There is only one place that you can go to witness murder, casual sex, infidelity, political intrigue, and an occasional walking statue from Hades and still call it high art. That place is the opera. As teachers, we know that opera is a vital and living part of our musical heritage. Many young people, however, know nothing about opera or have the unfounded belief that opera is boring, unintelligible, and attended only by bluebloods with blue hair. Fortunately, there are plenty of resources online (and off) that help us bring opera to the next generation.

www.operaworld.com/cornerstones
The Cornerstones site, by Opera America, presents information about the 20 most performed operas in North America (see Fig. 2). Students can read the stories, learn about the composers, and listen to audio clips. You'll find links to recommended readings and recordings, as well as notes from the directors and insights into the history and sociopolitical environments surrounding the creation of these operas. The information is at a reading level appropriate for middle school and above.

FIG. 2: The Cornerstones site presents a wealth of information about 20 popular operas, and offers links to recommended readings, recordings notes from the directors, insights into the operas’ histories, and more.

www.operamania.com/initiation.htm
Available in English and Spanish, OperaMania.com helps opera lovers find recordings, books, and performances. On the main page is a link to the Initiation into Opera section, which takes you to the Short Guide to Learning and Loving Opera. This guide can be printed and distributed to students as part of a unit on opera. Here students learn how opera, as a combination of theater and music, expresses many of the emotions we experience in our daily lives, such as jealousy, impossible love, betrayal, friendship, and love-duty conflict.

Students are guided to learn opera by reading the plots and the libretto translations while listening to the recordings. What interested me, however, was the list of operas to tackle first. OperaMania recommends Rigoletto and La Traviata as good first experiences in opera. Both operas have well-defined characters, intelligible plots, and dramatically meaningful music.

www.soyouwanna.com/site/syws/opera/opera.html
One of my favorite sites about opera comes from an Internet networking company that exists to help people learn about everything from table manners to indie rock bands. SoYouWanna.com takes a humorous five-step approach to introducing opera.

In the Destroy Your Assumptions section, students learn that opera isn't just for rich people, it won't put you to sleep, it has a thriving and growing audience of people in their 20s and 30s, and the use of English supertitles makes it easier to understand than the words in an MTV music video. The site features a mercifully brief overview of the history of opera, a wry description of the voice types and their typical roles, a list of some of the more accessible operas to begin studying, suggestions on how to listen to opera recordings, and a list of things to know about attending a live opera performance.

FIG. 3: The Arizona Opera’s Web site features a fun, animated learning section called “Opera Ha-Ha.” The best parts are “Whack a Tenor” and “Opera Karaoke.”

www.azopera.com/learn.php
As part of its educational mission, the Arizona Opera has devoted a portion of its Web site to opera synopses, composer bios, and guides for people who are new to opera (see Fig. 3). My favorite part of the site, however, is the Opera Ha-Ha section. This animated learning tool helps students feel less intimidated by opera. There is an opera trivia game, an activity to help students make their own Viking helmets, and printable finger puppets and doorknob hangers. The best parts are Whack a Tenor and Opera Karaoke sections. If you think your unit on opera is getting too serious, check out this site.

A number of sites created by opera companies across the country also provide lesson plans and background information for frequently performed operas. They include the New York City Opera (www.nycopera.com) and the Metropolitan Opera (www.metoperafamily.org/education). The Opera Company of Philadelphia (www.operaphilly.com) also has an interactive presentation of Puccini's Madame Butterfly and its place in the history of opera. Of course, there are far too many great sites to include in this small column. For additional resources, see www.stevenestrella.com/mused/websitings.html.

Steven Estrella owns StevenEstrella.com and Shearspire, Inc., creating interactive media for business and education. He teaches for Villanova, Duquesne, and Central Connecticut State universities and is on the National Board of Advisors and Board of Directors of TI:ME. Contact him at steve@stevenestrella.com.