Opera

Opera, defined as "a type of theatre in which most or all of the characters sing most or all of the time" [ref.] was invented in Italy in the sixteenth century and spread to the rest of Europe in the following century. It was initially associated with royal courts and still has a reputation as an art form favoured by the wealthy, but throughout its history has influenced popular music. With the rise of the impresario, opera was the first form of music to be organised on a commercial basis and presented to a paying audience. Leading singers commanded large salaries and gained international reputations, and sheet music helped popularise opera arias - the first hit tunes. In the nineteenth century, famous opera singers were the first popular artists to go on large-scale American tours, drawing huge crowds to the newly-built opera houses of American cities. At the same time, opera became a genuinely popular form in some European countries, especially Italy.

The early recording industry favoured opera singers, whose powerful voices overcame the limitations of the primitive studio techniques; the most famous of these artists being Enrico Caruso. He was the first of many opera singers - often Italians or Italian-Americans - to make the "crossover" to commercial success during the twentieth century. Others included Mario Lanza, who became a star of records and films in the 1950s, recording for RCA Victor at the same time as Elvis Presley, who admired him. While the rock generation of the 1960s found opera old-fashioned and snobbish and the repertoire of most opera houses included few works written after 1900, ambitious pop musicians began to toy with the concept of rock operas. The term rock opera (see the Wikipedia article) is now applied to a wide range of extended or thematically-linked compositions; the best-known of these are The Who's "Tommy" and "Quadrophenia" and Pink Floyd's "The Wall".

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Sessions

 * Number of sessions? Any commercial release of sessions?

1. Recorded: YYYY-MM-DD. First broadcast: DD Month YYYY. Repeated: DD Month YYY 2. Recorded: YYYY-MM-DD. First broadcast: DD Month YYYY. Repeated: DD Month YYY etc
 * Song title / Song Title / Song Title / Song Title
 * Song title / Song Title / Song Title / Song Title

(Please correct mistakes and add any missing info)

Other Shows Played
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 * DD Month YYYY: Song (single/album) Label