Music-Genres & Styles-Opera

German opera from its primitive origins up to Wagner is the subject of this wide-ranging history, the only one of its kind in any language. It traces the growth of the humble Singspiel into a vehicle for the genius of Mozart and Beethoven, together...

One of Mozart's greatest operas, this work achieved immediate success upon its first performance in 1791 and has continued to enchant listeners ever since. A complex allegory glorifying Freemasonry and its emphasis on brotherhood, charity, and benevolence, the opera was particularly admired by Beethoven,...

"...it is the evident quiet approbation which best pleases me! It is apparent that this opera is rising rapidly and steadily in estimation." -- Mozart, letter to his wife, October 7-8, 1791.Unfortunately, his tragic death a scant two months later prevented Mozart from ever...

Opera's Second Death is a passionate exploration of opera - the genre, its masterpieces, and the nature of death. Using a dazzling array of tools, Slavoj Zizek and coauthor Mladen Dolar explore the strange compulsions that overpower characters in Mozart and Wagner, as well...

"Bring my goat!" Porgy exclaims in the final scene of Gershwin's opera Porgy and Bess. Bess, whom he loves, has left for New York City, and he's determined to find her. When his request is met with astonishment--New York is a great distance from...

Here at last is the definitive opera story collection, the only one now authorized by the Metropolitan Opera. Written by the associate editor of Opera News magazine, the volume includes the complete plots of 150 different operas, biographical information on all of the 72...

The listener, to understand the opera fully, should understand the situations, the shades of emotion, the nuances of characterization described in the music. William Weaver's translations of seven of the greatest Verdi operas are designed for maximum fidelity to the immediate word. Eschewing artistic...

Author: Nathan BroderISBN-10: 039300256XISBN-13: 9780393002560Publisher: W. W. Norton & CompanyLanguage: EnglishPublished: 10/01/1964Pages: 388Format: PaperbackWeight: 0.93lbsSize: 8.00h x 5.00w x 0.86d

Everything you could possibly know about Verdi and his operas, from the brilliant and humorous author of Wagner Without Fear. If you want to know why La traviata was actually a flop at its premiere in 1853, it's in here. If you want to...

Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643) is well known as the composer of the earliest operas still performed today. His 'Orfeo', 'Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria' and 'L'incoronazione di Poppea' are internationally popular nearly four centuries after their creation. These seminal works represent only a part of...

Opera for the People is an in-depth examination of a forgotten chapter in American social and cultural history: the love affair that middle-class Americans had with continental opera (translated into English) in the 1870s, 1880s, and 1890s. Author Katherine Preston reveals how-contrary to the...

Mozart's collaborations with the librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte led to the composition of three of the great masterpieces of opera. This book, designed to guide the reader to a deeper understanding and appreciation of these enigmatic works, charts the musical, cultural, and social context...

'A Gilbert is of no use without a Sullivan.' With these words, W.S. Gilbert summed up his reasons for persisting in his collaboration with Arthur Sullivan despite the combative nature of their relationship. In fact, Michael Ainger suggests in Gilbert and Sullivan the success...

Each entry in this New Grove series of composers and their operas is based on articles in The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, that feature information on the lives of individual composers, their works, their librettists and interpreters, and the places where they performed....

Jazz, the Charleston, nightclubs, cocktails, cinema, and musical theatre: 1920s British nightlife was vibrant and exhilarating. But where did opera fit into this fashionable new entertainment world? Opera in the Jazz Age: Cultural Politics in 1920s Britain explores the interaction between opera and popular...

Opera is often regarded as the pinnacle of high art. A "Western" genre with global reach, it is where music and drama come together in unique ways, supported by stellar singers and spectacular scenic effects. Yet it is also patently absurd -- why should...

Censorship had an extraordinary impact on Alban Berg's opera Lulu, composed by the Austrian during the politically tumultuous years spanning 1929 to 1935. Based on plays by Frank Wedekind that were repeatedly banned from being published and performed from 1894 until the end of...

The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Culture: Three Treasures of Lingnan Series is a set of brief and illustrated introductions to three traditional art forms -- Guangdong opera, Lingnan school of painting and Guangdong music -- in south China. We hope these three riveting...

