 What is the purpose of this essay?

Summarize its main idea,

considering its contents and genre.
 What are some ways that this essay is different from other
readings we have done, including the article by Kyle Gann that we
read in week 1 ("No Such Thing as Silence")
 Overall, what was your reading experience like? What did
you find challenging about this text? What did you do to try to
understand it as much as possible?

In this essay, there are so many idea and analyzing about the opera, especially
emphasizing on the connection between music and plot. According to the
background introduction at the first two paragraphs, I think the author wants to use
the music way to explain how Puccini transform this such critical story into the form
that the audience could accept.

I think that the article by Kyle Gann is more like talk with friend, because he uses
more stories to explain the background of the piece. However, the article we read
this week is more professional. The point that the author emphasized is on the
“analyzing”. Because the topic is more serious and need to use a lot of example form
the piece to support the author’s opinion, the essay is harder to read than other style
of article.

I feel a little bit of difficult. Although I have some experience about reading this kind
of professional academic essay and getting good grade at TOEFL reading test, I still
not familiar with this tone of essay. I have to work very hard and take a lot of notes
when reading. I think the note really helps me a lot, because when I read again, I
could read the note and understand the outline quickly.