Exploring opera 1
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- Start Date: 16 Sep 2025End Date: 25 Nov 2025Tue (Daytime): 13:30 - 15:30In PersonLocation: Keeley StreetDuration: 10 sessions (over -11 weeks)Course Code: MD997Tutors: Pauline GreeneFull fee £269.00 Senior fee £215.00 Concession £188.00
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What is the course about?
This course follows The Oxford Illustrated History of Opera by Roger Parker (OUP, 1994), which we encourage you to read alongside this course. This is the first of three modules of Exploring Opera, but each module can be taken as a stand-alone course.
In Exploring opera 1 we focus on the earliest operas at the turn of the 17th century through to the reforms of the late 18th century.
What will we cover?
- The origins of opera: Bardi’s Camerata and Monteverdi’s early style
- Recitative and aria, the building blocks of opera
- The importance of the Orpheus legend
- French 5-act operas
- Purcell and opera/semi opera in English
- Handel’s London opera seria
- The Beggar’s Opera
- Operatic reform of Metastasio, Gluck and early Mozart.
What will I achieve?
By the end of this course you should be able to...
- Discuss individual operas and their social and political context
- Understand the circumstances of each opera’s composition and first performance
- Discuss the place of these operas in the context of their composers’ lives and work.
What level is the course and do I need any particular skills?
This course is for those with some familiarity in listening to a particular composer or opera, having taken a previous beginners course, or a willingness to undertake short reading tasks between sessions. We may look at music scores and identify key features of music notation, but this will not be the main focus of the studies.
How will I be taught, and will there be any work outside the class?
Tutor presentation, guided listening and watching, class discussion and debate.
Course materials will be shared via Google Classroom: handouts, scores, links to online audio and video, recommendations to encourage and support further reading and listening outside class.
Are there any other costs? Is there anything I need to bring?
Please bring a notebook and pen to make your own notes. If you would like to read a textbook alongside this course we recommend The Oxford Illustrated History of Opera by Roger Parker (OUP, 1994), but this is not essential for your enjoyment of the course.
You may also wish to purchase some of the music books or recordings discussed in class; links to these materials will be available after each session. You may also wish to attend live performances.
When I've finished, what course can I do next?
This course is followed by Exploring Opera 2 next term.
City Lit offers a wide range of Music history courses. For more information, visit our Guide to the Music history programme.
You may also be interested in our Music theory and musicianship offer, or one of our many practical music courses.
Pauline Greene studied composition at Nottingham University and then composed, performed and was Musical Director with various theatre companies. She taught flute and composition, performing her music across the UK at various venues, including the Southbank Centre and the Edinburgh Festival, with her group The Concert Party, which she managed and directed. She has taught at the Universities of Middlesex and Hertfordshire, and ran the Music Access course at Morley College. She taught at Birkbeck from 1984-2023, moving from Music to Arts Management, and currently lectures on the MA in Events and Experience Management at Goldsmiths. She has given talks at the Royal Opera House, Wigmore Hall and Glyndebourne. At City Lit Pauline teaches a wide range of music history courses, with specialisms in opera, music for dance, theatre and film, musical analysis, and music since 1900. She is still involved in the organisation of small-scale charity concerts and one-off musical events, and she sings and plays with several small groups.
Please note: We reserve the right to change our tutors from those advertised. This happens rarely, but if it does, we are unable to refund fees due to this. Our tutors may have different teaching styles; however we guarantee a consistent quality of teaching in all our courses.
