heard melodies from one in modern media like “Apocalypse Now” and “Sesame Street.” Today, sports events, movies, and television feature operatic melodies even over a century after they were written.

Hear what ancient Greek music sounded like.

Ancient ghost stories appeared in texts like 'The Odyssey'

Sharing ghost tales has been around for centuries. Ancient Mesopotamia, Rome, and Greece each had their own chilling stories about encountering spirits. Find mentions of specters in some of history’s most famous writings like the "Epic of Gilgamesh" and "The Odyssey."

Operas rely more on music for storytelling than musicals

It’s easy to confuse operas and musicals since they both tell stories through singing and music—but a few key differences remain. While musicals rely on words as the primary tool for storytelling, opera relies more on music. Other key distinctions lie in vocal techniques.

'Dead Man Walking' (2000) is the most-performed new American opera

Based on a true story, Jake Heggie's modern masterpiece tells the story of a Catholic nun who fights for the life of a man on death row. The opera has been staged over 70 times worldwide since its premiere.

Operas can be serious, comedic, or both

Opera is a complex art form that includes a range of genres. The most commonly presented types are opera seria, opera buffa, opera semiseria, opéra comique, and grand opéra. Each genre varies in its philosophy and approach, with differences in subject matter, tone, and display.

Contemporary operas explore topics like gun violence

Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho's 2021 opera "Innocence" explores the aftermath of a school shooting. Featuring traditional operatic singing in a modern setting, this story makes the classic art form particularly relevant to today's audience.

Opera faces many economic problems today

Opera is a notably expensive art form, and therefore currently struggling to survive economically. Pandemic losses, reduced government funding, and dwindling ticket sales all pose a threat to its continuation. According to a recent survey, about half of the UK wouldn't feel impacted if all opera houses were shut down.

Music writer Paul Morley believes opera is an antidote to social media consumption

Music writer Paul Morley weighs in on the debate about the relevance of opera. While acknowledging criticisms that opera is snobbish and outdated, Morley argues the lengthy, emotive, and literary art form presents an important intellectual opposition to today’s world of fast-paced online consumption. Opera endures because it provides hope.

Opera terminology heavily relies on Italian

Most commonly used Opera terms are not in English. This glossary provides definitions of keywords like “libretto,” the text of a piece, “tenor,” the highest natural adult male singing voice, and “diva,” a female opera star.

Homer's warrior tales, including 'The Iliad' and 'The Odyssey,' were loosely based on Mycenaean civilization.

A cave painting might be the oldest illustrated story ever recorded

A nearly 44,000-year-old cave painting may be the oldest story ever recorded, offering viewers a tale of human-like creatures on a hunt. This article details the discovery of the cave and its archaeological implications.

One critic argues opera needs a new business plan

Christos Makridis, a labor economist at Arizona State University, argues that the public has an appetite for the art form, but that the industry's business model is dated, relying too heavily on philanthropy and aging season ticket holders rather than embracing innovation.

'Madama Butterfly' by Giacomo Puccini tells a tragic story of love and loss

A libretto is the book of text from an opera. Peruse the libretto of Giacomo Puccini's famous "Madama Butterfly." Set in Nagasaki, Japan, the story follows an American sailor who marries and then subsequently abandons a Japanese geisha. The famous tale explores themes of betrayal, heartbreak, and cultural conflict.

Pop music is often influenced by opera, but rarely embraces the full form

An example is pop singer Rosalía's album "Lux," where she borrows from opera, particularly in her more theatrical approach to singing, without fully embracing the form's theatrics and storytelling.

Various ancient writers reinterpreted the life of Helen of Troy

Helen of Troy is the woman whose face launched a thousand ships and the Greek wife of Menelaus taken by Paris of Troy to be his wife. To get her back, the Greeks launched the war that would end in the burning of the city of Troy and contribute to the literary tradition through Homer, Horace, and more.

