Opera is a tricky world for the novice. Understanding this glorious art requires patience and a willingness to learn. Most opera is hard to comprehend because it carries the strength of centuries of tradition behind it. It is a glorification of the human, however, and understood in that respect, it can bring the viewer to great heights of understanding and self-awareness.
Opera is a mixture of singing, dancing, stage design and elaborate costuming.
It is often spectacular due to it's roots in European aristocracy. Opera is a descendant of the courtly entertainment, a form of play that was performed for nobility before the Renaissance. The Florentine Camerata, a group of thinkers sparked by the Renaissance and its new humanistic wave of thought, united these two concepts in an attempt to return to the aesthetic ideals of the Greeks. What they formed, instead, was the spark that brought Opera into existence. The first combination of monody and the pastorale was attempted by two members of the Florentine Camerata, Peri and Caccini.