Everything you wanted to know about opera but were afraid to ask?

My lecture series, An Introduction to Opera, takes place next academic year, during January and February 2016, as part of the programme of Art History lectures given by The Course at the University Women's Club in Audley Square. The course will aim to introduce the operatic genre and put the works in historical context. There will be five lectures,  

• Operatic Beginnings: Baroque opera from Monteverdi to Gluck,  
• Classical to Romantic: Mozart, Beethoven and Weber, 
• Italian Bel Canto: Rossini, Donizetti, Bellini, 
• They do it differently in France: 19th century French opera,  
• 19th Century Colossuses: Verdi and Wagner

Each lecture will introduce the music of the period with historical background, and concentrate on three composers with a more detailed examination of one work by each, so the first lecture introduces Monteverdi and L'Orfeo, Handel and Giulio Cesare and Gluck and Orfeo ed Eurydice. There will be the opportunity to listen, at the end of the lecture, to a suitable operatic excerpt and participants will get suggested listening lists.

Founded in 1994, The Course's presents a wide range of lively art history lectures and courses, so that whatever your background, the courses challenge participants to see the arts in new ways. They take a fresh and innovative approach and encourage lively debate and discussion, as well as crossing over into literature, music and opera. Groups are small, informal and friendly and with the opportunity to socialise and exchange ideas with like-minded people.

Further information and booking from The Course website.