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Opera management is exclusively focused on the artistic direction of performances, with financial aspects being entirely delegated to separate entities.
Answer: False
Explanation: Opera management is a comprehensive discipline that integrates both the artistic and financial dimensions necessary for the successful presentation of opera to the public.
In UK English, an individual responsible for opera management may be referred to as an intendant.
Answer: True
Explanation: The term 'intendant' is a recognized professional title for an opera manager in UK English, alongside general manager or managing director.
The responsibilities of an opera manager are strictly confined to overseeing the singers and musicians of an opera company.
Answer: False
Explanation: An opera manager's responsibilities extend beyond just singers and musicians, often including the management of the physical opera house and encompassing both artistic and administrative aspects.
Opera is considered a multi-faceted art form primarily due to its exclusive reliance on vocal performances and orchestral accompaniment.
Answer: False
Explanation: Opera is multi-faceted because it integrates various elements such as singers, musicians, scenery, costumes, and sometimes dancers and non-singing actors, not solely vocal and orchestral components.
Opera management is a highly specialized field with no administrative overlap with other performing arts.
Answer: False
Explanation: Opera management shares administrative commonalities with arts administration and general theater management, indicating significant overlap rather than complete specialization.
Beyond singers and musicians, an opera production may require scenery, costumes, and additional performers such as dancers.
Answer: True
Explanation: Opera productions are multi-faceted, requiring a range of elements beyond core performers, including visual components like scenery and costumes, and sometimes additional actors or dancers.
What is the fundamental definition of opera management?
Answer: The process of overseeing how opera is presented and delivered to audiences, encompassing all aspects from artistic production to financial administration.
Explanation: Opera management is a comprehensive discipline that integrates both the artistic and financial dimensions necessary for the successful presentation of opera to the public.
Which of the following is NOT a common professional title for an individual responsible for opera management?
Answer: Artistic director
Explanation: While an artistic director is a crucial role in opera, the common professional titles for overall opera management are general manager, managing director, or intendant, which encompass broader operational and financial responsibilities.
Beyond managing singers and musicians, what additional responsibility frequently falls within the purview of an opera manager?
Answer: Managing the physical opera house where performances are staged.
Explanation: An opera manager's role often extends to the administration of the physical opera house, in addition to overseeing the artistic personnel.
What is the primary reason opera is considered a multi-faceted art form requiring complex management?
Answer: Because its production involves a combination of elements such as singers, musicians, scenery, costumes, and sometimes dancers and non-singing actors.
Explanation: Opera's multi-faceted nature stems from its integration of diverse artistic and technical components, all of which demand intricate coordination and management.
What administrative fields are closely related to opera management?
Answer: Arts administration and the broader role of a theater manager.
Explanation: Opera management shares core administrative principles and practices with the wider fields of arts administration and general theater management.
Besides singers and musicians, what specific physical elements are requisite for an opera production?
Answer: Scenery, costumes, and sometimes additional performers like dancers.
Explanation: Opera productions are visually and dramatically rich, necessitating elements such as scenery, costumes, and often additional performers to enhance the narrative and aesthetic experience.
The high fixed costs associated with maintaining year-round contracts for numerous singers and musicians are a significant factor contributing to opera being the most expensive performing art.
Answer: True
Explanation: Opera's high fixed costs, including year-round contracts for personnel and the maintenance of physical infrastructure, are primary reasons for its expense.
Modern opera organizations rely exclusively on public funding, with private sector support playing no significant role.
Answer: False
Explanation: Modern opera organizations face a dual challenge, requiring both private sector support and public funding, indicating that neither source is exclusive.
Presenting opera as 'high art' embodying universally valuable cultural heritage is a strategic approach utilized to secure public funding.
Answer: True
Explanation: Positioning opera as 'high art' and cultural heritage is a common strategy to justify and secure public funding, emphasizing its societal value.
What constitutes a primary reason for opera being considered the most expensive performing art?
Answer: Its high fixed costs, including year-round contracts for many singers and musicians and maintaining the opera house.
Explanation: The substantial fixed costs associated with personnel contracts, set and costume creation, and venue maintenance are the principal drivers of opera's high expense.
What dual challenge do contemporary opera organizations encounter regarding funding and public perception?
Answer: Needing marketing and private sector support while also seeking public funding by presenting opera as 'high art.'
Explanation: Modern opera organizations must strategically balance the commercial imperatives of marketing and private funding with the cultural imperative of securing public support by emphasizing opera's status as 'high art' and cultural heritage.
