Download or read book Opera a History of the Impossible Genre written by Jeffrey Langford and published by . This book was released on 2024 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Opera, a History of the Impossible Genre offers an accessible and chronological survey of opera. Beginning in the 16th century, each chapter hones its focus on a representative opera and composer, and provides discussion on historical and political context. With further reading lists, key term definitions and composer biographies to support learning, this book covers the fundamental elements of the genre, including: subject matter, musical structure, aria and ensemble forms, singing styles, orchestra and the structure of the libretto. The book will also help readers develop an appreciation of opera as a form of musical entertainment which, despite seemingly insurmountable financial, philosophical, and artistic hurdles, has overcome the "impossible" to become one of the most popular and thrilling types of music heard on stage today. Opera, a History of the Impossible Genre is an approachable undergraduate textbook for students of opera and survey courses.
Download or read book Opera a History of the Impossible Genre written by Jeffrey Langford and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2024-10-01 with total page 188 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Opera, a History of the Impossible Genre offers an accessible and chronological survey of opera. Beginning in the 16th century, each chapter hones its focus on a representative opera and composer, and provides discussion on historical and political context. With further reading lists, key term definitions, and composer biographies to support learning, this book covers the fundamental elements of the genre, including: subject matter, musical structure, aria and ensemble forms, singing styles, orchestra, and the structure of the libretto. The book will also help readers develop an appreciation of opera as a form of musical entertainment, which, despite seemingly insurmountable financial, philosophical, and artistic hurdles, has overcome the “impossible” to become one of the most popular and thrilling types of music heard on stage today. Opera, a History of the Impossible Genre is an approachable undergraduate textbook for students of opera and survey courses.
Download or read book Historical Dictionary of Opera written by Scott L. Balthazar and published by Scarecrow Press. This book was released on 2013-07-05 with total page 564 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Opera has been around ever since the late 16th century, and it is still going strong in the sense that operas are performed around the world at present, and known by infinitely more persons than just those who attend performances. On the other hand, it has enjoyed periods in the past when more operas were produced to greater acclaim. Those periods inevitably have pride of place in this Historical Dictionary of Opera, as do exceptional singers, and others who combine to fashion the opera, whether or not they appear on stage. But this volume looks even further afield, considering the cities which were and still are opera centers, literary works which were turned into librettos, and types of pieces and genres. While some of the former can be found on the web or in other sources, most of the latter cannot and it is impossible to have the whole picture without them. Indeed, this book has an amazingly broad scope. The dictionary section, with about 340 entries, covers the topics mentioned above but obviously focuses most on composers, not just the likes of Mozart, Verdi and Wagner, but others who are scarcely remembered but made notable contributions. Of course, there are the divas, but others singers as well, and some of the most familiar operas, Don Giovanni, Tosca and more. Technical terms also abound, and reference to different genres, from antimasque to zarzuela. Since opera has been around so long, the chronology is rather lengthy, since it has a lot of ground to cover, and the introduction sets the scene for the rest. This book should not be an end but rather a beginning, so it has a substantial bibliography for readers seeking more specific or specialized works. It is an excellent access point for readers interested in opera.
Download or read book The Oxford Illustrated History of Opera written by Roger Parker and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2001 with total page 618 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A historical survey of opera, from its beginnings in Florence 400 years ago, up to opera in the 1990s.
Download or read book A History of Opera written by Burton D. Fisher and published by Opera Journeys Publishing. This book was released on 2005 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A comprehensive history of opera that traces each milestone in opera history from the 16th century Camerata through the next 400 years, and featurrd in depth analysis of all important genres: the Baroque, Classical, and Romantic eras, Bel Canto, Opera Buffa, German Romanticism, Wagner and music drama, Verismo, Impressionism, Expressionism, Serialism, and much more.
Download or read book The Keys to French Opera in the Nineteenth Century written by Hervé Lacombe and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2001-01-12 with total page 440 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A lively history of French opera in its cultural and historical context by one of France's leading musicologists.
Download or read book A History of Opera written by Carolyn Abbate and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2015-09-08 with total page 576 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “The best single volume ever written on the subject, such is its range, authority, and readability.”—Times Literary Supplement Why has opera transfixed and fascinated audiences for centuries? Carolyn Abbate and Roger Parker answer this question in their “effervescent, witty” (Die Welt, Germany) retelling of the history of opera, examining its development, the musical and dramatic means by which it communicates, and its role in society. Now with an expanded examination of opera as an institution in the twenty-first century, this “lucid and sweeping” (Boston Globe) narrative explores the tensions that have sustained opera over four hundred years: between words and music, character and singer, inattention and absorption. Abbate and Parker argue that, though the genre’s most popular and enduring works were almost all written in a distant European past, opera continues to change the viewer— physically, emotionally, intellectually—with its enduring power.
