Editing Opera (section)

====Modernism====
Perhaps the most obvious stylistic manifestation of modernism in opera is the development of [[atonality]]. The move away from traditional tonality in opera had begun with [[Richard Wagner]], and in particular the [[Tristan chord]]. Composers such as [[Richard Strauss]], [[Claude Debussy]], [[Giacomo Puccini]],<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Scott |first1=Derek B. |title=Orientalism and Musical Style |journal=[[The Musical Quarterly]]|date=1998 |volume=82 |issue=2 |page=323 |doi=10.1093/mq/82.2.309 |jstor=742411}}</ref> [[Paul Hindemith]], [[Benjamin Britten]] and [[Hans Pfitzner]] pushed Wagnerian harmony further with a more extreme use of chromaticism and greater use of dissonance. Another aspect of modernist opera is the shift away from long, suspended melodies, to short quick mottos, as first illustrated by [[Giuseppe Verdi]] in his ''[[Falstaff (opera)|Falstaff]]''. Composers such as Strauss, Britten, Shostakovich and Stravinsky adopted and expanded upon this style.

[[File:Schiele - Bildnis des Komponisten Arnold Schönberg . 1917.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Arnold Schoenberg in 1917; portrait by [[Egon Schiele]]]]
Operatic modernism truly began in the operas of two Viennese composers, [[Arnold Schoenberg]] and his student [[Alban Berg]], both composers and advocates of atonality and its later development (as worked out by Schoenberg), [[dodecaphony]]. Schoenberg's early musico-dramatic works, ''[[Erwartung]]'' (1909, premiered in 1924) and ''[[Die glückliche Hand]]'' display heavy use of chromatic harmony and dissonance in general. Schoenberg also occasionally used [[Sprechstimme]].

The two operas of Schoenberg's pupil Alban Berg, ''[[Wozzeck]]'' (1925) and ''[[Lulu (opera)|Lulu]]'' (incomplete at his death in 1935) share many of the same characteristics as described above, though Berg combined his highly personal interpretation of Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique with melodic passages of a more traditionally tonal nature (quite Mahlerian in character) which perhaps partially explains why his operas have remained in standard repertory, despite their controversial music and plots. Schoenberg's theories have influenced (either directly or indirectly) significant numbers of opera composers ever since, even if they themselves did not compose using his techniques.
[[File:Igor Stravinsky Essays.jpg|thumb|upright|Stravinsky in 1921]]
Composers thus influenced include the Englishman [[Benjamin Britten]], the German [[Hans Werner Henze]], and the Russian [[Dmitri Shostakovich]]. ([[Philip Glass]] also makes use of atonality, though his style is generally described as [[minimalist music|minimalist]], usually thought of as another 20th-century development.)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/periods-genres/modern/minimalism-guide/|title=Minimalist music: where to start|website=Classic FM|access-date=15 December 2019|archive-date=13 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200213090903/https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/periods-genres/modern/minimalism-guide/|url-status=live}}</ref><!--Most readers will find it startling to hear Glass associated with atonality.-->

However, operatic modernism's use of atonality also sparked a backlash in the form of [[Neoclassicism (music)|neoclassicism]]. An early leader of this movement was [[Ferruccio Busoni]], who in 1913 wrote the libretto for his neoclassical [[number opera]] ''[[Arlecchino (opera)|Arlecchino]]'' (first performed in 1917).<ref>Chris Walton, "Neo-classical opera" in {{harvnb|Cooke|2005|p=108}}</ref> Also among the vanguard was the Russian [[Igor Stravinsky]]. After composing music for the [[Sergei Diaghilev|Diaghilev]]-produced ballets ''[[Petrushka (ballet)|Petrushka]]'' (1911) and ''[[The Rite of Spring]]'' (1913), Stravinsky turned to neoclassicism, a development culminating in his opera-oratorio ''[[Oedipus rex (opera)|Oedipus rex]]'' (1927). Stravinsky had already turned away from the modernist trends of his early ballets to produce small-scale works that do not fully qualify as opera, yet certainly contain many operatic elements, including ''[[Renard (Stravinsky)|Renard]]'' (1916: "a burlesque in song and dance") and ''[[L'Histoire du soldat|The Soldier's Tale]]'' (1918: "to be read, played, and danced"; in both cases the descriptions and instructions are those of the composer). In the latter, the actors declaim portions of speech to a specified rhythm over instrumental accompaniment, peculiarly similar to the older German genre of ''[[Melodrama]]''. Well after his Rimsky-Korsakov-inspired works ''[[The Nightingale (opera)|The Nightingale]]'' (1914), and ''[[Mavra]]'' (1922), Stravinsky continued to ignore [[serialism|serialist technique]] and eventually wrote a full-fledged 18th-century-style [[diatonic]] number opera ''[[The Rake's Progress]]'' (1951). His resistance to serialism (an attitude he reversed following Schoenberg's death) proved to be an inspiration for many{{who|date=October 2012}}<!-- if references had a page number it might be possible to replace weaslely phrase with a concrete example --> other composers.<ref>{{harvnb|Parker|1994|loc=ch. 8}}; ''The Viking Opera Guide'' articles on Schoenberg, Berg and Stravinsky; [[Malcolm MacDonald (music critic)|Malcolm MacDonald]], ''Schoenberg'' (Dent, 1976); [[Francis Routh]], ''Stravinsky'' (Dent, 1975).</ref>