How do contemporary opera organizations incur fixed costs related to their personnel and physical infrastructure?
Answer: Through year-round contracts for many singers and musicians, and costs for maintaining sets, costumes, and the opera house.
Explanation: Fixed costs in modern opera are largely driven by sustained employment of artistic and technical staff, as well as the continuous upkeep of production assets and performance venues.
In the context of seeking public funding, what does presenting opera as 'high art' embodying 'cultural heritage' generally imply?
Answer: That opera is a significant artistic and historical legacy deserving public support and preservation.
Explanation: The appeal to 'cultural heritage' emphasizes opera's enduring value and its role as a societal asset worthy of public investment and safeguarding.
The earliest operas were typically financed and performed through public subscription.
Answer: False
Explanation: The earliest operas were privately financed and performed by noble families for court occasions, not through public subscription.
Marco da Gagliano's 'La Flora' was an early opera commissioned to celebrate a royal coronation.
Answer: False
Explanation: Marco da Gagliano's 'La Flora' was commissioned to celebrate the marriage of Margherita de' Medici and Odoardo Farnese, not a royal coronation.
Grand Duchess Maria Maddalena actively participated in the production of 'La Flora' by securing musicians and attending rehearsals.
Answer: True
Explanation: Grand Duchess Maria Maddalena played an active role in 'La Flora' by securing talent, attending rehearsals, and potentially contributing to the plot.
How were the earliest operas typically financed and presented?
Answer: Privately performed and financed by noble families for grand court occasions.
Explanation: The initial phase of opera saw it as an exclusive art form, supported and performed within aristocratic court settings.
Marco da Gagliano's 'La Flora' was performed in 1628 to commemorate what specific event?
Answer: The marriage of Margherita de' Medici and Odoardo Farnese.
Explanation: 'La Flora' was a celebratory work commissioned for a significant dynastic marriage within the Medici family.
What active role did Grand Duchess Maria Maddalena play in the production of 'La Flora'?
Answer: She secured musicians and singers, attended rehearsals, and possibly contributed to the plot.
Explanation: Grand Duchess Maria Maddalena's involvement in 'La Flora' extended to practical aspects of production and potentially creative input, demonstrating active patronage.
Publicly performed operas first appeared in Rome during the 17th century.
Answer: False
Explanation: Publicly performed operas first emerged in Venice during the Carnival season of 1637, not in Rome.
Venice's existing public theatres, originally utilized for plays, significantly facilitated the emergence of public opera.
Answer: True
Explanation: The presence of numerous public theatres in Venice, previously used for plays, provided the necessary infrastructure for the transition to public opera performances.
The Teatro San Cassiano in Venice is recognized as the world's first theatre specifically dedicated to opera.
Answer: True
Explanation: The rebuilt Teatro San Cassiano holds the historical distinction of being the first theatre globally devoted exclusively to opera.
'L'Andromeda' was the first commercially produced opera at the Teatro San Cassiano, with Benedetto Ferrari serving as its composer.
Answer: False
Explanation: While 'L'Andromeda' was the first commercially produced opera at Teatro San Cassiano, Francesco Manelli was the composer, and Benedetto Ferrari was the librettist.
Patrician Venetian theatre owners typically produced and managed the opera performances themselves to maximize profit.
Answer: False
Explanation: Patrician Venetian theatre owners typically rented out their venues to other individuals or groups, who then assumed the responsibility for producing and managing the opera performances.
In 17th-century Venice, the 'cassier' was the central figure responsible for assembling the creative team and making artistic decisions.
Answer: False
Explanation: The impresario was the central figure responsible for assembling the creative team and making artistic decisions, while the 'cassier' primarily handled financial administration.
Impresarios in Venetian opera production invariably acted as investors and renters of the theatre, never simply being hired by others.
Answer: False
Explanation: Impresarios sometimes acted as investors and renters, but on other occasions, they were hired by theatre renters and their backers, indicating a flexible range of financial and organizational roles.
The 'cassier' in Venetian opera management was primarily responsible for artistic casting decisions.
Answer: False
Explanation: The 'cassier' was responsible for the financial administration, including payments and receipts, not artistic casting decisions.
Marco Faustini was a notable impresario from 17th-century Venice.
Answer: True
Explanation: Marco Faustini is recognized as one of the most famous impresarios of 17th-century Venice, managing several opera houses.
