Introduction to Opera

Author: Qian Yuan / Lin Hua
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-04-01
Features: Music, including opera, is a truly marvelous thing. It is itself a miracle of human creation. If our understanding of it is limited to loving its storylines, seeking the traces of heroic figures as we would in literature, or hoping to hear a few well-known songs that delight the ear, or being satisfied with its dazzling and splendid scenes, then opera remains utterly foreign to us, and we would find it difficult to communicate with it. The poet Heinrich Heine once said: "It stands like an accidental intermediary between the spiritual and the material; it is closely related to both yet distinct from both: it is spiritual, but this is a spirit that requires time to measure; it is material, but it is material that does not require space." (On French Drama). Perhaps this is the commonality of music. While opera showcases stage images, people are essentially grasping the music. If poetry is "a kind of ideology suspended in the air" (as Engels put it), then music is even more so. It has the flavor of everyday life, yet it can soar into the blue sky, unbound by matter and free from ignorant fantasies. It can be said to be a beautiful realm between the heavens and the earth, or the earth and the heavens. Opera is both sacred and ordinary; it is both difficult to master and yet capable of being understood and communicated with, making our hearts more beautiful. Indeed, every art form has its own historical trajectory and various elements of formal beauty. To become its true friend, one must understand and love it, only then can there be a resonance of the soul in communication. As for how to understand opera, how to create opera, how to perform opera, and how to develop opera, we are willing to learn, study, and explore together with our readers. This book is a comprehensive work that discusses and introduces Western opera art, complete with numerous color illustrations.