The Original Portrayal of Mozart's Don Giovanni offers an original reading of Mozart's and Da Ponte's opera Don Giovanni, using as a lens the portrayal of the title role by its creator, the baritone Luigi Bassi (1766-1825). Although Bassi was coached in the role...

Euridice was one of several music-theatrical works commissioned to celebrate the wedding of Maria de' Medici and King Henri IV of France in Florence in October 1600. As the first 'opera' to survive complete, it has been viewed as a landmark work, but its...

Initially based on Scènes de la vie de bohème (1851), La bohème follows the trials and tribulations of young artists struggling to make ends meet. Despite their circumstance, they celebrate small wins, while seeking love and opportunity.La bohème is an Italian opera that centers...

This book is concerned with a hundred years of musical drama in England. It charts the development of the genre from the theatre works of Henry Purcell (and his contemporaries) to the dramatic oratorios of George Frideric Handel (and his). En route it investigates...

During the past twenty-five years, researchers have made impressive advances in pinpointing effective learning strategies (i.e., activities the learner engages in during learning that are intended to improve learning). In Learning as a Generative Activity: Eight Learning Strategies That Promote Understanding, Logan Fiorella and...

Irish National Opera Director Fergus Sheil writes: It was bittersweet to read this book and write this foreword in the summer of 2020. At the time of writing, opera houses around the world are closed due to the catastrophic effect of the Covid-19 pandemic....

Enter the cross-cultural tale of gusto and enchantment, adaptation and loss, preserving the old ways of making a life. Presented in six acts with intermissions and curtain calls, it is a new form of literature presented in interactive libretto form. Read it silently, read...

This thematic examination of Britten's operas focuses on the way that ideology is presented on stage. To watch or listen is to engage with a vivid artistic testament to the ideological world of mid-twentieth-century Britain. But it is more than that, too, because in...

The British composer, conductor, and pianist Thomas Ad鑚 has achieved a level of recognition and celebrity within the world of classical music today that is almost unmatched. Once seen as the heir to Benjamin Britten, both in his importance to British music and his...

A major anthology on opera in an age of global instability, with testimonies from leading figures in the fieldIn his epic drama The Last Days of Mankind, written in 1922, the Viennese critic and satirist Karl Kraus ridiculed the interconnected ills of modernity that...

A wide-ranging look at the interplay of opera and political ideas through the centuries The Politics of Opera takes readers on a fascinating journey into the entwined development of opera and politics, from the Renaissance through the turn of the nineteenth century. What political...

The Companion is an essential, interdisciplinary tool for those both familiar and unfamiliar with Wagner's Ring. It opens with a concise introduction to both the composer and the Ring, introducing Wagner as a cultural figure, and giving a comprehensive overview of the work. Subsequent...

A new and groundbreaking approach to the history of grand opera, Grand Illusion: Phantasmagoria in Nineteenth-Century Opera explores the illusion and illumination behind the form's rise to cultural eminence. Renowned opera scholar Gabriela Cruz argues that grand opera worked to awaken memory and feeling...

Verdi's enduring presence on the opera stages of the world and as a subject for scholarly study by researchers in various disciplines has placed him as a central figure within modern culture. The composer's undisputed popularity from the mid-nineteenth century to the present day,...

Practiced internationally between 1960 and 2000, opera piracy (the illegal practice of recording live operatic performances in the opera house) was rampant. How fortunate Through this we are provided documentation of famous voices as they sounded in real life, not as they were altered...

Mozart's greatest works were written in Vienna in the decade before his death (1781-1791). This biography focuses on Mozart's dual roles as a performer and composer and reveals how his compositional processes are affected by performance-related concerns. It traces consistencies and changes in Mozart's...

The first thorough theoretical study of Jan當ek's compositions, focusing on motivic and rhythmic structure and identifying elements that give the music coherence, character, and interest. The works of Leos Jan當ek, including Jenufa and several of his other operas, have been widely performed in recent...

