Making references to at least two of the operas that we have studied, Essay

Making references to at least two of the operas that we have studied, write on the main features of opera as an art form - Essay Example The ma8in features of opera as an art form are historicism and social reflections, a strong impact on feelings and sensation and authentic nature. Opera is a form of art reflecting historical or social events, criticism and observation of the epoch. For instance, Prelude and Liebestod from "Tristan and Isolda" by wagner show that opera becomes a matter for critical attention in the light of this nostalgia for power it can give its listeners (especially this most famous listener), a nostalgia that works even now as a high-class aestheticist cult and longing for and pursuit of a pure experience. Opera is a phenomenon whose time has come, even if the form is practically speaking dead in terms of new writing and performance of the new. "But within a society which was a structural unity the knowledge of certain types of material could always be relied on, so that the author of a music-drama was always in the closest contact with his audience" (Wellesz and Kean 89). Prelude and Liebestod break up the order of the singing contest by praising sensuality and emotions. These forces, heard in the orchestra, are those of the prelude, whos e music momentarily reappears (Zuckermann 32). Similar to other forms of art, opera has a strong impact on feelings and sensation of the listeners. ... What is more, the emotional listener "fiercely resists all attempts to make him listen structurally -- more fiercely, perhaps, than the culture consumer who for culture's sake might put up even with that." ().In short, emotional listeners display a troubling anti-intellectualism and use music predominantly as an excuse for extramusical emoting. These are people who vigorously reject the romanticized excess of emotional listening. But rather than attempting to move beyond it, into the kind of critical awareness engendered by authentically modern music, they naively retreat to the music of periods which they believe (wrongly) to be safe havens from the forces of reification and the predominantly commodity character of music. Purity and simplicity are highly desirable attributes of music destined for paidela, lest its effects become diluted, mistaken, or confused. Instruments capable of panharmonic playing were therefore particularly troublesome. For instance, in Mozart's Overture from "Don Giovanni" the unique feature is extraordinary expression of desire and emotions in music. What emerges from Prelude and Liebestod from "Tristan and Isolda" is a "sense of Wagner as a way station, revolutionary in the sacralization of art and pursuit of synaesthesia, but still too confined to produce a completely 'pure' experience" (Zuckermann 37). It was not merely a matter of draining off specificity to achieve heightened mystery and a reformulation of the Subject, but also of problematizing the relationship between word and tone (Zuckermann 39). Following Wellesz and Kean (1950) 'the very complicated laws' that govern musical discourse; these lead to two independent spheres that, fused though they may appear to be,