A opera e a forma de espetaculo que domina o seculo xix. Sua consolidacao definitiva foi obra de richard wagner que nao apenas estruturou a sua estetica em relacao ao passado, mas a projetou para o futuro. Tornou-se assim um paradigma da modernidade. Partindo das reflexoes do filosofo alemao ernst bloch sobre as operas de wagner, sao constituidas algumas linhas de aproximacao com a arte caracteristica do seculo xx, o cinema. Um encontro estetico se estabelece, atraves das categorias do drama wagneriano assumidas pelo cinema. E feito um levantamento das inovacoes introduzidas no espetaculo operistico e como elas sao tratadas na expressao cinematografica. Cinema e opera sao assim entendidos como obra de arte total. Finalmente, na passagem do seculo, a historia comeca a mudar. Um novo espetaculo entra em cena e o homem contemporaneo passa a contar com uma nova maneira de ver e ouvir o mundo das imagens e dos sons

Opera is the dominating form of spectacle in the nineteenth-century. Its real consolidation was due to Richard Wagner's work who not only structured its aesthetic as related to the past, but also projected it to the future. Thus, Opera became a paradigm of modernity. Starting from the reflections of the German philosopher Ernst Bloch about Wagner's operas, some approaching lines to the characteristic twentieth-century art - the cinema have been conceived. An aesthetic encounter is established through the categories of the wagnerian drama as assumed by the cinema, and a survey of innovations introduced by Wagner in the operastic performance and how these innovations are treated in the cinematographic expression is analyzed. So, Cinema and Opera are understood as a "total work of art". Finally, at the turn of the century history starts to change. A new form of entertainment takes place on the stage and contemporary man takes into account a new way of seeing and hearing the world of image and sound.