‘Opera is complex for those who perform it, but also for those who listen to it. It takes more time, more patience and more spirit of sacrifice. All this is well worth it because opera offers such deep sensations that they will remain in a heart for a lifetime.’

So said the world-famous Italian singer Andrea Bocelli.

It was those deep sensations evoked by opera that I hoped to harness in my latest book, Concerto, set on Lake Como, Italy. Two of the characters in the book are opera singers: the hero’s mother is a very accomplished and famous opera diva, and the heroine, Catriona, has a beautiful voice and set out to build a career in opera, before her plans were derailed when she unexpectedly fell pregnant.

I have loved opera for as long as I can remember, and I often listen to this music when I am writing or planning my novels. Today, I thought I would share with you a brief history of this beautiful art form.

My well-thumbed edition of the Oxford English Dictionary defines opera as ‘a dramatic work in one or more acts, set to music for singers and instrumentalists’. This could also describe musical theatre, but generally speaking with opera there is little spoken dialogue; the singing is continuous. I always think that opera has a different feel too; it is deeper, more dramatic and emotional. As the soprano Maria Callas put it:

‘An opera begins long before the curtain goes up and ends long after it has come down. It starts in my imagination, it becomes my life, and it stays part of my life long after I’ve left the opera house.’

An opera is created through the collaboration of a composer, who writes the music, and a librettist, who writes the words. The opera is often performed at a venue devoted to the art, the opera house, which is opulent and beautiful. (Pictured with this article is the Palais Garnier, built for the Paris Opera and the setting of Gaston Leroux’s 1910 novel The Phantom of the Opera.) Scenery, lighting, costumes, the orchestra, the ensemble and perhaps even dancers – all combine to create a stirring spectacle.

Opera originated in Italy, and the first opera, Dafne by Jacopo Peri, was written at the end of the sixteenth century. The first opera diva was known as Madama Europa and she would perform at the court of the Dukes of Mantua.

Opera soon caught on, especially once it was performed at the Venice Carnival of 1637. Two forms emerged: opera seria, which were dignified pieces written to please the wealthy and influential of society (who often sponsored the operas), and opera buffa, which were comedies to entertain everyone.

During the Baroque era (1600–1750), opera spread across Europe, but still it was commonplace that the libretti (the words) were Italian; even the operas of the German composer Handel were sung in Italian. And who sung the operas? Usually at this time the lead vocal was high-pitched, and a castrated male would sing the part. (Today, women sing these parts.)

Come the eighteenth century, the most famous opera composer was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, whose works include The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte and The Magic Flute. This was the Classical period (1750–1830), when the Enlightenment inspired changes across the arts – more simplicity in style and more realism in stories.

The Romantic period came next (1830–1900). Many great works were created in this era, when opera was grander and bolder with a focus on vocal ornamentation: Rossini’s Barber of Seville, Bizet’s Carmen and Verdi’s La Traviata. Richard Wagner was another key figure at this time who shook up the status quo with new ideas about harmony and structure in an opera. Following in their footsteps was the Italian composer Puccini, whose works La bohème, Tosca, Madam Butterfly and Turandot are performed all over the world to this day.

I will leave you with one of my favourite arias from Madam Butterfly, which my heroine, Catriona, performs in Concerto.