https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKEmjjUxkp4



Italian Opera and Music

Italy is famous for its classical music and also for its opera music. Opera began in Italy around 1600. Many opera works by native Italian composers are famous throughout the world today. Famous Italian composers include Verdi and Puccini. Their works include La Traviata and Rigoletto. The operas began in Mantua and Florence. Opera thern moved on to larger citites such as Rome. Operas in Rome were very dramatic and many people that went to see them were the aristocrats od Rome. The opera then moved on to Venice. In Venice they made the price of entrance to operas was lowered. This meant that anybody was able to afford to go and see an opera. The Arena di Verona is an opera house in the city of Verona. Italy is famous for its tradition in classical music. Verdi was a romantic composer from Italy who composed opera music. Sacred string music and instrumental concertos and orchestral music is also traditional to Italy. Ballet dancing is also famous in Italy.

Traditional Chinese music and Instruments

Chinese music is played solo or in groups. The instruments that are popular are stringed instruments, flutes, cymbals, gongs and drums. A traditional woodwind instrument from China is called a sheng. It is the main instrument used in Chinese operas. It is a mouth blown reed instrument with vertical pipes of different lengths. The Zhonghu is a traditional stringed instrument. It was developed in the 20th century. It is a low sounding instrument and it is the alto member to the Huqin family. Ethnic Han is the main type of music. The music is similar to the Chinese language. The music is portrayed in a poetry like manner with silences throughout. After the collapse of Imperial China, many different types of Western music have become popular in China.