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Written by a leading musicologist, The Birth of Opera looks at the predecessors and early examples of opera from Poliziano's Orfeo (c. 1480) to Monteverdi's Arianna (1608). It pays considerable attention to the role played by such poets as Poliziano, Tasso, Guarini, Rinuccini, and Chiabrera and the ...

Written by a leading musicologist, The Birth of Opera looks at the predecessors and early examples of opera from Poliziano's Orfeo (c. 1480) to Monteverdi's Arianna (1608). It pays considerable attention to the role played by such poets as Poliziano, Tasso, Guarini, Rinuccini, and Chiabrera and the conventions that gradually developed for shaping the dramatic plot with regard to operatic structure, in particular the problem of the finale. Sternfeld focuses on the early operas of Peri and Monteverdi and their predecessors, the intermedi, but frequent references to later operas by Cavalli, Gluck, Mozart, Verdi, and Stravinsky relate the origins of the genre to its essence through the centuries. In particular, he explores the enduring fascination with the Orpheus myth, from ancient Greece to Haydn and Stravinsky, in greater detail than in most histories of early opera. His fascinating and accessible book will be essential reading to a wide range of students, scholars, and opera buffs.

Derived from the full Oxford Dictionary of Opera, this is the most authoritative and up-to-date dictionary of opera available in paperback. Fully revised for this new edition, with over 3,500 entries, it is designed to be accessible to all those who enjoy opera, whether at the opera-house or at ...

Derived from the full Oxford Dictionary of Opera, this is the most authoritative and up-to-date dictionary of opera available in paperback. Fully revised for this new edition, with over 3,500 entries, it is designed to be accessible to all those who enjoy opera, whether at the opera-house or at home. Here opera buffs will have at their fingertips opera synopses and first performance details, bibliographies of works about opera, entries on singers (including their debuts and career highlights, with notes on voice type, style, and reputation), definitions and discussions of technical terms and operatic styles, and surveys of the history of opera worldwide. Included also are plot summaries and separate entries for well-know roles, arias, and choruses. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Opera provides a huge amount of information and learning packed conveniently in a single volume with helpful cross-references. It will be invaluable to all opera-goers, to those professionally concerned with opera, and to anyone needing reliable information on this fascinating subject.

An aesthetic, historical, and theoretical study of four scores, "Russian Opera and the Symbolist Movement "is a groundbreaking and imaginative treatment of the important yet neglected topic of Russian opera in the Silver Age. Spanning the gap between the supernatural Russian music of the nineteenth ...

An aesthetic, historical, and theoretical study of four scores, "Russian Opera and the Symbolist Movement "is a groundbreaking and imaginative treatment of the important yet neglected topic of Russian opera in the Silver Age. Spanning the gap between the supernatural Russian music of the nineteenth century and the compositions of Prokofiev and Stravinsky, this exceptionally insightful and well-researched book explores how Russian symbolist poets interpreted opera and prompted operatic innovation. Simon Morrison shows how these works, though stylistically and technically different, reveal the extent to which the operatic representation of the miraculous can be translated into its enactment.

Morrison treats these largely unstudied pieces by canonical composers: Tchaikovsky's "Queen of Spades, "Rimsky-Korsakov's "Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevroniya, "Scriabin's unfinished "Mysterium, "and Prokofiev's "Fiery Angel. "The chapters, revisionist studies of these composers and scores, address separate aspects of Symbolist poetics, discussing such topics as literary and musical decadence, pagan-Christian syncretism, theurgy, and life creation, or the portrayal of art in life. The appendix offers the first complete English-language translation of Scriabin's libretto for the "Preparatory Act."

Providing valuable insight into both the Symbolist enterprise and Russian musicology, this book casts new light on opera's evolving, ambiguous place in fin de siecle culture.

"Mimomania is a thoughtful meditation on the persistence and transformation of the musical mimicry of bodily gesture in nineteenth-century opera. Incorporating and reacting to feminist critique, film studies, and recent, new-wave opera studies, Smart shows that this ostensibly straightforward ...

"Mimomania is a thoughtful meditation on the persistence and transformation of the musical mimicry of bodily gesture in nineteenth-century opera. Incorporating and reacting to feminist critique, film studies, and recent, new-wave opera studies, Smart shows that this ostensibly straightforward relation of music and action hides unexpected complexities. From these she rethinks important works from the period and indeed the relation of its two giants, Verdi and Wagner."--Gary Tomlinson, author of "Metaphysical Song: An Essay on Opera

"Mary Ann Smart's important and timely book documents--deftly and in rich musical detail--the ways that nineteenth-century operas reflect a character's emotive state in the music and in sometimes closely coordinated physical gestures. Opera lovers will delight in applying Smart's insights to yet other works: ones that they know, love, and sometimes puzzle over."--Ralph P. Locke, Professor of Musicology, Eastman School of Music

"An outstanding contribution to the study of nineteenth-century opera. Its focus on the relationship between music and gesture provides a new perspective that yields a dazzling array of exciting insights. Not only musicologists, but also cultural historians, theatre historians, feminist theorists and anybody interested in the study of performance will benefit from reading this book. Opera enthusiasts will also enjoy Smart's sometimes irreverent, but always illuminating interpretations of both canonized works and less frequently performed titles."--Emanuele Senici, University of Oxford