Music

Quarter 4 - Module 1:
Plot, Musical and Theatrical
Elements of an Opera
This module has the following parts and corresponding icons:

What I Need to Know This will give you an idea of the skills or
competencies you are expected to learn in
the module.

What I Know This part includes an activity that aims to

check what you already know about the
lesson to take If you get all the answers
correct (100%), you may decide to skip this
module.

This is a brief drill or review to help you link

What’s In
the current lesson with the previous one.

In this portion, the new lesson will be

What’s New introduced to you in various ways such as
a story, a song, a poem, a problem opener,
an activity or a situation.

What is it This section provides a brief discussion of

the lesson. This aims to help you discover
and understand new concepts and skills.

What’s More This comprises activities for independent

practice to solidify your understanding and
skills of the topic. You may check the
answers to the exercises using the Answer
Key at the end of the module.

What I Have Learned This includes questions or blank

sentence/paragraph to be filled in to
process what you learned from the lesson.

What I Can Do This section provides an activity which will

help you transfer your new knowledge or
skill into real life situations or concerns.

This is a task which aims to evaluate your

Assessment
level of mastery in achieving the learning
competency.

Additional Activities In this portion, another activity will be

given to you to enrich your knowledge
or skill of the lesson learned. This also
tends retention of learned concepts.
Answer Key This contains answers to all activities
in the module.
At the end of this module, you will also find:

Reference This is the list of all sources used in

developing this module.

The following are some reminders in using these modules:

1. Use the module with care. Do not put unnecessary mark/s

on any part of the module. Use a separate sheet of paper in
answering the exercises.
2. Don't forget to answer What I Know before moving on to the
other activities included in the module.
3. Read the instruction carefully before doing each task.
4. Observe honesty and integrity in doing the tasks and
checking your answers.
5. Finish the task at hand before proceeding to the next.
6. Return this module to your teacher/facilitator once you are
through with it.
If you encounter any difficulty in answering the tasks in
this module, do not hesitate to consult your teacher or
facilitator. Always bear in mind that you are not alone.
We hope that through this material, you will experience
meaningful learning and gain deep understanding of the
relevant competencies. You can do it!

CO_Q4_Music 9_ Module_1

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 What I Need to Know

Hi! And welcome to Music

This module encourages and helps you to participate in an

organized event that addresses and condemn as well as
organize event for a understanding of characteristic
features of vocal music of the Romantic Era.

Also, this will help you

The module is composed only of one lesson:

• Lesson 4. Vocal Music of the Romantic Era

After going through this module, you are expected to:

1. Demonstrates understanding of the characteristics of the
vocal music of the Romantic Era.
2. Sing and perform themes of selected songs.
3. Narrate The plot, musical, and theatrical elements of an
opera after a video and/or movie showing.
4. Listen perceptively to selected art song \s and excerpts of
opera.
5. Sing themes or melodic fragments of given selected songs.

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 What I Know

1. What role does the piano typically play in art songs?

A. Solely as accompaniment C. Equal partner to the singer
B. As a dominant solo instrument D. Background filter

2. Which form of art song features a repeated tune for each stanza of the
poem.
A. Through-composed C. Aria
B. Strophic D. Recitative

3. How did the composers’ experiments with composition lengths in arts

songs?
A. By making them longer than other musical forms
B. By keeping them shorter than the other musical forms
C. By varying the length to suits the next
D. By avoiding experimentation with length

4. Which instruments is predominantly used to accompany the solo voice in

arts songs?
A. Violin C. piano
B. Flute D. Harp

5. In the through-composed arts songs, what happens to musically from each

stanza of the poem?
A. The same music is repeated C. The tempo remains constant
B. Different musical setting is used D. The piano plays solo section

6. Arts song is typically composed for which combination of voice and

instrument?
A. Voice piano C. Voice guitar
B. Voice and orchestra D. Voice Acapella

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 Lesson
Plot, Musical and Theatrical
1 Elements of an Opera

What’s In

Feeling is an emotional state or reaction. Feelings help us to survive

and promote emotional attachment and social interaction. Feelings can be
expressed through writing, singing, acting or painting. How do you express
yours? One of the best tools for expressing one’s feelings is through singing.
This form of expression, also known as vocal music, has been an important
form of musical expression since the Medieval period. It continued to flourish
up to the Romantic period. Romanticism coincided with the Industrial
Revolution in Western Europe that brought about the rise of Socialism and
Capitalism ideologies. The Romantic Period’ tends to give emphasis to
emotional subjectivity which was neglected with the Enlightenment's focus on
logic.

