In this course you will learn:

• Why did the French want their form to be so distinctly different?
• Why did the Germans emphasize the orchestra and meaning?
• Why are there two different forms of Russian opera?

Course outline:

Week 1: January 8^th, 2008 - Why French opera insists on being different

• Meyerbeer and Grand Opera
• Gounod and Second Empire
• Bizet, Berlioz, Massenet, etc

Week 2: January 15^th, 2008 - Why German Opera is the antithesis of Italian

• The orchestra and meaning
• How to listen to leitmotifs
• The terrible man and his truthful art
• Strauss' sumptuous soaring sopranos

Week 3: January 22^th 2008 - the two forms of Russian Opera

• Eastward-looking histories and folk tales
• The "mighty handful"
• Westward-looking "european" dramas
• Tchaikovsky and Paris