linguistic:voice_change, structural:expansion
English-speaking countries

In United Kingdom we cannot speak of an opera of nationalist vindication in the political sense that it had in other countries, but there were attempts to create an English opera alien to Italian, French or German influences. In the field of serious opera this initiative did not take off, despite attempts by authors such as Henry Rowley Bishop, George Alexander Macfarren and the Irish Michael Balfe. Bishop was director of Covent Garden, author of the opera Aladdin (1826). Macfarren was director of the Royal Academy of Music; he composed, among others, An Adventure of Don Quixote (1846) and King Charles II (1849). Balfe, composer, singer and violinist, was first baritone in Palermo, where he premiered his first opera, I rivali di se stessi (1830). In 1835 he returned to England and joined the effort to create an English national opera. He composed twenty-nine operas, including The Siege of La Rochelle (1835), The Maid of Artois (1836) and The Bohemian Girl (1843).

Two other Irish composers developed their work in London, like Balfe: William Vincent Wallace and Charles Villiers Stanford. The former traveled in several countries until he settled in London, where he achieved an early success with the Italianate opera Maritana (1845). After several works of lesser acclaim he produced The Amber Witch (1861), Love's Triumph (1862) and The Desert Flower (1864). Stanford studied in London and Germany. He was the author of several operas in English: Shamus O'Brien (1896), Much Ado About Nothing (1908), The Traveling Companion (1925). Also worth mentioning among British composers are: Granville Bantock (Caedmar, 1893; The Seal Woman, 1924), John Barnett (The Mountain Sylph, 1834; Fair Rosamond, 1837), Julius Benedict (The Lily of Killarney, 1862), Isidore de Lara (Messaline, 1899; Naïl, 1912) and Ethel Smyth (The Boatswain's Mate, 1916).

In the field of comedic opera, however, there was more fortune, in keeping with the long-standing success of ballad opera, which was renewed by a new type of operetta produced by the tandem Arthur Sullivan (composer)— W. S. Gilbert (playwright), which inaugurated a genre called Savoy opera — after the theater where they were performed. Their collaboration began with Thespis (1871) and they had a first success with Trial by Jury (1875). Their best works were The Mikado (1885) and The Gondoliers (1889), which already reflected their disagreements, until soon after they parted ways. Sullivan tried his hand at serious opera with Ivanhoe (1891), on Walter Scott's play.

In Ireland, during the 19th century, mostly Italian opera triumphed, as well as some in English. Composers such as Michael Balfe, Vincent Wallace and Charles Stanford settled in London and wrote in English. It was not until the 20th century that operas were composed in Irish, the first of which was by Robert O'Dwyer (Eithne, 1910). Later of note was Geoffrey Molyneux Palmer (Sruth na Maoile, 1923).

In the United States the fondness for European opera grew throughout the 19th century. In 1883 the Metropolitan Opera House opened in New York City, the most prestigious theater in the country, which in 1966 moved to a new building at Lincoln Center. In the 19th century Italian opera predominated, despite attempts at English-language operas such as those by George Frederick Bristow (Rip van Winkle, 1855) and Silas Gamaliel Pratt (Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra, 1882). In the 20th century, influences of popular music, especially jazz were gradually introduced. Frederick Converse was the author of The Pipe of Desire (1906), the first American opera premiered at the Metropolitan. Scott Joplin, a colored musician exponent of ragtime rhythms, was the author of the opera Treemonisha (1911). The following year, Horatio Parker premiered Mona, which passed without much significance.

Virgil Thomson was the author of what is considered the first great American opera, Four Saints in Three Acts (1928), with libretto by Gertrude Stein. The two collaborated again in The Mother of Us All (1947), based on the life of the feminist Susan B. Anthony. His third and final opera was Lord Byron (1972). Henry Kimball Hadley studied in Boston and Vienna, and was conductor of the Seattle Symphony. His operas include Safie (1909), Azora (1917) and Cleopatra's Night (1919). In 1933 he premiered A Night in Old Paris on radio.

George Gershwin combined classical music with elements of American popular music, especially jazz and blues. In 1922 he premiered the jazz-opera Blue Monday, which was not very successful. His next project was Porgy and Bess (1935), a folk-opera incorporating jazz and blues rhythms, with a libretto by his brother, Ira Gershwin, and DuBose Heyward. It was not very well received initially, although over time it grew in prestige until it was considered one of the best American operas.