32 lectures, 45 minutes per lecture.

Taught by Robert Greenberg Ph.D., 
University of California at Berkeley.

For more than 400 years, opera has been one of the most popular performing arts. Geniuses such as Monteverdi, Mozart, Verdi, Wagner and Puccini have produced some of the landmark artistic achievements of all time in this form. 

With Professor Robert Greenberg to show you how, you can learn to understand, appreciate and even to love opera in just 24 hours of lectures that are a pleasure to hear. 

Armed with the knowledge of opera gained from this course, you will understand how music has the power to reveal truths beyond the spoken word; how opera is a unique marriage of words and music in which the whole is far greater than its parts. You will learn the reasons for opera's enduring popularity. And you will be able to explore in greater depth the extraordinary and compelling world of opera.

Course Lecture Titles

1.  Introduction and Words and Music, I
2.  Introduction and Words and Music, II
3.  A Brief History of Vocal Expression in Music, I
4.  A Brief History of Vocal Expression in Music, II
5.  Invention of Opera and Monteverdi's Orfeo, I
6.  Invention of Opera and Monteverdi's Orfeo, II
7.  Invention of Opera and Monteverdi's Orfeo, III
8.  Invention of Opera and Monteverdi's Orfeo, IV
9.  The Growth of Opera, the Development of Italian Opera Seria, and  
    Mozart's Idomeneo, I
10. The Growth of Opera, the Development of Italian Opera Seria, and 
    Mozart's Idomeneo, II
11. The Growth of Opera, the Development of Italian Opera Seria, and 
    Mozart's Idomeneo, III
12. The Growth of Opera, the Development of Italian Opera Seria, and 
    Mozart's Idomeneo, IV
13. The Rise of Opera Buffa and Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro, I
14. The Rise of Opera Buffa and Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro, II
15. The Rise of Opera Buffa and Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro, III
16. The Rise of Opera Buffa and Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro, IV
17. The Bel Canto Style and Rossini's The Barber of Seville, I
18. The Bel Canto Style and Rossini's The Barber of Seville, II
19. Verdi and Otello, I
20. Verdi and Otello, II
21. Verdi and Otello, III
22. Verdi and Otello, IV
23. French Opera, I
24. French Opera, II
25. German Opera Comes of Age
26. Richard Wagner and Tristan und Isolde, I
27. Richard Wagner and Tristan und Isolde, II
28. Late Romantic German Opera: Richard Strauss and Salome
29. Russian Opera, I
30. Russian Opera, II
31. Verismo, Puccini, and Tosca, I
32. Verismo, Puccini, and Tosca, II.