The components of opera are:

orchestra, chorus, aria, recitative, ballet, act and scenes, overture and
libretto.

1. 1. OPERA It is a musical composition having all or most of its text set to
music arias, recitative, chorus, duets, trios, etc. sung to the orchestral
accompaniment.
2. 2. COMPONENTS OF THE OPERA Libretto - the text of an opera
3. 3. Overture -instrumental composition which serves as an introduction to
the opera.
4. 4. Recitative - a sung dialogue; a vocal part that is declaimed following the
pattern of speech rather than melody.
5. 5. Aria - a song which poetically and musically reflects dramatic feeling
6. 6. Score - The book that the composer and librettist put together.
7. 7. Duo, trio and other small ensembles -a group of musicians, actors, or
dancers who perform together.
8. 8. Chorus -Broadly speaking, a chorus is any substantial group who act
more or less as one. They can give the history to an event so the opera does
not have to elaborate by showing the event. They are usually set as a group
- examples being - Beethoven's Fidelio as the prisoners, Mascagni's
Cavalleria Rusticana as the villagers, Bizet's Carmen as the factory girls etc.
9. 9. Orchestra -An orchestra is a large instrumental ensemble that contains
sections of string, brass, wood wind, and percussion instruments.
10.10. Orchestra -. A smaller-sized orchestra for this time period (of about
fifty musicians or fewer) is called a chamber orchestra. A full- size orchestra
(about 100 musicians) may sometimes be called a "symphony orchestra" or
"philharmonic orchestra"
11.11. Tenor - Highest male voice - The highest paid singer - Plays the hero or
lover
12.12. Baritone - Middle male voice; common male voice - Usually plays the
villain, evil prison wardens, or other antagonists.
13.13. Bass - Lowest male voice - Plays priests, kings, fathers, and sometimes
Devil.
14.14. Soprano - Highest female voice - Plays heroines, sweet things and get
paid the most
15.15. Coloratura - Highest soprano voice
16.16. Lyric - Bright and full sound
17.17. Dramatic - Darker full sound
18.18. Mezzo-Soprano - Most common female voice; strong middle voice,
tone is darker or deeper than the soprano -Plays evil characters, seductress,
sometimes teenage boy
19.19. Contralto - Lowest female voice and most unique among female -
Portrays maids, mothers, grandmothers, and some witches
20.20. A Capella - One or more singers performing without instrumental
accompaniment
21.21. Cantabile - In a singing style
22.22. Capo - head, the beggining
23.23. Coda - Closing section appended to a movement or song
24.24. Dolce - sweetly
25.25. Falsetto - A weaker and more airy voice usually in the higher pitch
ranges
26.26. Glissando - Sliding quickly between 2 notes
27.27. Passagio - Parts of a singing voice where register transitions occur
28.28. Rubato - Slight speeding up or slowing down of the tempo of a piece
at discretion of the soloist
29.29. Tessitura - The most comfortable singing range of a singer
30.30. Vibrato - A rapidly repeated slight pitch variation during a sustained
note, to give a richer and more varied sound.
An overture is a piece of music for the orchestra to play at the beginning of
an opera or ballet. The word comes from the French word for "opening"
because it "opens" the show.
Overtures usually have tunes which are going to be heard during the opera
or ballet. In this way it prepares the audience for what is to come.
Many overtures in the 18th century were simply background music to get
the audience's attention (people used to chatter during performances).
Some composers like Gioacchino Rossini (1792-1868) used the same
overture again and again for his next operas, or just changed bits of it.
Composers like Christoph Willibald Gluck and later Richard Wagner (1813-
1883) were very careful to make the overture a dramatic beginning which
prepared the audience for the story. Wagner often called his overtures
"Vorspiel" (Prelude).
Not all composers wrote overtures to their operas. Giuseppe Verdi (1813-
1901) and Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924) often go straight into the first act
or they just have a very short prelude.
In the 19th century many Romantic composers wrote concert overtures.
These pieces did not belong to any opera or ballet, they were just written to
be heard at concerts. They often had a descriptive title because they told
some sort of story, e.g. Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) wrote an overture
"Fingal's Cave" which describes the sea coming into the cave in the Inner
Hebrides islands. Sometimes these descriptive pieces were much longer
than an overture (which is usually just a few minutes), so they were
called tone poems.
Overtures are usually played in sonata form

Recitative (/ˌrɛsɪtəˈtiːv/, also known by its Italian name "recitativo"

([retʃitaˈtiːvo])) is a style of delivery (much used in operas, oratorios,
and cantatas) in which a singer is allowed to adopt the rhythms and
delivery of ordinary speech. Recitative does not repeat lines as formally
composed songs do. It resembles sung ordinary speech more than a
formal musical composition.
Recitative can be distinguished on a continuum from more speech-like to
more musically sung, with more sustained melodic lines. The mostly
syllabic recitativo secco[A] ("dry", accompanied only by continuo, typically
cello and harpsichord) is at one end of a spectrum, through recitativo
accompagnato (using orchestra), the more melismatic arioso, and finally
the full-blown aria or ensemble, where the pulse is entirely governed by the
music. Secco recitatives can be more improvisatory and free for the singer,
since the accompaniment is so sparse; in contrast, when recitative is
accompanied by orchestra, the singer must perform in a more structured
way.
The term recitative (or occasionally liturgical recitative) is also applied to
the simpler formulas of Gregorian chant, such as the tones used for
the Epistle, Gospel, preface and collects; see accentus.

In music, an aria ([ˈaːrja]; Italian: air; plural: arie [ˈaːrje], or arias in common
usage, diminutive form arietta [aˈrjetta], plural ariette, or in English
simply air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or
without instrumental or orchestral accompaniment, normally part of a larger
work. An aria is a formal musical composition unlike its counterpart,
the recitative.
The typical context for arias is opera, but vocal arias also feature
in oratorios and cantatas, sharing features of the operatic arias of their
periods. The term was originally used to refer to any expressive melody,
usually, but not always, performed by a singer.
Chorus -Broadly speaking, a chorus is any substantial group who act more or less
as one. They can give the history to an event so the opera does not have to
elaborate by showing the event. They are usually set as a group - examples being -
Beethoven's Fidelio as the prisoners, Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana as the
villagers, Bizet's Carmen as the factory girls etc.

Ballet traces its origins to the Italian Renaissance, when it was developed as a court entertainment.
During the 15th and 16th centuries the dance technique became formalized. The epicentre of the art
moved to France following the marriage of the Italian-born aristocrat Catherine de Médicis to Henry II of
France. A court musician and choreographer named Balthasar de Beaujoyeulx devised Ballet comique de
la reine (1581; “The Queen’s Comic Ballet”), which inaugurated a long tradition of court ballets in France
that reached its peak under Louis XIV in the mid-17th century.

As a court entertainment, the works were performed by courtiers; a few professional dancers were
occasionally participants, but they were usually cast in grotesque or comic roles. The subjects of these
works, in which dance formed only a part alongside declamation and song, ranged widely; some were
comic and others had a more serious, even political, intent. Louis XIII and his son Louis XIV frequently
performed in them; the younger Louis was in time regarded as the epitome of the noble style of dancing
as it developed at the French court.