Repertoire Studies (493-0-1)

Topic

Opera Repertoire

Instructors

Roger Pines

Meeting Info

RCMA Lower Level 121: Thurs 9:00AM - 10:50AM

Overview of class

The aim of the Opera Repertoire course is to expand the class's awareness of vocal style in significant

areas of the repertoire: Baroque (Monteverdi, Purcell, Handel, Rameau); Mozart; bel canto (Rossini,

Bellini, Donizetti); French (Berlioz, Gounod, Bizet, Massenet); pre-Wagner German Romantic

(Beethoven, Weber, Lortzing, Flotow, Nicolai); Verdi; Puccini; R. Strauss; American (Menotti, Barber,

Floyd, Argento, Heggie, Adams); and operetta (Gilbert and Sullivan, Offenbach, J. Strauss, Lehár,

Kálmán, Herbert, Romberg). The class sessions will be divided between lecture (illustrated by

historically important singing on records), discussion, performance, and coaching elements.

Registration Requirements

The majority of registrants for this course are generally juniors, seniors, and graduate students,

although a sophomore attending is not without precedent (however, any sophomore wishing to

register for the course would need their voice teacher's approval regarding the student's vocal

readiness for the course). The repertoire to be coached will be exclusively by composers discussed in

class; therefore, If the student does not already know repertoire by any of those composers, that

student must be willing to learn at least two arias assigned by the instructor for in-class coachings (in

addition to the aria to be assigned for the final).

Learning Objectives

The student will be expected to be conversant with: 1) differences in style that distinguish the operas

of all the composers studied in the course; and 2) the evolution of vocalism from the early nineteenth

century to today, specifically as regards the vocal requirements needed for each area of the

repertoire that the course will cover.

Teaching Method

The instructional design is lecture/discussion in the first hour, covering one of the above-mentioned

areas of repertoire, followed in the second hour by a maximum of four in-class coachings, with each

singer performing an aria by one of the composers covered in the first hour.

Evaluation Method

1) Attendance; 2) participation in class discussions; 3) preparation and overall performance -

including spoken introduction -- of arias coached in class (number of arias depends on size of the

class); and 4) three in-class written assignments of the "drop-the-needle" variety (that is, writing in

so-called "Blue Books," without access to mobile phones or laptops). Evaluation for the final will be

based on: the preparation and performance of a new aria, chosen by the instructor specifically for

each student and assigned well in advance; and also the spoken introduction that must address

specific questions outlined in advance by the instructor.

Class Materials (Required)

Any articles to be read by the class will be distributed to the class via email.

Class Materials (Suggested)

Selected articles on the history of singing, but these will be distributed to the class via email.

Class Notes

This class gives students an opportunity to develop a more in-depth sense of style, one of their most

essential tools as both intelligent singers and thoughtful listeners. The course also introduces them to

a great deal of repertoire, while enabling them to develop a much broader frame of reference in

opera, especially as regards historically important performances and the "continuum of singing" in

general.