The Birth and Life of Opera

One of five titles in Howard Goodall's Big Bangs: Turning Points in Music History video series, The Birth and Life of Opera offers an entertaining and well-structured perspective on this unique art form, as Goodall takes the viewer back to the beginnings of opera in Florence, Italy with the Camerata's (a group of poets and musicians) creation of the first opera Dafne (1597), which was followed within a decade by Monteverdi's still performed The Fable of Orpheus. Goodall does a particularly good job of emphasizing the political and cultural impact of opera in subsequent centuries with specific examples, such as Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro and Beethoven's only opera, Fidelio, which is very useful for American audiences, student or otherwise, who simply do not relate to opera with the same socio-political sense as Europeans. While there are no thrilling clips of Callas or Pavorotti, this is about opera, not opera stars, and the film features more than enough music to nicely illustrate Goodall's points, which are presented with both creativity and wit. Recommended. The other titles in the series are: Notation: The Thin Red Line, Equal Temperament, The Piano: King of Instruments and Recorded Sound: The Dream Becomes a Reality. Aud: H, C, P. (P. Van Vleck)