Rock opera
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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To understand what a rock opera is, one must first understand what an opera is. An opera is a musical play where every word of narrative, monologue and dialogue is sung. The play consists of characters who interract with one another in order to tell a story. If the performance includes dialogue spoken between musical passages, rather than sung, it would, in fact, be an operetta. With a traditional opera, the music is sung in a classical style, whereas a rock opera is sung in a rock music style, but the rules are the same. The rock opera must have a musical script performed by people playing various roles and telling a story in play form. To state that a rock opera is simply a rock music album or stage production that intends to evoke the sense of music drama commonly associated with opera is erroneous. In truth, the form of most works that have been called rock operas is actually much closer to that of concept albums, song cycles or oratorios, if the lyrical story is told inclusively within the musical dialog but the work fails in other ways to adhere to the parameters of an opera.
Rock operas, concept albums, song cycles and oratorios all differ from a conventional rock album, which usually includes songs that are unrelated to each other in terms of storyline. The rock opera style sometimes overlaps with concept albums, song cycles and oratorios. More recent developments include metal opera and rap opera (sometimes also called hip-hopera). The category a particular work falls into is, to some extent, defined by the intent and self-definition of the work by its creator, as long as the creator's interpretation does not stray too far from the accepted definition of what constitutes a rock opera. 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, it is often inaccurately stated that the phrase "rock opera" is, in terms of both music and theater, a misnomer. The term is only a misnomer when it is incorrectly applied to a work that has been miscategorized. Opera consists of individual singers acting out a specific character within a drama. The same is also true of a legitimate rock opera. If a work is comprised of singers who sing a story, but do not act it out, it is not a rock opera, and should not be categorized as such. If the singers sing as specific roles, but the relationship is less rigid than traditional opera, with singers failing to maintain their roles for the entire album (assuming different roles for different songs, or simply narrating via third-person), then the work is not a true rock opera. 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.
