How to Make the Best Use of Video-recorded Operas

- A Passageway to Full Appreciation of Works of opera -

Abstract

In this paper the writer will demonstrate that video-recorded opera works are great use to develop an ability to understand other peoples, their countries and cultures.
Here in Japan, few cities have an opera house; few people can enjoy operas as they are actually performed before their eyes just in the town they live in and exactly at the time they have an opportunity. Yet the development of IT as well as audio-visual technology has allowed opera to attract an increasing number of persons. With a lot of performances recorded on video/disk and DVDs, more and more works have reached to an ever wider audience. They can also gain access to the contents of the plays by means of subscriptions.
What is more, video-recorded operas are a great help in teaching people Western history. In many operas, heroes and heroines of Greek mythology and statesmen and generals of Roman Empire appear on the stage. While enjoying operas people can learn a lot about the historical situations and cultures not only of the ancient world but of the modern European countries where the works were written.