Making an opera is expensive and requires many people to reach the stage

Bringing an opera to the stage is a detailed, demanding, and costly process. Following the lead ​​of Phillip Glass’s “Akhnaten” before its performance at the Metropolitan Opera House in Manhattan, this Vox video displays the rehearsals, vocal lessons, intricate costumes, and even juggling involved in putting on a show.

'Romeo and Juliet' was based on a preexisting narrative poem

Arthur Brooke's "The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet" was first published in 1562 and shares many details with Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet." Shakespeare wasn't alone in his borrowing; Brooke's poem was based on other earlier Italian stories. None of this writing was considered fan fiction—copyright law didn't exist, and stories were regularly cribbed from preexisting sources.

According to the Greek historian Herodotus, the first person to successfully predict a solar eclipse was the Greek philosopher Thales of Miletus in 585 BCE, with the resulting celestial event ending a half-decade-long war.

Handel's 1741 'Messiah' saved him from financial ruin

The piece is widely recognized as a masterpiece and a perennial expression of highbrow culture during the holiday season. The biblically based, English text also broke from opera norms at the time, rewarding him for his risky innovations.

The physics behind opera singing

How can opera singers project their voices to audiences in huge auditoriums without using microphones and overpowering the orchestra? This video explains this phenomenon, using animation to demonstrate the physics of the human voice and how opera singers hone their technique to hit higher frequencies and a distinctive ringing timbre known as their squillo.

Ancient Egyptian papyrus from 16th century BCE seems to reference tinnitus

Ancient Egyptians wrote that they treated "bewitched ear" with herbal concoctions that involved frankincense and other ingredients, which were placed in the ear.

The marathon’s roots can be traced back to a Greek myth

Legend has it that the first marathon took place in 490 BCE, when Pheidippides, an ancient Greek soldier, ran from the Battle of Marathon back to Athens—approximately 25 miles—to inform his people they’d defeated the Persians. The story is likely apocryphal: No Greek historian mentioned it until over 500 years later.

The Coen brothers imagined 'O Brother Where Art Thou?' as a retelling of 'The Odyssey,' though neither had actually read Homer's epic.

Operatic singing involves a number of different vocal personalities

Opera singing ranges are typically categorized by gender and then further subdivided into specific voice types like bass, baritone, tenor, mezzo-soprano, countertenor, and soprano voices. From the lowest to highest range, experience the difficult and impressive singing styles.

The prophetic Oracle of Delphi was believed to have a direct line to the Greek god Apollo.

Near-death experiences have been reported across cultures for millennia.

The identity of the poet Homer remains a mystery, with some scholars arguing that he never really existed.

A step-by-step guide to attending the opera

Opera attendance has dwindled in recent decades, leaving some modern operagoers unaware of the traditional etiquette for attending. This how-to video instructs attendees on appreciating the music, dressing appropriately, and choosing the best seats.

The earliest record of dream interpretation dates to Ancient Sumer, an analysis of a Sumerian priest king's dream around 2700 BCE.

Homer, the author of 'The Iliad' and 'The Odyssey,' was supposedly blind, if he existed at all.

Mozart defined the Classical period with realism and social commentary

Dive into the Classical period, a time that emphasized a less extravagant approach to music and focused on societal issues. Defined by Mozart’s influence, find specifics about his career and why he’s remembered for his compositions and the wit and emotional depth of operas like "The Magic Flute."

Broadway's songwriters began experimenting in the 1920s

Broadway’s early decades were heavily influenced by opera and vaudeville, but songwriters in the 1920s began exploring more narrative-based songwriting and psychologically complex characters. That trend would continue in the following decades, though it would evolve in even more nuanced ways.

The poet Martial vividly described the Colosseum’s opening games

In "Liber Spectaculorum," Martial recounts the inaugural spectacles at the Colosseum, offering graphic depictions of staged executions—some modeled on Greek myths—that took place during the midday program.

