19th-Century Italian Opera—Bel Canto Opera
Lecture no. 37 from the course: How to Listen to and Understand Great Music, 3rd Edition
Taught by Professor Robert Greenberg | 46 min | Categories: The Great Courses Plus Online Music & Fine Art Courses
This lecture begins a four-lecture examination of 19th-century opera. In this lecture, early 19th-century Italian opera is examined as a popular art, the product of a highly profitable media industry. The style of this opera is called bel canto; its essential composers were Gaetano Donizetti, Vincenzo Bellini, and Gioacchino Rossini. Rossini's opera Il Barbieri de Siviglia (The Barber of Seville), is used as an example of the bel canto style.