In 17th-century Venetian opera, impresarios were solely responsible for financial decisions, with artistic choices made exclusively by composers.
Answer: False
Explanation: Impresarios in 17th-century Venetian opera were responsible for both business and artistic decisions, including assembling the creative team, indicating a broader scope than just financial oversight.
When and where did publicly performed operas first emerge?
Answer: Venice during the Carnival season of 1637.
Explanation: The transition from private court opera to public performances began in Venice, specifically during the Carnival season of 1637.
What existing infrastructure in Venice significantly facilitated the emergence of public opera?
Answer: Numerous public theatres already present and used for plays.
Explanation: Venice's pre-existing network of public theatres, originally designed for dramatic productions, provided a ready-made venue infrastructure for the burgeoning public opera scene.
Which theatre is globally recognized as the first specifically dedicated to opera?
Answer: The Teatro San Cassiano in Venice.
Explanation: The Teatro San Cassiano holds a unique place in operatic history as the inaugural theatre purpose-built for opera performances.
Who was the composer of 'L'Andromeda,' the first commercially produced opera at the Teatro San Cassiano?
Answer: Francesco Manelli
Explanation: Francesco Manelli composed 'L'Andromeda,' a landmark work as the first commercially produced opera at the Teatro San Cassiano, with Benedetto Ferrari serving as its librettist.
How did patrician Venetian owners of theatres typically generate revenue from their establishments?
Answer: By renting out their venues to other individuals or groups who would then be responsible for producing and managing the opera performances.
Explanation: Venetian theatre owners primarily operated as landlords, leasing their venues to impresarios or other producers rather than directly managing the opera productions themselves.
In 17th-century Venice, who was the central figure responsible for assembling the singers, musicians, and creative team, and for making both business and artistic decisions?
Answer: The impresario
Explanation: The impresario held the pivotal role in 17th-century Venetian opera, integrating both the entrepreneurial and artistic leadership functions.
What were the potential financial and organizational roles an impresario might undertake in Venetian opera production?
Answer: They were sometimes hired by theatre renters and their backers, but on other occasions, the impresario also acted as one of the investors and the renter of the theatre.
Explanation: Impresarios demonstrated flexibility in their roles, sometimes serving as hired managers and at other times assuming direct financial and rental responsibilities for productions.
What was the specific administrative function of the 'cassier' in Venetian opera management?
Answer: To handle all payments and receipts, managing the financial side of the production.
Explanation: The 'cassier' was the financial officer, responsible for all monetary transactions within the opera production.
Which of the following was a notable impresario from 17th-century Venice?
Answer: Marco Faustini
Explanation: Marco Faustini is historically recognized as a prominent impresario who significantly influenced 17th-century Venetian opera.
In the 19th century, opera management was predominantly characterized by large organizational structures rather than the influence of individual impresarios.
Answer: False
Explanation: The 19th century saw opera largely managed by individual impresarios, a period characterized by their personal financial risk and influence, rather than large corporate structures.
Frederick Gye, a prominent 19th-century opera manager, famously described his profession as a 'highly profitable venture'.
Answer: False
Explanation: Frederick Gye famously described opera management as a 'dreadful business,' highlighting its challenging and often unprofitable nature.
Frederick Gye's primary contribution was the establishment of the first public opera house in London.
Answer: False
Explanation: Frederick Gye's significant contribution was transforming the Royal Italian Opera in Covent Garden into a premiere opera house and shaping singers' careers, not establishing the first public opera house.
How was the profession of opera management characterized in the 19th century, particularly when overseen by individual impresarios?
Answer: As 'a devouror of the fortunes of the victims it has tempted by its seductions,' highlighting its financially demanding nature.
Explanation: The 19th-century characterization of opera management by impresarios emphasized its financially perilous and often ruinous nature, rather than its profitability.
Frederick Gye, a prominent 19th-century opera manager, famously described his profession using what phrase?
Answer: A dreadful business.
Explanation: Frederick Gye's characterization of opera management as a 'dreadful business' underscores the significant difficulties and pressures he experienced in the role.
What was Frederick Gye's notable contribution to the London opera scene in the 19th century?
Answer: He transformed the Royal Italian Opera in Covent Garden into one of London's premiere opera houses and shaped singers' careers.
Explanation: Frederick Gye's legacy includes elevating the Royal Italian Opera at Covent Garden and significantly influencing the careers of contemporary singers.