Part One OPERA
Chapter 1 The Origins of Opera
Early opera composers
Star spot: Claudio Monteverdi
L'Orfeo
Chords and chord relationships
Setting words to music
Chords and monody
Word painting
Supporting the drama-Monteverdi's orchestra
The spread of opera
Operatic voice types
Ground bass
Singing-breathing

Chapter 2 Late Baroque Opera
Late Baroque opera composers
Star spot: George Frederic Handel
Julius Caesar
Caesar's aria-`Empio, diro, tu sei'
Triads and their inversions
Cadences perfect and plagal
ii-V-1
The Neapolitan 6th
Baroque compositional devices
Cleopatra's aria-`Se pieta'
The overture
Opera buffa
Singing-posture
Other types of choral works

Chapter 3 Gluck and Opera Reform
Classical era opera composers
Star spot: Christoph Willibald Gluck
Gluck's reforms
Orpheus and Euridice
Orpheus's aria-`Che faro senza Euridice'
Phrasing in Classical melody
Writing a libretto
The Classical opera orchestra
War of the Buffoons
Secondary triads
Amore's aria-`Gli squardi trattieni'
Harmonically derived melodies
Vocal warm-ups

Chapter 4 The Opera of Mozart
Star spot: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Mozart's music
Don Giovanni
Overture to Don Giovanni
Leporello's aria-`Madamina' (`The Catalogue Aria')
The V7 chord
Duet melodies
Ensemble writing
Finale to Act 2, Marriage of Figaro
Diction and articulation

Chapter 5 Italian Opera in the Nineteenth Century
Italian opera composers
Star spot: Giuseppe Verdi
Rigoletto
The Duke's aria-`La donna e mobile'
Accompaniment styles
Cadences-imperfect and interrupted
The diminished chord
Ensemble-`Povero Rigoletto' and `Cortigiani vil razza dannata'
The operatic score
Listening comparison
Extending the range
Famous opera houses

Chapter 6 Nineteenth Century Opera in Northern Europe
Northern European opera composers
Star spot: Richard Wagner
Tristan and Isolde
The leitmotif
Act 2-`Liebesnacht'
Siegfried's funeral music
The circle of fifths
The Tristan chord
Carmen
Internalising pitch

Chapter 7 Opera in the Twentieth Century
Twentieth century opera composers
Star spot: Benjamin Britten
Peter Grimes
Passacaglia and Act 2, scene 2, Peter Grimes
Impressionism in opera
Pelleas and Melisande
Atonality in opera
Wozzeck
Act 3, scene 4-`Wozzeck's suicide'
Jazz influences in opera
The music of Porgy and Bess
Voices-the Fach system

Chapter 8 Opera in Australia
Australian opera composers
Star spot: Richard Mills
Batavia
Act 3-`Lucretia's plea'
In his voice-a composer speaks
Writing an opera scene
Basic opera production terms
Staging an opera scene
Famous Australian singers

Chapter 9 Chinese Opera
Characteristics of Beijing opera
Unicorn Trapping Purse (Suo Lin Nang)
Characteristics of Chinese opera music
Beijing arias and dialogue
Musical construction
Chinese opera instruments
Unusual performance conventions
Issues facing Beijing opera
Divide card: Composition and Performance

Part Two MUSIC THEATRE
Chapter 10 Origins of the Modern Musical
Early music theatre genres
Important contributors
Writing new lyrics to an existing song
The Black Crook
The Mikado
The patter song
`As Some Day It May Happen'
`A Wand'ring Minstrel I'
6/8 time
Three-part vocal harmony-`Three Little Maids from School'

Chapter 11 Tin Pan Valley and the Birth of the Modern Musical
Songwriters on Tin Pan Alley
Famous performers
Star spot: George M. Cohan
Little Johnny Jones
Syncopation in Tin Pan Alley songs
Performing a Tin Pan Alley song
32-bar song form
The piano-Tin Pan Alley accompaniment styles
Showboat
`Ol' Man River'
Spirituals and work songs-the pentatonic scale
`Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man'
The major 7th chord
Types of songs in a musical

Chapter 12 The Golden Age of Broadwar (part 1)
The collaborative music theatre team
Star spot: Rodgers and Hammerstein
Oklahoma!
`Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin''
Lyric writing
Setting lyrics to music
Chromaticism-`People Will Say We?re in Love'
The minor 7th chord
The reprise
From stage to screen
Chapter 13 The Golden Age of Broadwar (part 2)
Important contributors
Star spot: Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe
Famous performers
West Side Story
The hemiola
`America'
The tritone
The tritone in West Side Story
The pit orchestra
Stagecraft terms

Chapter 14 The Rock Musical
Rock beat and guitar riffs in musicals
Vocal tone colour
Hair
Jesus Christ Superstar
`Everything's Alright'
Irregular time signatures
Contrafactum
Tone clusters
Musical techniques in Jesus Christ Superstar
The rock band in music theatre
Rent

Chapter 15 The Concept Musical
Important contributors
Star spot: Stephen Sondheim
Chicago's vaudville parallels
Famous dancer-performers
A Chorus Line
6/4 time
`At the Ballet'
Compositional techniques
A musical montage-`Montage'
Homophonic and polyphonic texture-`Bows'

Chapter 16 The Mega Musical
Famous performers
Star spot: Andrew Lloyd Webber
Les Miserables
The mass chorus-`At the End of the Day' and `Do You Hear the People Sing?'
12/8 time
Recurring themes
`One More Day!'
Combining melodies over a simple harmonic structure
Musical interest in other songs from Les Miserables

Chapter 17 Musical Theatre in Australia
Important Australian contributors
Famous Australian performers
Bran Nue Dae
The jukebox musical
The Boy from Oz
`Tenterfield Saddler'
The Australian bush ballad
`I Go to Rio'
The suspended 4th chord and 9th chords
Writing a short jukebox musical
Study themes in music theatre