Until the mid-1600s, though, opera was considered very expensive, something to be performed for kings and nobility only. All of this changed when the first public opera house was built in Venice in 1637. At the time, the operas most appreciated were those that were most "spectacular": those with great visual and dramatic effects. In the year 1680, for example, an opera was produced that had not only singers and orchestra, but 100 horsemen, chariots, two lions, two elephants, a deer and a bear! Much of this desire for the grandiose remains: many people today have witnessed productions of Verdi's opera Aida, for instance, which is set in Egypt. During one grand procession, an elephant is often brough on stage, and people love it.

During the 1700s and 1800s, opera thrived in the musical centers of Europe, especially in Italy and France, and in later years in England and Germany. During these centuries, two operatic forms developed: "opera seria," or opera based on serious themes, and "opera buffa," or comic opera. Tragedy and comedy in modern operas grew out of these earlier styles.

During the early development of opera, the now-traditional "overture," or instrumental introduction, was born in France. In Italy, the concepts of "aria," or song, and "recitative," or dialogue, were created.
Opera is the predecessor of the "operetta" and of modern musical theater. If you like shows like Oklahoma! Or Les Misérables, you enjoy art forms that grew out of opera.

Thanks to the Utah Opera for this information!