Opera Buffa Satire

← Doyle, William. The French Revolution: A Very Short Introduction. New York: Oxford University Press, Inc. 2001

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart baptized as Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart lived from January 27, 1756 to December 5, 1791. Mozart was a very influential and prolific composer of more than 600 works, including symphonies, concertante, chamber, piano, opera, and choral music. Regarded as a child prodigy, Mozart composed and performed in the European courts from the age of five, and was engaged at the Salzburg court at 17. Mozart’s musical style can be classified as Classical, although he learned from many of his contemporaries throughout his musical career. In order to better understand Mozart’s genius it is best to begin looking at his earliest contributions to the musical world as a child. From there, an exploration of his

The film commences with the declaration of “Mozart! Mozart!” as opposed to the play’s “Salieri! Salieri!” In the play, Salieri doesn’t mention Mozart in his speech until the end. He goes on and on about his undying passion for absolute music and his dedication to his father, the Lord, until finally “The same year I left Lombardy, a young prodigy was touring

Each of the following excerpts, Act 2, Scene 2 from Siegfried by Richard Wagner, “Habanera” from Carmen (Act I, Scene 5) by Georges Bizet, and “Non So Piu Cosa Son” from The Marriage of Figaro (Act I, scene 4) by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, present many different reflections of gender and gender stereotypes. In this short essay, I will address how each piece uniquely reflects gender, by discussing elements such as character dress, orchestral accompaniment, timbre, and body language.

Before the French Revolution began, people were openly expressing their dissatisfaction with French society through written means. The discontent comes from many areas, but a large focus comes from the nobility. Voltaire, Candide, or Optimism, Isabelle de Charrière, The Nobleman (1763), and Nicolas Toussaint le Moyne des Essarts, The Noailles Affair (1786), gives a clear representation of how the nobility is viewed in the second half of the eighteenth century. Writers represented most of French nobility as mainly being only concerned about their family heritage and luxurious privileges, which greatly corresponds with reality as can be seen in William Doyle’s The Oxford History of the French Revolution.

In I Henry IV and II Henry IV, William Shakespeare brings together drama and comedy to create two of the most compelling history plays ever written. Many of Shakespeare's other works are nearly absolute in their adherence to either the comic or tragic traditions, but in the two Henry IV plays Shakespeare combines comedy and drama in ways that seem to bring a certain realism to his characters, and thus the plays. The present essay is an examination of the various and significant effects that Shakespeare's comedic scenes have on I Henry IV and II Henry IV. The Diversity of Society

30. What is a comic opera? Reaction against baroque style. Light in mood and modest in

Fantasia also revealed another secret from her past. She says in her memoir she was raped in the ninth grade by a popular boy on whom she had a crush. She claims he abused her in the school auditorium, and she went straight home and got into bed. "

In the book “Gender Trouble” (1990), feminist theorist Judith Butler explains “gender is not only a social construct, but also a kind of performance such as a show we put on, a costume or disguise we wear” (Butler). In other words, gender is a performance, an act, and costumes, not the main aspect of essential identity. By understanding this theory of gender as an act, performance, we can see how gender has greatly impacted the outcome of the play in William Shakespeare’s Othello. From a careful analysis of the story, tragedy in Othello is result of violating expected gender roles, gender performance by Desdemona and Othello, and the result of Iago’s inability to tolerate these violations.

The play reflects the patriarchal values of society by categorising females into the three main stereotypes: the housewife, whore and innocent virgin are Emilia, Bianca and Desdemona respectively. Women in Othello’s world stand for a marginalised group, outsiders in a man’s world and their role in society is described with “[men] are all but stomachs, and we are all but food”, reflecting contemporary conventional views. Bianco and Emilia portray the negative typecast of women and are slandered by Iago, who accuses them of being “pictures out of doors…players in your housewifery, and housewives in your beds”. This fits with the Madonna-Whore Complex, where women are either sexually promiscuous or

Le Nozze di Figaro is a timeless piece of work by W.A. Mozart that exemplifies the morals and boundaries for individuals in the time Mozart wrote it. This specific opera buffa explored three different themes—Noble Class vs. Servant Class, Jealousy vs. Love, and Vengeance vs. Forgiveness. While there are four different couples that show each of these themes throughout the show, there is one specific pairing that seemed to stand out among the others. Count Almaviva and his spouse, the Countess Rosina Almaviva demonstrated every part of these themes, with the exception of the servant class. In Wednesday night’s showing, not only did the characters themselves support these themes, but all the attributes such as the set, music and costumes contributed to the

Othello teaches us much about our current postmodern culture. The play connects to our ideas of sexism, male-bonding, racism and capitalism. Shakespeare uses these universal and timeless flaws in humanity along with our use of language and truth to tell his tale. Iago, over a period of about three days, uses these facets of humanity to turn Othello against his wife Desdemona and his friend Cassio. Othello reveals both the struggle of the British people of the early 1600's and Americans in the late 1900's with sexism, capitalism and racism.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was probably the greatest genius in Western musical history. He was born in Salzberg, Austria on January 27, 1756. The son of Leopold Mozart and his wife Anna Maria Pertl. Leopold was a successful composer and violinist and assistant concertmaster at the Salzberg court.

During Russia’s transition to communism in the early 20th century, conflict and unease permeated every part of life. Nothing was stable and very little of what the Bolsheviks had fought for had come to fruition by the time the USSR disbanded in 1991. The “classless society”, which was to work together for the prosperity of everyone, never became a reality. In the end, the majority of Russia’s 20th century was an utter failure on a grand scale. However, there were many amazing products of the system do to the great importance of education in Russian culture. Priceless novels were written, timeless movies were made, and great scientific endeavors were realized despite the rigid control placed upon Russian persons by the government. In

The Marriage of Figaro, or Le Nozze di Figaro as originally titled in Italian, is a light-hearted opera buffa in four acts with musical setting by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. The libretto is based on La folle journée, ou le Mariage de Figaro (The Madcap Day, or the Marriage of Figaro), a comically titled stage play by Pierre Beaumarchais. Mozart’s opera is in fact part of a trilogy. The Marriage of Figaro continues the story of The Barber of Seville, another of Beaumarchais’ plays adapted for opera by Paisiello. Composed in 1786 and originally a reasonable success, The Marriage of Figaro’s acclaim has grown much greater and is celebrated and performed today around the world, so widely successful that it has even