Rock opera

A rock opera or rock musical is a musical production in the form of an opera or a musical in a modern rock and roll style rather than more traditional forms. It differs from conventional rock and roll music, which is often a song that is unlinked in plot or story with other songs, but overlaps considerably with concept album, song cycle, or rock musical. More recent developments include metal opera and rap opera.

Related Topics:
Opera - Musical - Rock and roll - Concept album - Song cycle - Metal opera - Rap opera

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Which of these categories 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, but some albums share aspects of both of these cases. The rock musical is generally first performed as a theatrical production rather than appearing as an album, has little or no identification with a particular band and a generally stronger air of show business. The categories are flexible, to say the least.

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Pete Townshend, both with and without his band The Who, is arguably the single artist most associated with the term rock opera. The earliest example of the form was seen in the track "A Quick One While He's Away" from The Who's second album, A Quick One (1966), a nine-minute suite of song snippets telling an operatic story. In 1968 The Pretty Things released S.F. Sorrow, thought to be the first attempt at a single thematic concept expressed over an album's worth of songs. Less than a year later The Who returned with Tommy, the first album explicitly billed as a rock opera. Tommy remains one of the most famous rock operas, with concert, film and theatrical productions mounted over the course of three decades. The Who would later release another rock opera, Quadrophenia, also made into a film.

Related Topics:
Pete Townshend - The Who - A Quick One - 1966 - The Pretty Things - S.F. Sorrow - Tommy - Film - Theatrical - Quadrophenia

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Townshend is also considered the originator of the term itself. In 1966, he played a comedy tape to his friends called "Gratis Amatis". One of his friends made the comment that the odd song was "rock opera." Kit Lambert, the Who's producer, is than believed to have said "Now there's an idea!"

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Ten years later, Pink Floyd enjoyed similar success with their rock opera The Wall, written primarily by Roger Waters, which became the third best-selling album of all time. As with Tommy, The Wall has been staged both by Pink Floyd (1980-81) and Waters (1990) as an incredibly elaborate concert, with Waters' version taking place at the Berlin Wall. The plot was also used in an eponymous feature film, and Waters is currently adapting the story for a Broadway-style production.

Related Topics:
Pink Floyd - The Wall - Roger Waters

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What appears to be the first actual experiment in rock opera - officially accepted and so baptized by all major musical press in Italy - is Then an Alley, also known as The Beat Opera, conceived and staged by Tito Schipa, Jr., composer and director, son of the tenor Tito Schipa, at the Piper Club in Rome, in May 1967. Schipa Jr. adapted 18 Bob Dylan songs to fit into a scenic background, and eventually wrote and staged at the Sistina Theater in Rome, the work Orfeo 9. This was the first original Italian rock opera and probably the first in the world to be staged, in January 1970. Orfeo 9 became a double album and a film under the musical direction of Academy Award winner Bill Conti.

Related Topics:
Italy - Tito Schipa, Jr. - Tito Schipa - Rome - 1967 - Bob Dylan - Sistina Theater - Double album - Academy Award - Bill Conti

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