Course Description

Instructor: John Bayne

Italian opera continued to evolve in the first half of the nineteenth century as composers and librettists continued to seek the "more perfect union" of words and music. Operas from this period are known as "bel canto" -- beautiful singing. The operas suffered a slump in popular interest early in the twentieth century until a revival arose in the 1940s, spurred by singers such as Maria Callas, Joan Sutherland, and Beverly Sills.

Instructor Bio: John Bayne was born in Tennessee and grew up in South Carolina. After earning bachelor's and masters degrees in mathematics from Clemson University he worked 36 years in the telecommunications industry, with AT&T, IBM, Northern Telecom, and others, in New Jersey, North Carolina, Texas, England, California, and finally Atlanta. He has published articles in literary journals and three books on cemetery and gravestone studies. His interest in opera began in high school and continues to the present. He served on the education committee of the Dallas Opera Guild and hosted a weekly radio opera broadcast at the University of North Texas.