It's asking a lot b/c operas are and aren't divisible in terms of "comedy" and "tragedy" in the same way that say Shakespeare plays are (with "historical" as a necessary addendum). I mean, where would you put Eugene Onegin? or Pelleas and Melisande? Both would I guess be termed 'lyric operas', and have laffs as well as a death at the end.
The question really is Option A: The serious operas of Wagner, Berg, "Dido and Aeneas" and "Turn of the screw". Option B: a gigantic mass of Italian opera, featuring every famous aria ever sung, and also let us not forget Kurt Weill.
― poxen, Tuesday, 24 April 2012 14:34 (eleven years ago) link