You’ll watch the opera Gianni Schicchi by Giacomo Puccini on YouTube. It’s a short comedy that’s about an hour long. Here’s a link to a performance with English subtitles:
After you’ve watched the opera, write a response no longer than two pages. You can write about anything. One idea is the examine musical or dramatic differences between this fairly modern opera and the operas we studied in the course. You could also write about connections between Gianni Schicchi and the commedia dell’arte tradition (we looked at that when we studied Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire and you could use that chapter to review basics). The opera itself is based on lines from Dante’s Inferno, and you might be interested in exploring that, or you might have your own thoughts entirely after watching the opera. It’s not long, and it’s both funny and has some gorgeous music.
For more info, you can consult wikipedia, and I’m also linking you to two sites to get you started. The first has some factoids to spur your thinking, and the second includes a good synopsis (summary) of the opera that would be helpful for you to read before you listen.
https://www.operanorth.co.uk/blogs/gianni-schicchi-five-fascinating-facts
http://www.reginaopera.org/Schicchi.htm