Download or read book Opera and Modern Culture written by Lawrence Kramer and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2004 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Outstanding. Kramer's scholarship is as impeccable as his insights are at once original and consistently brilliant. The presentation is thorough, and the argument is well anchored in theory, history and musical detail. Kramer's discourse is crystalline and jargon free. The connections from one chapter to another are seamless. The story is, simply stated, a page-turner."—Richard Leppert, editor of Theodor W. Adorno's Essays on Music "Lawrence Kramer's Opera and Modern Culture is remarkable both for its imaginative exploration of important issues and for the rich array of the author's engagements with other thinkers. In particular, by decentering without dismissing the composer (who could dismiss Wagner?), he makes works of reception—productions of Salome on video, uses of the Lohengrin Prelude by Charlie Chaplin and W.E.B. Du Bois—central texts in the process of understanding the phenomenon of opera, rather than footnotes to an idea that he really does dismiss: 'the work itself.'"—James Parakilas, author of Piano Roles: 300 Years of Life with the Piano and Introduction to Opera (forthcoming)
Download or read book Evenings at the Opera written by Jeffrey Alan Langford and published by Amadeus. This book was released on 2011 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Opera has been called the ultimate, art form-a fusion of sight and sound, of singers and orchestra, of action, music, text, and visuals. Evenings at the Opera examines operas that have stood the test of time and entered the standard repertoire, presenting a unique view of nearly two hundred years of stylistic development, from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to Benjamin Britten. Jeffrey Langford shows how the genre's competing components can combine to make effective music drama. Taking a thematic approach (rather than a purely historical one), Langford engages the reader in exploring how shifting aesthetics from one composer to another, one country to another, and one era to another have resulted in vastly different solutions to the problem of how to make a dramma per musica (drama in music), as the Italian inventors of opera first called it. He goes well beyond mere plot synopsis, guiding the reader through analysis of specific issues of musical form, style, and technique to shed new light on the perennial question of "how opera (sometimes) works." Filled with music examples and enhanced by vivid Metropolitan Opera photos by Ken Howard and Marty Sohl, this insightful and provocative book is for anyone who loves opera. Book jacket.
Download or read book Gli equivoci nel sembiante written by Alessandro Scarlatti and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 1982 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Opera in three acts.
Download or read book From the Score to the Stage written by Evan Baker (Opera historian) and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Without scenery, costumes, and stage action, an opera would be little more than a concert. But in the audience, we know little (and think less) about the enormous efforts of those involved in bringing an opera to life--by the stagehands who shift scenery, the scenic artists who create beautiful backdrops, the electricians who focus the spotlights, and the stage manager who calls them and the singers to their places during the performance. The first comprehensive history of the behind-the-scenes world of opera production and staging, From the Score to the Stage follows the evolution of visual style and set design in continental Europe from its birth in the seventeenth century up to today. In clear, witty prose, Evan Baker covers all the major players and pieces involved in getting an opera onto the stage, from the stage director who creates the artistic concept for the production and guides the singers' interpretation of their roles to the blocking of singers and placement of scenery. He concentrates on the people--composers, librettists, designers, and technicians--as well as the theaters and events that generated developments in opera production. Additional topics include the many difficulties in performing an opera, the functions of impresarios, and the business of music publishing. Delving into the absorbing and often neglected history of stage directing, theater architecture and technology, and scenic and lighting design, Baker nimbly links these technical aspects of opera to actual performances and performers, and the social context in which they appeared. Out of these details arise illuminating discussions of individual productions that cast new light on the operas of Wagner, Verdi, and others. Packed with nearly two hundred color illustrations, From the Score to the Stage is a revealing, always entertaining look at what happens before the curtain goes up on opening night at the opera house.
Download or read book Grand Opera written by Charles Affron and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2014-09-22 with total page 469 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Metropolitan has stood among the grandest of opera companies since its birth in 1883. Tracing the offstage/onstage workings of this famed New York institution, Charles Affron and Mirella Jona Affron tell how the Met became and remains a powerful actor on the global cultural scene. In this first new history of the company in thirty years, each of the chronologically sequenced chapters surveys a composer or a slice of the repertoire and brings to life dominant personalities and memorable performances of the time. From the opening night Faust to the recent controversial production of Wagner’s "Ring," Grand Opera is a remarkable account of management and audience response to the push and pull of tradition and reinvention. Spanning the decades between the Gilded Age and the age of new media, this story of the Met concludes by tipping its hat to the hugely successful "Live in HD" simulcasts and other twenty-first-century innovations. Grand Opera’s appeal extends far beyond the large circle of opera enthusiasts. Drawing on unpublished documents from the Metropolitan Opera Archives, reviews, recordings, and much more, this richly detailed book looks at the Met in the broad context of national and international issues and events.