In the two centuries since Mozart's La clemenza di Tito was first performed, and the almost three centuries since Metastasio created the libretto, many rumours, myths and prejudiced opinions have gathered around the work, creating a narrative that Mozart, Mazzol and their contemporaries would...

Excerpt from I Capuleti E I Montecchi: Tragedia Lirica da Rappresentarsi Nel Gran Teatro la Fenice IL Carnovale dell'Anno 1830 C 1tam nte avrebbe ripugnato la modestia del giovine Compositore; Chi sa quanto costi camminare su traccie di gia segnate, esostituire-huow concetti ai gi...

From the 19th century to the present day, the meeting of music and the avant-garde visual arts has produced groundbreaking innovations in both fields. Nowhere is this meeting of the arts as intense as it is on the operatic stage. Painting the Stage charts...

Tolkien famously rejected comparison of his Ring with Wagner's, though there is good evidence that Tolkien knew much more about Der Ring des Nibelungen than he let on after the publication of The Lord of the Rings. Analysis of that work from a Wagnerian...

The first part of the book centers on questions of biography, art and music theory, the psychology of creation and general aesthetics and concerns basic traits of Ligeti's personality and work. The more extensive second part comprises discussions of his most representative works, with...

The complete vocal score of Giacomo Puccini's La boh me in the original and authoritative Ricordi edition, with both the original Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa and the English translation by William Grist and Percy Pinkerton.Author: Giacomo PucciniISBN-10: 1516971450ISBN-13: 9781516971459Publisher: Createspace...

The Black Dog Opera Library is the best, easiest and most informative and budget-friendly way to enjoy four of the greatest operas of all time. Finally available again, and packaged with gorgeous new covers, each book in the library includes the complete opera on...

This extraordinary collection of photographs and essays chronicles the unparalleled career of Maestro James Levine over four decades at the Metropolitan Opera. Many of opera's leading artists such as Pierre Boulez, Pl cido Domingo, Ren e Fleming, Robert Lepage, Leontyne Price, Teresa Stratas, and...

The Opera Companion has established itself over the years as a classic reference book for opera lovers, whether devoted or casual. Synopses of 47 of the most frequently performed operas (18 composers) are given with key words to clue the listener in to the...

THE REDEEMER REBORN: PARSIFAL AS THE FIFTH OPERA OF WAGNER'S RINGAuthor: Paul SchofieldISBN-10: 1574671618ISBN-13: 9781574671612Publisher: AmadeusLanguage: EnglishPublished: 11/01/2007Pages: 318Format: HardcoverWeight: 1.45lbsSize: 9.22h x 6.36w x 1.15d

THE OPERAGOERS GUIDE ONE HUNDRED STORIES AND COMMENTARIESAuthor: M. Owen LeeISBN-10: 1574670654ISBN-13: 9781574670653Publisher: AmadeusLanguage: EnglishPublished: 03/01/2003Pages: 240Format: PaperbackWeight: 0.57lbsSize: 7.93h x 5.28w x 0.58dReview Citation(s): Library Journal 08/01/2001 pg. 111American Reference Bks Annual 01/01/2002 pg. 524Reference and Research Bk News 11/01/2001 pg. 196Library Journal...

With the passing of giants like Rossini, Bellini, and Donizetti, and with Verdi in decline, Italian opera at the end of the nineteenth century appeared to be on the wane. Then, suddenly, with the legendary premiere of Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana in 1890, Italian opera...

One of the most controversial figures in classical music, Richard Wagner's influence reaches as far as the film Apocalypse Now. Written by leading music critic Michael White, this graphic guide looks at Wagner's complex life, capturing his caprices, cruelties, and anti-semitism.Author: Michael WhiteISBN-10: 1848315090ISBN-13:...

George Bernard Shaw was born in Dublin in 1856. Before becoming a playwright he wrote music and literary criticism. Shaw used his writing to attack social problems such as education, marriage, religion, government, health care, and class privilege. Shaw was particularly conscious of the...

Giacomo Puccini's opera Madame Butterfly has enjoyed tremendous popularity in Europe and America since its debut in 1904. It has also inspired a global-level debate about whether the tragic heroine of the opera, Cho-Cho-san, was based on a real-life model. Starcrossed looks at this...