The Birth and Life of Opera

I found the birth and life of Opera a lot more interesting than I was expecting. One of the key things that appealed to me was where it was born, I have visited both Florence and Venice many times, and never realised the history of Opera they have. I now would love to go back and visit some of the sights from the documentary! I was also very interested by the close link the birth of Opera had with the royal family circles, something I was also not aware of at all. Watching the documentary actually made me want to go back and watch some of the first operas and compare them with more recent works. Another thing that really surprised me was that the cancan came from opera! Ive been into the Moulin Rouge myself, and never would have guessed it had routes in opera! I especially like the analogy made that opera is the parent of musicals. I have also been to a chinese opera in Shanghai, so this part was very interesting for me, because it really is like nothing ive ever seen before