What’s New

Activity 1: Watch Up!

Watch the Scene of the Opera titled “Phantom of the Opera by Jon
Robyns and Lily Kerhoas’ at the big night of Musicals. (January 2024). After
watching, answer the following answers.

1. What do you feel about watching Opera?

2. how did the setting and atmosphere contribute to the overall mood of the
musical?
3. How did the relationships between the characters evolve throughout the
musical?
4. overall what did you take away from watching “The Phantom of the Opera?”
Did it leave a lasting impression on you, and if so, how?

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 What Is It

The very development of the Opera sprung up from the idea of putting forward
and more exploration on the concept of “word painting” (music enhancing words).
This idea coupled with an understanding of ancient Greek theatre resulted in the
formulation of a new musical form, the opera. It is a combination of music, both
vocal and instrumental, acting, visuals, theatrics, tied together by a storyline; a
combination of all the arts in one extravagant performance. From its beginnings
during the Baroque period its popularity and performance in the Western music
scene continued up to the Romantic period.
Romanticism, its focus of emotions, fits well to the concept with which the
opera was originally conceived. Although a lot of things change in the performance
of the opera during the Romantic period, a lot of the well-loved and frequently
performed opera were composed during this period. Some of which are La Traviata,
La Bohome, Carmen, etc.
What makes a piece of music an opera? What makes it unique from other musical
forms? Let us look at the different musical and theatrical elements of the
opera.

Components of an Opera
Libretto - the text of an opera. It contains the
story or the plot of the opera.
Librettist, the person who writes the
libretto, and the composer work
closely together to create the whole
story of the opera.
Score - the book that the composer and
librettist put together. The score has
all the musical notes, words and
ideas to help the performers tell the
story.

Recitative - Declamatory singing, used in the

prose parts and dialogue of opera.
Recitative may be accompanied
(accompagnato) or unaccompanied
(secco).

Recitative from the La Traviata by Giuseppe

Verdi
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfuAD0d
OeDk

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Score - the book that the composer and librettist put together. The score has all the
musical notes, words and ideas to help the performers tell the story.

Recitative - Declamatory singing, used in the prose parts and dialogue of opera.
Recitative may be accompanied (accompagnato) or unaccompanied (secco).

Recitative from the La Traviata by Giuseppe Verdi

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfuAD0dOeDk

Aria – an air or solo singing part sung by a principal character. This song is what the
public will remember best when leaving the opera house. Properly and well
sung, a beautiful aria can bring an audience to its feet and decide the fate of
an entire opera.

Aria “Nessun Dorma” from Turandot by Giacomo Puccini

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_hLh4qCqpg

Aria “Quando m’en vo” from La Boheme by Giacomo Puccini

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ouWV7aQTGM

It is also important to know the types of voices of singers. This will serve as a
guide for singers on their choice of songs and vocal quality expected of a singer or opera
character

For the Male Voice:

1. Tenor - highest male voice
2. Baritone - Middle male voice, lies between Bass and Tenor voices. It is the
common male voice.
3. Bass - lowest male voice

For the Female Voice:

1. Soprano- highest female voice

Coloratura-highest soprano voice
Lyric-bright and full sound
Dramatic- darker full sound
Mezzo-Soprano- most common female voice; strong middle voice, tone is
darker or deeper than the soprano.
2. Contralto- lowest female voice and most unique among female.

Apart from solo parts in the opera there are also duets, trios, other small
ensemble, and even chorus parts.

