Operas in Italian

Italian is the foundational language of opera. From the courtly entertainments of late-Renaissance Florence through the high Baroque, the bel canto era, the Verdian century, and the verismo movement, the Italian repertory defines what most listeners think of when they think of opera. The musical line, the sense of vocal projection, the relationship of consonant to vowel, and the formal expectations of aria and ensemble all originated in this tradition.