The master’s thesis comprises a study of the social role of opera through time, and is divided into three parts. The first part speaks about Ancient Greece and Greek tragedy, which were the outset of development of theatre art, from which opera evolved in the spirit of drama. The concept of opera itself is defined as a subcategory of the element of music, which is the core part of the operatic art form and has assumed supremacy over text, at least until Wagner.
The second part of the thesis focuses on operatic art in the time of its greats, such as Mozart, Verdi and Wagner, who gave opera a richer musical form to a dramatic backdrop, which increased the social interest in this type of art. This brought about the pinnacle of development in operatic art along with increased production, helping form the phenomenon of opera audience. This section deals with both the historical development of opera on the one side as well as the aspect of musical and operatic content on the other, where social and philosophical issues are also addressed through the lens of the meaning of operatic content, while also taking into account the social backgrounds and times in which the most important opera composers lived and worked.
The third part deals with a focused specialisation—the meaning of opera audience, which also has a role in relation to and as part of opera production. This section underlines the aspects of social phenomena like cultural and social capital, which comes to light in the characteristics of an opera audience. The research further touches on the issue of the opera audience’s general role and its composition in Slovenia, highlighting the related social, status and ideological aspects.
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