A Educator’s Guide to
L’Italiana in Algeria By Gioachino Rossini
A companion to the Student Guide
HOW TO USE THIS GUIDE Opera offers a unique teaching opportunity to explore the arts through many different disciplines including literature, art, history, and music. This guide has been designed to provide educators with suggestions on how to integrate the music and historical background of Rossini’s L’italiana in Algeri into the existing curriculum. For applicable National Standards, please contact Washington National Opera’s Education and Community Programs Department at 202.448.3465 or at education@dc-opera.org.
WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU GET THERE The dress rehearsal of L’italiana in Algeri will begin promptly at 7:00 p.m. The Kennedy Center Opera House doors open 30 minutes prior to the beginning of the performance. Please plan to arrive early, as latecomers will be seated only at suitable breaks in the music, often not until intermission. Seating at Washington National Opera’s dress rehearsals is open. When you arrive, please have your passes ready to present to the ushers who will direct you to the area of the Opera House where you will be seated. The running time for this rehearsal of L’italiana in Algeri is approximately two hours and 40 minutes, including one intermission.
YOUR ROLE IN OPERA Opera is a collaborative art. It requires the work of many people including the director, designer, singers, the orchestra, crew, and the audience. The audience is an important part of every performance. As an audience member, your role is to suspend disbelief and imagine that the story enacted before you is really happening, to let the action and music surround you, and to become part of the show. To help your students feel comfortable with their role as opera-goers, Washington National Opera has prepared some tips for performance etiquette. Please review What you will see and other stuff… (in the Student Guide) with your students. Following these guidelines will help everyone have a great experience!
THE SETTING History/Social Studies: Modern Italy and Algeria are very different from the time period in which Rossini was composing. Research the period in which Rossini lived, and describe what it would have been like to live in Italy during the early 1800s and what the Italians’ perceptions of the Algerians were at the time. Music History: Have students find other examples of composers and librettists who wrote operas in their native language, but set the story in a country and culture foreign to their own. The examples in the Student Guide include Giacomo Puccini’s Turandot and Madama Butterfly, and Georges Bizet’s Carmen. Compare these operas with L’italiana in Algeri and discuss how the composer’s own culture colored his portrayal of the country he was writing about. Discuss if these are accurate portrayals of the foreign country presented.
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