Broken hearts have been the mainstay of opera from its inception in the sixteenth century up to today. This course looks at eight different operas and their eight different composers - Italian, French, German, Russian and English. We shall listen to songs of heart break sung by both men and women, be they highborn or penniless. Marvellous music transports us from the time of the Druids and Romans to early twentieth century Venice and a plague of cholera, from medieval Cornwall to Rome’s Castel Sant’Angelo.

DELIVERY MODE

• Face-to-Face

SUGGESTED READING

• Thomas Mann: Death in Venice
• Walter Scott: The Bride of Lammermoor

COURSE OUTLINE

• Norma - Bellini (1831)
• Lucia di Lammermoor - Donizetti (1835)
• Tristan und Isolde - Wagner (1859)
• Carmen - Bizet (1875)
• Eugene Onegin - Tchaikovsky (1878)
• Otello - Verdi (1887)
• Tosca - Puccini (1899)
• Death in Venice - Britten (1973)

LEARNING OUTCOMES

By the end of this course, students should be able to:

1. Appreciate the different settings of the operas.
2. Gain knowledge of deaths of three couples.
3. Appreciate the features of bel canto singing.