Download or read book Music of Azerbaijan written by Aida Huseynova and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 2016-03-21 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book traces the development of Azerbaijani art music from its origins in the Eastern, modal, improvisational tradition known as mugham through its fusion with Western classical, jazz, and world art music. Aida Huseynova places the fascinating and little-known history of music in Azerbaijan against the vivid backdrop of cultural life under Soviet influence, which paradoxically both encouraged and repressed the evolution of national musics and post-Soviet independence. Inspired by their neighbors to the East and West, Azerbaijani musicians enjoyed a period of remarkable creativity, composing and performing the first opera and the first ballet in the Muslim East, establishing the region's first Opera and Ballet Theater and Conservatory of Music, and discovering ways to merge the modal lyricism of mugham with the rhythmic dynamics of jazz. Drawing on previously unstudied archives, letters, and documents as well as her experience as an Azerbaijani musician and educator, Huseynova shows how Azerbaijani musical development was not a product of Soviet cultural policies but rather grew from and reflected deep and complex cultural processes.
Download or read book The Space Opera Renaissance written by David G. Hartwell and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2007-07-10 with total page 958 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The best-ever anthology of one of science fiction's most vigorous subgenres
Download or read book Opera After the Zero Hour written by Emily Richmond Pollock and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2019-08-20 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Opera After the Zero Hour: The Problem of Tradition and the Possibility of Renewal in Postwar West Germany presents opera as a site for the renegotiation of tradition in a politically fraught era of rebuilding. Though the "Zero Hour" put a rhetorical caesura between National Socialism and postwar West Germany, the postwar era was characterized by significant cultural continuity with the past. With nearly all of the major opera houses destroyed and a complex relationship to the competing ethics of modernism and restoration, opera was a richly contested art form, and the genre's reputed conservatism was remarkably multi-faceted. Author Emily Richmond Pollock explores how composers developed different strategies to make new opera "new" while still deferring to historical conventions, all of which carried cultural resonances of their own. Diverse approaches to operatic tradition are exemplified through five case studies in works by Boris Blacher, Hans Werner Henze, Carl Orff, Bernd Alois Zimmermann, and Werner Egk. Each opera alludes to a distinct cultural or musical past, from Greek tragedy to Dada, bel canto to Berg. Pollock's discussions of these pieces draw on source studies, close readings, unpublished correspondence, institutional history, and critical commentary to illuminate the politicized artistic environment that influenced these operas' creation and reception. The result is new insight into how the particular opposition between a conservative genre and the idea of the "Zero Hour" motivated the development of opera's social, aesthetic, and political value after World War II.
Download or read book Cultural History After Foucault written by John Neubauer and published by Transaction Publishers. This book was released on with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Both as historian and maker of culture, Foucault infused numerous disciplines of study with a new conceptual vocabulary and an agenda for future research. His ideas have called central assumptions in Western culture into question and altered the ways in which scholars and social scientists approach such issues as discourse theory, theory of knowledge, Eros, technologies of the Self and Other, punishment and prisons, and asylums and madness. The contributors to this volume indicate Foucault's achievements and the suggestive power of his work, as well as his methodological weaknesses, historical inaccuracies, and ambiguities. Above all, they attempt to show how one can use Foucault to go beyond him in opening new approaches to cultural history. Though comprehensiveness was not attempted, their essays broach the major controversial aspects of Foucauldian cultural history--the position of the subject, the fusion of power and knowledge, sexuality, the historical structures and changes--and they explicitly analyze them with respect to antiquity, the Renaissance, and the nineteenth century. In this collection, Neubauer presents analyses by historians, literary scholars, and philosophers of the entire, transdisciplinary range of Foucault's oeuvre, emphasizing the rich suggestiveness of its agenda. The breadth of the undertaking makes it suitable for seminars and graduate courses in numerous departments.
Download or read book Enjoying the Operatic Voice A Neuropsychoanalytic Exploration of the Operatic Reception Experience written by Carlo Zuccarini and published by Vernon Press. This book was released on 2019-03-30 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There has been a long-standing and mutually-informing association between psychoanalysis, literature and the arts. Surprisingly, given the oral/aural basis of the ‘talking cure’, music has largely been overlooked by psychoanalysis. Notably, neuroscientific research investigating music reception and production has been steadily increasing in range and scope over the years. However, in order to avoid confounding factors, empirical studies have focused primarily on non-vocal music. Remarkably, operatic vocal music has not featured prominently in either field. Yet the multi-dimensional, multi-layered nature of opera, which fuses together a number of different arts, would appear to provide fertile soil for both disciplines. This book aims to fill that gap, providing a stepping stone for further research. It leverages the individual strengths of psychoanalysis and neuroscience both separately and jointly as the inter-discipline of neuropsychoanalysis. By combining various theories of mind with knowledge about music processing in the brain, this book comprehensively examines the operatic reception experience, providing an account in subjective as well as objective terms. It explores the bittersweet enjoyment of operatic vocal music, which can literally move an operaphile to tears. The explanation for this may be found in a number of subjective dynamics that are unique to the reception of opera, rather than in any distinct objective neural processes, which are common to the reception of all music. These subjective dynamics, which are recruited during neural processing, are triggered by the equally unique features of the operatic voice, in combination with a number of auxiliary elements that are specific to opera. This book will be of interest to academics in a broad range of science and arts disciplines related to music perception and performance, such as music psychology and operatic performance. It may also appeal to passionate operaphiles who wish to understand what drives their addiction!
