Opera and Society

Week 5 Discussion Opera and Society. Please respond to each of the following questions, using sources under the Explore heading and the textbook as the basis of your response:

1. Using the text as a source and/or the web links listed below, choose an opera by Verdi, or Wagner, or Puccini, give a brief description of the plot and characters. What changes would you make to the plot or characters or storyline to update this opera make it more interesting? Opera and Society

• Chapter 30, Wagner and Verdi; (pp. 1133-1134), Puccini; review the Week 5 “Music Folder”
• Huizenga article and audio selections at http://www.npr.org/blogs/deceptivecadence/2012/04/11/150420827/talk-like-an-opera-geek-how-verdi-wagner-and-puccini-got-their-grooves
• Wagner video of a stage production (Tristan und Isolde) at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAEkTK6aKUM
• Verdi video clip of stage production (Rigoletto) at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5NEOh-XhyA
• Puccini video clip of stage production (Tosca) at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sSoKbv46zc
• An overall website about operas: https://www.theopera101.com/ (copy and paste the link into a new tab or window to make it live)

2. Person of the week: 

This week your choices are between Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson, American writers and poets, and Claude Monet, the artist who broke new ground in France with his painting techniques. Look at the pictures and information in our text and online and then tell us which person you feel is more important and why.