MULTIMEDIA FORMS OF THE TWENTIETH AND TWENTY-FIRST CENTURIES
2023 - 2024
Opera
• An opera is a drama set to music with vocal
pieces and orchestral accompaniment on an
elaborate stage.
• It is a collaboration between the composer
and the dramatist. The text of an opera is
called a libretto. Its writer is called a librettist
or dramatist.
• The dialogue is always sung and never
spoken. Opera characters are revealed
through songs. The composer sets the text to
the appropriate music.
• Just like other art forms, operas are a venue
for airing one's opinion, judgment, or
sentiment. Love, deception, revenge, and
crime are themes that are common in most
Philippine operas.
• Philippine operas were traditionally staged at
the Manila Grand Opera House and the
Metropolitan Theater.
Elements of an opera
1. Costumes
2. Scenery
3. Poetry
4. Acting
Examples of Philippine opera
1. La Loba Negra
➢ La Loba Negra means "the black
she-wolf." It is a Filipino opera. Its
music is composed by 2014 National
Artist Francisco Feliciano and its
libretto is written by Fides Cuyugan
Asensio, a renowned soprano.
2. Noli Me Tangere
➢ Noli Me Tangere, which means
"touch me not," is an opera based on
the novel of the national hero, Dr.
Jose Rizal.
➢ This opera version is written by the
national artist for music Felipe
Padilla de Leon and its librettist is
also a national artist for literature
music 10 s.y.
Guillermo Tolentino. It was first
staged in 1957 at the FEU
Auditorium.
3. El Filibusterismo
➢ El Filibusterismo which is intended
for the Filipinos crying out for
freedom, is more mature and
deeper, depicting a more desperate
point of view on the social and
political situation of the Philippines.
➢ El Filibusterismo was written in
Tagalog by the National Artist
Felipe Padilla de Leon. Its librettist
is Anthony Morli.
4. Sangdugong Panaguinip
Ballet
• When we hear the word "ballet," we think of
the theatrical presentation of the artistic
dance form with formal technique, gestures,
and movements of grace and precision.
• The word ballet (pronounced bah lay' or bah'
lay) came from the French word ballette.
The French word originated from the Italian
balletto, which means "a dance."
• The music form ballet developed from a
simple complement of the dance to a more
particular form of composition. Well-known
ballet music composers include Pyotr Ilyich
Tchaikovsky of Russia and Jean-Baptiste
Lully of France.
• Unlike operas and musical plays, ballet uses
bodily movements and facial expressions
to portray and interpret stories, novels, and
folktales.
• The communication is through the graceful
and creative motion of the limbs and body to
express the specific emotion, as the spoken
words and sung lyrics of operas and musical
plays do.
• In a ballet company, a male ballet dancer is
called a danseur (dän 'ser), and a female
ballet dancer is called a ballerina or
danseuse. Prima ballerina is the lead
female dancer, and the lead male dancer is
called premier danseur.
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Music | 4th quarter // sir Jun-Jun Aquino

EXAMPLES OF BALLET VERSION OF SOME STORIES

1. Lola Basyang
• Lola Basyang is a ballet (Cersion of the
various folktales written by Severino
Reyes from his Mga Kuwento ni Lola
Basyang.

1. Rama Hari
• Rama Hari literally means "King Rama."
In the Philippines, it is the modified
version of Ramayana, an Indian epic. It
was first shown in 1980.

❖ Lisa Macuja-Elizalde — is the first Filipina

prima ballerina. She founded the ballet
manila of which she is the artistic director.

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