The first Eurovision took place in 1956

The contest was organized by the European Broadcasting Union, a collective of public broadcasters, to help unify postwar Europe. The first Eurovision took place in the spring of 1956 in Lugano, Switzerland, and was broadcast in black and white.

The scientific name for northern lights came from two Greco-Roman gods

Although cave paintings may have depicted them millennia earlier, one of the oldest known references to auroras is a Babylonian cuneiform tablet from about 600 BCE. In 1619, Galileo Galilei named the phenomenon in the northern hemisphere "aurora borealis" after the Roman goddess of dawn—Aurora—and the Greek god of the north wind—Boreas.

The warrior women of Ancient Scythia who inspired the Greek Amazons

Greek literature regales readers with tales of Amazon queens and warriors going toe-to-toe with heroes, including Achilles and Hercules. This article explores why these female warriors were relegated to myth. For a long while, it was believed that these stories about all-female warriors were just stories. But scientists have since found evidence that these ancient warriors were part of the nomadic tribes of Scythia, and more discoveries are expected.

The story of Sporus, the castrated boy who married Emperor Nero

Ancient Romans’ views of homosexuality are quite different from Western understandings. Nero was an emperor is infamous for his cruelty, and appears to have heaped that cruelty upon Sporus, a boy he fell for and married in a public ceremony. As a slave, Sporus was held captive at the whims of Nero and subject to the class-based rules on same-sex relationships in ancient times.

The Dokos shipwreck, the oldest discovered to date, is more than 4,000 years old

Many of the oldest shipwrecks yet discovered sank during the late Bronze Age as Mediterranean trade networks began to flourish. This video explores the nine oldest wreckage sites, topped by the wreck off the Greek island of Dokos.

Pompeii’s ruins expose the brutal realities of Rome’s sex trade

Drawing on graffiti, slave collars, brothel art, and the story of “Eutychis, a Greek lass with sweet ways,” this piece reconstructs the violent, coercive world of Pompeii’s enslaved prostitutes—and how their owners controlled, renamed, and exploited them.

Opium's history traces from religious use to mass-market commercial products

Religious or medical use of opium was present across Europe and Asia as early as 5000 BCE. By the 16th century, humanity had come to see opium as more than medicine: It was a marketable product. This perspective also defines today's relationship with opioids, highly addictive painkillers at the heart of an ongoing drug crisis.

The longest-running Broadway musical is 'The Phantom of the Opera'

Andrew Lloyd Webber's legendary show holds the record for the longest-running musical on Broadway, with an astounding 13,981 performances. When it was announced the show would close, its dedicated "phans" rushed to buy tickets, leading to an unexpected extension.

The musical 'The Wizard of Oz' debuted in 1902

Following the success of ‘The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,’ Baum adapted the novel for the stage. It premiered at Chicago’s Grand Opera House in 1902 and made it to Broadway’s Majestic Theatre in 1903. It then toured the country through 1909. It was also a musical adaptation of the story.

The petty ancient Roman poet Gaius Valerius Catullus

Classics with a capital "C" probably doesn't bring to mind erotically charged diss poetry. Gaius Valerius Catullus would like to change that. Instead of mythical epics, Catullus wrote poetry about his personal life as part of the 1st century BCE's "new wave" of Roman poets embracing the lyrical and everyday. The focus of his poetic work ranges from serenades to spiteful insults.

The Antikythera mechanism: The oldest-known analog computer

A device now considered the world's oldest computer was pulled from a shipwreck more than 120 years ago. Known as the "Antikythera Mechanism," it is now believed to have allowed precise tracking of astronomical positions, and its sophistication overturned understanding of Ancient Greek capabilities.

In 1694, a Sicilian in Paris opened the first gelateria, a precursor to the ice cream parlor.

Humans have speculated about alien life since ancient times

Around 50 B.C.E., Roman poet and philosopher Lucretius shared the idea that alien life was possible, which was put forth by Greek philosopher Epicurus. The writing is believed to be the first straightforward assertion in Western literature that aliens must exist.