Part 1 of Essay
Opera is a glorious spectacle, a splendid but uneven fabric of music, drama, dance, poetry, and stage architecture, imperfect by nature yet endowed with magic. -Mary Jane Matz, Opera: Grand and Not So Grand Opera was originally a pure art, surviving on subsidies from royalty, nobility, and aristocracy. But with the openin ....

Part 2 of Essay
.... demolished, while others have been renovated into houses, supermarkets, garages, or office buildings. Another aspect of change involves the content of the opera itself. Originally, opera was serious and grand. It has since evolved, adding new and different elements, to the point that opera now comes in all shapes, sizes, and degrees: seria, semiseria, buffa, grand, comique, Kammer, Singspiel, lyrique, light and intermezzo. Opera is today the generic term used for a variety of different pieces, ranging from: Ai ....