Short answers, pulled from the story.
The year 1597 marked the first time in human history that a complete work of music and drama was created with the specific intent of being sung from start to finish. This groundbreaking piece was the brainchild of Jacopo Peri and a group of Florentine humanists known as the Camerata de' Bardi. The score for Dafne has been lost to time.
In the 18th century, the male hero of opera was almost exclusively sung by castrati, men who had been castrated before puberty to preserve their high vocal range and lung capacity. Singers like Farinelli and Senesino became international celebrities who commanded vast sums of money and wielded significant political influence. The castrato voice became the standard for the male lead in opera seria until the practice was gradually abandoned in the 19th century.
Christoph Willibald Gluck revolutionized the operatic landscape in the 1760s by reacting against the artificiality of opera seria, which prioritized vocal display over dramatic truth. His reform operas, such as Orfeo ed Euridice, sought to return to the basics of drama, ensuring that music, ballet, and staging were all subservient to the overriding story. This movement toward beautiful simplicity paved the way for Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
Richard Wagner fundamentally altered the course of music history by abolishing the distinction between aria and recitative in favor of a seamless flow he called endless melody. His concept of the Gesamtkunstwerk, or complete work of art, fused music, poetry, and painting into a unified whole, creating operas that were not just entertainment but profound philosophical statements. Wagner's mature music dramas, including Tristan und Isolde and the four-part Ring Cycle, utilized a complex web of leitmotifs to create psychological depth.
As opera spread across Europe, it evolved into distinct national traditions, with composers like Mikhail Glinka in Russia, Bedřich Smetana in Bohemia, and Ferenc Erkel in Hungary creating works that reflected their own cultural identities and folk traditions. These national operas emerged as a response to the dominance of Italian and German styles, incorporating local stories, languages, and musical idioms to create a unique voice for each country. The 20th century saw opera become a laboratory for new ideas with composers like Benjamin Britten, Dmitri Shostakovich, and John Adams.
Beginning in 2006, major opera houses began to transmit live performances in high definition to cinemas around the world, making the art form more accessible than ever before. Before the era of electronic amplification, singers had to develop vocal techniques that allowed them to project their voices over a full orchestra without the aid of microphones. The advent of recording technology in the early 20th century transformed famous singers like Enrico Caruso and Maria Callas into international stars.