Post #6 - Lecture Baroque Theatre - Modern Opera

The Basilica in Italy has a dome that was created by Michelangelo, who could never see it since he died before it was built. In addition to the Basilica, St. Peters Square was added as a way for the Pope to address a whole crowd of maximum size of 300,000. The Baroque style came following the gothic architecture period, it can come in many forms such as music, theatre, art, and opera. This is where the first indoor theatre was introduced, the Krumlov Theatre. This is where shows would be put on as riggings were under the stage and the set was changed by the rotating walls on the left and right stage, and this was the first time the orchestra pit was below the stage level. Next we moved into Baroque Opera where it contained characters from Roman and Greek mythology, it was where singing and dancing came into play without the use of a microphone, the singers were forced to project as they sang. The castrati was a group of boys that were castrated before puberty so they could keep their high pitch since girls were not allowed to participate at the time. Farinelli was one of the most famous Castrati, and since barbers performed the surgeries, many got infections and died. Music was then changed by the risk takers like Cage and Barbarian. Cage was the one to say that anything is music - all sound. Barbarian was the person who accepted the Beatles for who they were. Eventually as TV was invented it helped spread Rock and Roll. Then in the 60's and 70's Musicals start to arrive, the difference from operas is that they use microphones and rely on the story and the music, not just the music like an opera. Operas became more expensive and are started to be remade, or are made based on true stories, like Anna Nicole.