Opera in the Romantic era was a time when opera changed dramatically, especially in Italy. The recognition of singers as important, almost irreplaceable, in the art of bel canto opera forever changed the idea of ​​the singer in opera. A singer's voice was prized and Italian composers, such as Rossini, Donizetti and Bellini, wrote operas and works to highlight the voice, its color, range and agility. These Italian composers were moving away from the normal compositional style of the time, and from the composer Rossini, who paved the way for many other followers. Many operas written during this era are still performed today and are highly regarded. For the most part, before Italy became a major player, France and Germany were the main musical regions. The lives of these composers were extremely important in the development of the Romantic period of opera and they truly put Italy in the public eye for their amazing operas and musical styles. “Bel canto,” which literally means “beautiful song,” was a very important factor taken into consideration during the Romantic era. According to Charles Osborne, bel canto singing can be defined as "a method of singing taught by Italian masters [...] in which the gentle delivery of tone, the beauty of timbre and the elegance of phrasing are among the most important elements important (Osborne, intro).” The main vocal style of this “bel canto” song is coloratura. Coloraturas have a very broad palette and have a lot of vocal agility, moving from one note to another extremely quickly. In much romantic music, the cadenzas were written with this type of singing in mind. Image 1 is the score of Il Barbiere di Siviglia by Rossini and shows an example of the coloratura singi...... middle of paper ...... modified from the way this opera was to be written in Italy , but they set the standard for the whole world and their works are therefore classic and timeless and will be played for an extremely long time. Works Cited Gossett, Philip, William Ashbrook, Julian Budden, Friedrich Lippmann, Andrew Porter, Mosco Carner. Masters of Italian Opera. New York: Norton and Company, 1980. Grout, Donald Jay and Williams, Hermine Weigel. A Brief History of Opera: 4th Edition. New York: Columbia University Press, 2003 Simon, Henry W. 100 Great Operas and Their Stories. New York: Anchor Books, 1989Osborne, Charles. The bel canto operas of Rossini, Donizetti and Bellini. Portland, Oregon: Amadeus Press, 1994Weaver, William. The golden century of Italian opera: from Rossini to Puccini. New York: Thames and Hudson, Inc.., 1988