In art, ‘mise en scene’ plays a very integral role. The reason being, it facilitates the comprehensive physical arrangement of performers, stage related properties and scenery amongst others in a performing arena. One of the primary areas in which ‘mise en scene’ is of great significance is in Operas. Since time in memorial, it has been used in stage setting so as a way of visualizing films. With this in mind, therefore, the purpose of the paper is to discuss in detail on the use of ‘mise en scene’ in the Opera Guillaume Tell.

Created in 1829, Guillaume Tell is a French form of an Opera that was written by Gioachino Rossini and is composed in four acts. The English version of the Opera is Guglielmo Tell. The composition is an interesting piece that displays the remarkable talent of the artist. While watching the composition, there are some things that I discover. First, I realized that people in the society being depicted in the Opera love to sing and dance whenever they are carrying out an activity. Further, during celebrations like weddings, the trend is also very common. Given the type of the activity being done, people chanted in unison to same songs and danced harmoniously. Probably, this was observed as a way of preventing one from getting tired as a result of working for long hours especially to the servants. In other cases, it was a way of expressing personal emotions like joy, love, achievement and sorrow. Again, given that music is a characteristic of an opera, it is no doubt that this was done as a way of achieving this efficiently.

Next, it is hard not to discover the broad use of various musical instruments in the opera like horns, bass drums, harps, violins and trumpets. They are adequately incorporated in the acts. Rossini achieves the use of this by using characters that play the instruments perfectly. In his presentation of the acts, Rossini conclusively shows scenes in which the instruments are being played and arranges the performers in such a way that each one of them plays a unique role. The costumes used are outstanding in that they clearly bring out the dressing code of the period in which the opera has been set. Finally, the other notable thing that I find out by watching the opera is that some of its major themes are love, revenge and war. From the use of arrows, I can tell that the people were not in peace. That is; they were in search of freedom which they acquire after the demise of Gesler who is killed by Tell.

From my point of view, I think most of the audience were contented with the opera after its first presentation. This is because Rossini presents his characters effectively and ensures that they are evenly distributed in the acts. Also, the village used in the play is in search of freedom. At first, the people seem to be living in adverse living conditions in which they are mistreated by those in power. The decision by the soldiers to go to war is to free people from the leadership of the Emperor and Gesler. Hence, it is every audience’s hope that they will come out victorious. By winning, the author fulfills his audiences’ expectations and this makes them love the opera more. The employment of suspense in which one cannot predict what will happen next makes the opera excellent since it creates the urge in people to want to watch it to the end.

In Opera’s chronology, this piece is of much importance because it shows of its development from the old days to what it is now. To expound on this, it means that one can use it in analyzing the stages that opera went through before it could be fully enhanced to fit the modern day needs. This can be done in reference to the musical instruments and the acts’ setting utilized then and to what is used today. Further, it is important because it helps us in knowing that opera was discovered a long time ago.

Although the technology was not sufficiently advanced at the date of the opera’s production, one cannot fail to appreciate the fact that there are some elements of technology in the acts. The first aspect of it is the use of musical instruments like bassoons, clarinets, violins, piccolos, cymbals and harps that were technologically developed. That is to say, if it were not for the knowledge the artist had on this, it would have been hard to meet his goals perfectly. That is to say; technology made it possible for the production of the opera by enhancing musical sounds and in the creation of deal stage. On the other hand, it was used in choosing of the right choice of attire that effectively brought out the message of the opera. Finally, it was used in the development of stage effects like lighting and sound.

If I were a 21^st-century director, I would make the piece a video game by first animating the characters. I would then make a decision on the platform to use in developing the game. Next, I would make Arnold and Tell the characters that people use in playing the game in search of lost treasure. I would then use Gesel, Melchtal, Ruodi and Walter as the enemies. Mathilde would act as a superhero who grants Arnold and tell limited super powers for twelve hours if they manage to get where she lives since I would make the journey a hard one. I would still use arrows as a form of defense but would incorporate guns in which a player earns one after reaching a certain level. To finish the game, I would make it in such a way that a player has to ensure he/ she gets the treasure back to the Emperor using Tell and Arnold. The music would be played all through the game.