Operatic knowledge organisation: an exploration of the domain and bibliographic interface in the classification of opera subgenres

The classification of Western art music is notoriously complex, and the classification of opera subgenres provides distinct challenges. So, this paper considers the classification of opera subgenres from a knowledge organisation perspective. The paper starts with a short examination of key ideas from genre theory and musicological writings on genre, as well as the idea of opera subgenres. The categorisation of opera subgenres in the music domain is examined, utilising key music essays and sources. The large number of opera subgenres is identified, and the subgenres are explored using the framework of hierarchical, equivalence and associative relationships. The treatment of opera subgenres in eight bibliographic classifications is examined, where it is found to both reflect the disarray of the music domain and offer distinct discords. A model is proposed which considers the classification of opera subgenres on two planes, combining the web of relationships between subgenres (inter-subgenre plane) with the categorisation of the subgenre’s constituent attributes (categorisation plane).