Anvil chorus from G. Verdi’s La Traviata

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8aHsJdMEMY

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 The opera is divided into several acts and scenes. Acts are the main divisions of
the opera. It is a distinctive part of the story with its own small rising action and even
climax. An act is also divided into scenes which may pertain to a specific setting or
place.

The opera being an elaborate combination of different art forms, its production is
very costly. A lot of money was spent for the set designs, props, make-ups and
costumes of the performers to project the scenery and for the overall aesthetic effect of
the opera performance.

The opera, from its very beginning, is accompanied by an instrumental ensemble

called the orchestra. During the Romantic period, one the changes that occurred in the
opera performance was the increase in numbers of orchestra players in a performance,
from 20-25 players to 50-60 players.

Due to the increasing number of orchestra players in the opera, composers like
Verdi, Puccini and Wagner saw the opportunity to explore ways to develop the vocal
power of a singer. Greater range of tone color, dynamics and pitch were employed.

Let’s Look at an example of a Romantic opera

LA TRAVIATA
Music by Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901)
Libretto in Italian by Francesco Maria Piave, based on “La Dame aux Camélias,” play
by Alexandre Dumas after his novel by the same name. The play is known in English
as “Camille.” Premiere: Venice, March 6, 1853.
Categorized as a Romantic tragedy. set in
Paris, France during 1850.
Originally in three acts, but present-day productions are usually in four acts dividing
the original Act II
ACT I: Violetta‟s Paris salon, luxuriously furnished
ACT II: A villa near Paris
ACT III: Ballroom in Flora‟s mansion
ACT IV: Violetta‟s bedroom

Here is a summary of the story/plot of “La Traviata”

https://www.operaphila.org/whats-on/on-stage-2015-2016/la-
traviata/fullsynopsis/

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 What’s More
Activity 2: Opera Composers and their Works

Here are some famous opera composers of the Romantic period with their short
biography. Choose two of them and supply the necessary information on the organizer
below. (note: you can also refer to the link for further reading)

Name of Composer:

Title of Opera: (just

choose one)
(can you also attach a
YouTube link if you find
a full performance of
the opera)

Brief Summary of the

Story/Plot of the
Opera.
(Don’t forget to cite your
sources)

Number of Acts

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 1.

2.

Famous Arias
3.

4.

5.

1. Giuseppe Verdi
Verdi was born in Parma, Italy on October 9, 1813. He studied
in Busseto and later went to Milan where his first opera
“Oberto” was performed in La Scala, the most important opera
house at the time. Almost all of his works are serious love story
with unhappy ending. Expressive vocal melody is the soul of a
Verdi opera. He completed 25 operas throughout his career.
His final opera ends with “All the world‟s a joke.”Some of his
famous operas are still being produced and performed
worldwide. His much-
acclaimed works are; La Traviata, Rigoletto, Falstaff, Otello
and Aida were he wrote for the opening of the Suez Canal.
He died in Milan, Italy on January 27, 1901.

Photo Source:
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Giuseppe-Verdi

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2. Giacomo Puccini
Giacomo Puccini was born in a poor family on December 22,
1858 in Lucca, Italy. He studied at the Milan Conservatory. He
belonged to a group of composers who stressed realism,
therefore, he drew material from everyday life, rejecting heroic
themes from mythology and history. Puccini‟s famous operas
were: “La Boheme”, “Tosca”, “Madame Butterfly”, and
“Turandot”.

Photo Source: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Giacomo-Puccini

3. Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was born in Leipzig, Germany on
May 22, 1813. He attended Leipzig University. He was very much
inspired by Ludwig van Beethoven. Wagner introduced new ideas
in harmony and in form, including extremes of chromaticism.
He was an advocate of a new form of opera which he called
“music drama” where musical and dramatic elements were
fused together. He developed a compositional style in which the
orchestra has of equal importance in dramatic roles as the
singers themselves. His famous works are; “Tristan and Isolde”,
“Die Walkyrie”, “Die Meistersinger”, “Tannhäuser”, and
“Parsifal”. His work would later influence modern film scores,
including those of the Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings film
series. Wagner died of a heart attack on February 13,1883 at age
of 69.
Photo Source:
https://www.biography.com/musician/richard-wagner

