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\section*{Research Proposal}
\begin{description}
\item[Author:] Iede Snoek
\item[Title:] The Formal Analysis of Opera
\item[Purpose:] The construcrtion of a formal theoretical frameworks, in
which opera's can be described, classified, and analyzed
\item[Description:]
Books about opera always seem to signify the musical side of opera, with
few exceptions, like {\em Opera as Drama\footnote{Kerman, Joseph. {\em
Opera as Drama}, New York 1952}} by Joseph Kerman. 

On the other hand books about theatre seem to emphasize the non-musical
theatre, and in those books opera is almost completely neglected. Erika
Fischer-Lichte\footnote{Fischer-Lichte, Erika {\em Semiotik des
Theaters: eine Einf\"uhrung} Teil I.  das System der theatralischen Zeichen,
T\"ubbingen, 1983} for the sake of completeness than from a feeling interest.

We can therefore safely state that there is no consistent theoretical
framework for opera analysis, as there is for instance in music
analysis. 

\section*{Methodology}
A good starting point for the building of such a theoretical framework
would be the Aristotelian {\ae}sthetics of drama. Aristotle stated that
a perfect drama had three unities:
\begin{enumerate}
\item Place
\item Time
\item Action
\end{enumerate}
I think those three aspects of drama could be the starting point for our
framework. None of these aspects has been thoroughly researched when it
comes to opera. In books on non-musical theatre, a kind of theoretical
framework can be found, like in Pfister's book on
drama\footnote{Pfister, Manfred {\em The Theory and Analysis of Drama}
Cambridge 1988}. 

In this thesis I will discuss opera's from the whole 400 years of opera
history. From this epoch I will chose the great composers, to keep
things manageable for me. The composers will range from Monteverdi and
Peri to Andriessen and Salinen.
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