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Contributor: Renae Green. Lesson ID: 12972
Imagine if you could only sing what you have to say. No talking at all! Your life would be an opera! Discover the fascinating world of opera, and even create your own in your home or on video!
Q: Why are opera singers good sailors?
A: Because they can handle the high Cs!
The riddle is silly because sailors handle the seas and oceans, but opera singers have to handle singing really high notes!
Listen to opera singer Audrey Luna sing — and talk about singing — the highest note ever sung at the New York Metropolitan Opera.
An opera is like a play, only instead of talking, the actors and actresses sing their lines! An opera is different from a musical. In a musical, the characters speak their lines, and they also sing songs. In an opera, no speaking is allowed. Only singing!
In the 1500s, it was common to perform plays at court for the king and queen and their guests. Some of these plays were quite serious. In order to keep the guests from getting bored, the performers would perform short musical entertainments, called intermezzos, between acts.
Some of the guests preferred the intermezzos to the plays, so more and more composers began writing intermezzos to be performed by themselves. Eventually, they simply performed the plays to music, and the opera was born!
Watch this fun video featuring part of a song from the 1853 opera La traviata.
Obviously, fish cannot sing opera!
Some people think opera singers are ladies who sing really high notes, but that’s not entirely true either. All different voice types are needed to perform an opera.
Watch the video below to learn about the different voice types in opera singing. As you listen, think about these questions.
Continue to the Got It? section to learn about an American opera singer who pushed past some difficult obstacles to become one of the most sought-after opera singers in the world!
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