4. Georges Bizet
Georges Bizet, original name Alexandre-César-Léopold
Bizet, but was baptized Georges Bizet and was always
known by the latter name. He was born October 25, 1838 in
Paris, France. His realistic approach influenced the verismo
school of opera at the end of the 19th century.His most
famous opera is “Carmen”. However, when “Carmen” first
opened in Paris, the reviews were terrible. The shows were
criticized in horrible ways that resulted in poor audience
attendance. During the first round of “Carmen”
performances, Bizet died (June 3, 1875). He was only 36.
Four months later, “Carmen” opened in Vienna, Austria,
and was a smash hit.

Photo Source:
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Georges-Bizet

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 What I Have Learned

Activity 3: Match the Composer with the Art Song

Direction: Match each composer with one of their famous art songs.

Composers Work

1. Giuseppe Verdi

2. Giacomo Puccini

3. Richard Wagner

4. Georges Bizet

A. “Carmen”
B. “La Yraviata”
C. “ The Magic Flute” ( Die Zaubertflote)
D. “Madama Butterfly”
E. “Tristan und Isolde”

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 What I Can Do

Imagine your attending an opera workshop where participants are given

the opportunity to learn basic vocal techniques and perform excerpts from
famous operas. How would you approach the learning process, and what role
would you envision for yourself in the workshop?

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Summary
Many changes in the world of vocal music were brought by the Romantic
Era. Composers made great strides during this time to closely associate the text
or words of a piece with its musical counterpart.

Opera Composers of the Romantic Period

1. Giuseppe Verdi
2. Giacomo Puccini
3. Richard Wagner
4. Georges Bizet

The biggest and true achievements during the Romantic period in theatre
were in opera. One of the striking characteristics of the late 18th and early 19th
centuries is the development of the idea of romantic love linked to marriage.
Romantic operatic voice is trained to be full and rich, powerful enough to fill an
opera house in the days before electronic amplification.

Components of an Opera:
1. Libretto
2. Score

Assessment
Let’s see what you have learned!

Direction: Write the letter of the best answer in every item.

1. He introduced new ideas in harmony and in form, including extremes of

chromaticism.
A. Franz Peter Schubert C. Giacomo Puccini
B. Giuseppe Verdi D. Richard Wagner

2. It is a musical sequence which represents a particular character/plot element in

an opera or a musical drama.
A. Elements C. Motifs
B. Leitmotifs D. Plot twist

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 3. He belonged to a group of composers who stressed realism (verismo) in opera.
A. Franz Peter Schubert C. Giuseppe Verdi
B. Giacomo Puccini D. Richard Wagner

4. It is the German word for songs.

A. Lieder C. Poet
B. Musica D. Singer

5. His first opera “Oberto” was performed in La Scala, the most important opera
house at the time.
A. Franz Peter Schubert C. Giacomo Puccini
B. Giuseppe Verdi D. Richard Wagner

6. He is a French composer most famous for his opera “Carmen.

A. George Bizet C. Giuseppe Verdi
B. Giacomo Puccini D. Richard Wagner

7. The following are the works of Wagner, except one.

A. Tristan and Isolde C. Tannhäuser
B. Die Meistersinger D. Parsifalle

8. The following Operas’ are works of Giuseppe Verdi except for;

A. La Traviata C. Rigolleto
B. Carmen D. Aida

9. The following are the famous operas of Pucinni, except one.

C. La Boheme C. Tosca
D. Madame Butterfly D. Turandot

10. Georges Bizet realistic approach is shown in his work

A. Turandot C. La Boheme
B. Aida D. Carmen

References
Learner’s Material for Music & Arts Grade 9

https://courses.lumenlearning.com/musicappreciation_with_theory/chapte
r/musical-innovations-in-the-baroque-era/

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3_zvRyjors

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Giuseppe-Verdi

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Giacomo-Puccini

https://www.biography.com/musician/richard-wagner
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Georges-Bizet

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