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A 'rock opera' is a rock music album or stage production that resembles the form of an opera.
The historical reference of the word "opera" would most always include the live performance of such an event. In a true opera,
the lyrical story would be told inclusively within the musical dialog. If the performance includes dialog between musical passages,
it would in fact be an operetta.
It differs from a conventional rock album, which usually includes songs that are unrelated to each other in terms of storyline. However, the rock opera style overlaps considerably with concept albums and song cycles. More recent developments include metal opera and rap opera (sometimes also called hip-hopera). The category a particular work falls into is largely defined by the intent and self-definition of the work by its creator. The formal distinction may be that the rock opera tells a coherent (if sometimes sketchy) story, often with first-person lyrics sung by characters; while a concept album or song cycle sets a mood or maintains a theme. Some albums share characteristics of more than one category. ''Tommy'', one of the best known rock operas, also had a rock musical production.
On a technical note, the phrase "rock opera" is, in terms of both music and theater, a misnomer. Opera consists of individual singers acting out a specific character within a drama, whereas rock opera is comprised of singers who sing a story, but do not act it out. The singers in rock opera can sing as a specific role, but this relationship is less rigid than traditional opera; singers rarely maintain the role for the entire album, usually assuming a different role for different songs, or simply narrating via third-person. Ironically, the phrase "rock oratorio" would be far more appropriate (despite the fact that oratorios are usually sacred in nature), as most of the conventions within rock operas are shared by oratorios.

Contents

1960s

1970s and later

References

See also

External links

1960s

The term ''rock opera'' is generally credited as originating from an informal gathering of Pete Townshend and some friends in 1966. Townshend played a comedy tape to his friends called ''Gratis Amatis''. One of his friends made the comment that the odd song was a "rock opera". Kit Lambert, the Who's producer, is than believed to have said "Now there's an idea!" However, the July 4, 1966 edition of ''RPM Magazine'' (published in Toronto) notes that "Bruce Cockburn and Mr [William] Hawkins are working on a Rock Opera, operating on the premise that to write you need only 'something to say'."
The earliest example of what would be later known as "rock opera" was written by guitarist for The Who, Pete Townshend, a figure who would go on to be identified with the form more than any other. Townshend wrote the track "A Quick One While He's Away" which appeared on The Who's second album, ''A Quick One'' (1966), a nine-minute suite of short songs telling the operatic story of the seduction of a young girl guide (Townshend) by an engine driver named Ivor (played by John Entwistle).
''Then an Alley'', also known as ''The Beat Opera'', was conceived and staged by Tito Schipa, Jr., composer and director, son of the tenor Tito Schipa, at the Piper Club in Rome, Italy, in May 1967. While ''Then an Alley'', an adaptation of 18 Bob Dylan songs made to fit into a scenic background, made a moderate splash in its country of origin, it went completely unnoticed elsewhere in the world. Schipa Jr. later went on to write and stage the work ''Orfeo 9'' at the Sistina Theater in Rome. It became was the first ever staged original Italian rock opera when in debuted in January 1970. ''Orfeo 9'' became a double album and a film under the musical direction of future Academy Award winner Bill Conti.
In 1968 British rock band, The Pretty Things released ''S.F. Sorrow'', the first attempt by a rock band at a single, narrative-based thematic concept expressed over an album's worth of songs. ''S.F. Sorrow'' outlined a coming of age story focused on protagonist Sebastian F. Sorrow, although the storyline was not as coherent as those to be found in later rock operas.
In 1969 Pete Townshend and The Who released ''''Tommy'''', the first of The Who's two full-scale rock operas (the other is ''Quadrophenia''), and the first musical work explicitly billed as a rock opera. [In some older publications it is called ''Tommy (1914–1984)''.] The album was largely composed by Townshend, with two tracks contributed by bassist John Entwistle and one attributed to drummer Keith Moon, although actually written by Townshend.^[1]
An earlier song by blues artist Sonny Boy Williamson II, "Eyesight to the Blind", was also incorporated. ''Tommy'' remains one of the most famous rock operas, with concert, film, ballet, and theatrical productions mounted over the course of four decades. The Who would later release another rock opera, ''Quadrophenia'' (1973), also made into a film, and a mini rock-opera, ''Wire & Glass'' (2006), from Townshend's larger concept of ''The Boy Who Heard Music''.

1970s and later

Townshend's rock opera influenced many including composer Andrew Lloyd Webber who, with lyricist Tim Rice composed ''Jesus Christ Superstar'' which was first recorded and released as a concept album in 1970. The money made from album sales was used to fund the subsequent stage production in late 1971 which had been Lloyd Webber and Rice's original vision. ''Jesus Christ Superstar'' was explicitly billed as a "rock opera" and though it first appeared in recorded form, it became far more famous as a Broadway musical, leading it to be called a "rock musical", blurring the distinction between the two terms.
Pink Floyd's rock opera ''The Wall'', written primarily by Roger Waters, became the third best-selling album of all time. As with ''Tommy'', ''The Wall'' has been staged as an elaborate theatre performance; by Pink Floyd in 1980 and 1981, and by Waters in 1990 (at the Berlin Wall). The plot was also used for the feature film ''Pink Floyd The Wall'', and Waters has been adapting the story for a Broadway-style production. In 1996, John Miner staged the rock opera ''Heavens Cafe'' at the Flamingo Theater in Las Vegas, and again in Los Angeles in 2004.
Some heavy metal bands have released albums inspired by rock operas; often in a progressive metal framework. In some cases they have overlapped considerably with the format of metal concept albums. Queensryche's album Operation Mindcrime, Dream Theater, Ayreon, Avantasia, Kamelot, Pain of Salvation and King Diamond are a few examples of metal bands that have released metal opera albums that could actually be staged. ''Punk rock opera'' is a term coined by the pop-punk band Green Day to describe their 2004 album, ''American Idiot''.

References

1. http://www.thewho.net/discography/songs/TommysHolidayCamp.html

See also

★ List of rock operas

★ List of rock musicals

★ Concept album

★ Concept EP

External links

★ Original rock musicals and/or operas on the Internet

★ Strong Bad Email #125 "rock opera"

★ Ultrasonic Rock Orchestra A rock super-group based in Boston whose shows include numerous covers of rock opera songs, and an original rock opera, "Will We Rock You?"

★ A web-site about Rock Operas '(Russian)'