Editing Opera (section)

====Bel canto, Verdi and verismo====
[[File:Giuseppe Verdi by Giovanni Boldini.jpg|thumb|upright|Giuseppe Verdi, by [[Giovanni Boldini]], 1886]]
The [[bel canto]] opera movement flourished in the early 19th century and is exemplified by the operas of [[Gioachino Rossini|Rossini]], [[Vincenzo Bellini|Bellini]], [[Gaetano Donizetti|Donizetti]], [[Giovanni Pacini|Pacini]], [[Saverio Mercadante|Mercadante]] and many others. Literally "beautiful singing", ''bel canto'' opera derives from the Italian stylistic singing school of the same name. Bel canto lines are typically florid and intricate, requiring supreme agility and pitch control. Examples of famous operas in the bel canto style include Rossini's ''[[The Barber of Seville|Il barbiere di Siviglia]]'' and ''[[La Cenerentola]]'', as well as Bellini's ''[[Norma (opera)|Norma]]'', ''[[La sonnambula]]'' and ''[[I puritani]]'' and Donizetti's ''[[Lucia di Lammermoor]]'', ''[[L'elisir d'amore]]'' and ''[[Don Pasquale]]''.
{{listen|type=music
 | filename     = La_Donna_E_Mobile_Rigoletto.ogg
 | title        = La donna è mobile
 | description  = [[Enrico Caruso]] sings "[[La donna è mobile]]", from [[Giuseppe Verdi]]'s ''[[Rigoletto]]'' (1908)
 | filename2    = No Pagliaccio non son.ogg
 | title2       = No Pagliaccio non-son
 | description2 = Aria from [[Ruggero Leoncavallo]]'s ''[[Pagliacci]]''. Performed by Enrico Caruso
}}

Following the bel canto era, a more direct, forceful style was rapidly popularized by [[Giuseppe Verdi]], beginning with his biblical opera ''[[Nabucco]]''. This opera, and the ones that would follow in Verdi's career, revolutionized Italian opera, changing it from merely a display of vocal fireworks, with Rossini's and Donizetti's works, to dramatic story-telling. Verdi's operas resonated with the growing spirit of [[Italian nationalism]] in the post-[[Napoleon]]ic era, and he quickly became an icon of the patriotic movement for a unified Italy. In the early 1850s, Verdi produced his three most popular operas: ''[[Rigoletto]]'', ''[[Il trovatore]]'' and ''[[La traviata]]''. The first of these, ''Rigoletto'', proved the most daring and revolutionary. In it, Verdi blurs the distinction between the aria and recitative as it never before was, leading the opera to be "an unending string of duets". ''La traviata'' was also novel. It tells the story of courtesan, and it includes elements of [[verismo]] or "realistic" opera,<ref>{{cite thesis|last=Morgan|first=Ann Shands|title=Elements of Verismo in Selected Operas of Giuseppe Verdi|type=[[Master of Music]] thesis|date=August 1968|location=Denton, Texas|url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc663775/|access-date=31 October 2023|publisher=[[University of North Texas Libraries]]}}</ref> because rather than featuring great kings and figures from literature, it focuses on the tragedies of ordinary life and society. After these, he continued to develop his style, composing perhaps the greatest French [[grand opera]], ''[[Don Carlos]]'', and ending his career with two [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare-inspired]] works, ''[[Otello]]'' and ''[[Falstaff (opera)|Falstaff]]'', which reveal how far Italian opera had grown in sophistication since the early 19th century. These final two works showed Verdi at his most masterfully orchestrated, and are both incredibly influential, and modern. In ''Falstaff'', Verdi sets the pre-eminent standard for the form and style that would dominate opera throughout the twentieth century. Rather than long, suspended melodies, ''Falstaff'' contains many little motifs and mottos, that, rather than being expanded upon, are introduced and subsequently dropped, only to be brought up again later. These motifs never are expanded upon, and just as the audience expects a character to launch into a long melody, a new character speaks, introducing a new phrase. This fashion of opera directed opera from Verdi, onward, exercising tremendous influence on his successors [[Giacomo Puccini]], [[Richard Strauss]], and [[Benjamin Britten]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.richardstrauss.at/strauss-and-wagner.html|title=Strauss and Wagner – Various articles – Richard Strauss|website=www.richardstrauss.at|access-date=15 July 2016|archive-date=14 July 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160714141903/http://www.richardstrauss.at/strauss-and-wagner.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

After Verdi, the sentimental "realistic" melodrama of [[verismo]] appeared in Italy. This was a style introduced by [[Pietro Mascagni]]'s ''[[Cavalleria rusticana]]'' and [[Ruggero Leoncavallo]]'s ''[[Pagliacci]]'' that came to dominate the world's opera stages with such popular works as [[Giacomo Puccini]]'s ''[[La bohème]]'', ''[[Tosca]]'', and ''[[Madama Butterfly]]''. Later Italian composers, such as [[Luciano Berio|Berio]] and [[Luigi Nono|Nono]], have experimented with [[modernism]].<ref>{{harvnb|Parker|1994|loc=ch. 5, 8,9}}; ''Viking Opera Guide'' entry on Verdi.</ref>