Opera Books

Book SynopsisPerforming in a country rife with racism and segregation, the tenor Roland Hayes was the first African American man to reach international fame as a concert performer and one of the few artists who could sell out Town Hall, Carnegie Hall, Symphony Hall, and Covent Garden. His trailblazing career carved the way for a host of African American artists, including Marian Anderson and Paul Robeson. Performing the African American spirituals he was raised on, Hayes's voice was marked with a unique sonority which easily navigated French, German, and Italian art songs. A multiculturalist both on and off the stage, he counted among his friends George Washington Carver, Eleanor Roosevelt, Ezra Pound, Pearl Buck, Dwight Eisenhower, and Langston Hughes. This engaging biography spans the history of Hayes's life and career and the legacy he left behind as a musician and a champion of African American rights. It is an authentic, panoramic portrait of a man who was as complex as the music he performed.Trade ReviewLargely forgotten today outside specialist circles, the African-American tenor Roland Hayes (1887–1976) was a much admired and internationally celebrated artist during his lifetime. As the authors of this substantial and well-documented new biography suggest, a reluctance to broadcast and a relatively limited recording career have prevented wider circulation of his fame in our own day. . . The authors detail his long career meticulously, as well as his complicated private life. * BBC Music Magazine *Well researched, with several primary sources and newspapers cited, the volume includes 48 illustrations of Hayes and other musicians. . . . Highly recommended. * Choice *An impressive work of scholarship, shedding light on a significant figure in American music and the time in which he lived. * Epoch Times *What we have here is a thorough and well-documented account of the life of a most interesting artist, one who was both a racial pioneer and a fine interpreter of both European art music and African-American spirituals. * ARSC Journal *With moving contributions from tenor George Shirley and bass Simon Estes, this text captures the essence of [Hayes's] career thoughtfully compiled with the accuracy of historian Christopher Brooks and the music depth of baritone Robert Sims. This book is a wonderful journey through Hayes' performances, racial plight and acceptance. * Examiner.com *Offers a gripping, sensitive, and balanced story of this historical icon and musician. * The Atlanta Voice *Table of ContentsForewordIntroduction: "I'll Make Me a Man"Prologue1. A New Jerusalem (1887-1911)2. Roland's World in Boston (1911-1920)3. Roland Rules Britannia (1920-1921)4. "Le Rage de Paris" (1921-1922)5. You're Tired, Chile (1923)6. The Hayes Conquest (1923-1924)7. Roland and the Countess (1924-1926)8. The Conquest Slows (1926-1930)9. Hard Trials, Great Tribulations (1930-1935)10. Return to Europe (1936-1942)11. Rome, Georgia—194212. "You can tell the World about This!" (1942-1950)13. Struggles in Remaining Relevant (1950-1959)14. I Wanna Go Home (1960-1977)Epilogue: The Hayes Legacy (1977- )AfterwordRoland Hayes: RepertoireBibliographyNotesIndex

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Book SynopsisIn this comprehensive study of Olivier Messiaen's magnum opus, Saint François d'Assise, Vincent Perez Benitez examines the opera from both theological and musical-analytical perspectives to ask how Messiaen expresses his Catholic theology through his work.Trade ReviewThis well-researched book is wonderfully written with great clarity and organization, and provides a remarkable and original perspective on the work of the great French composer. -- Christopher E. Mehrens * Music Reference Services Quarterly *This volume fulfills Benitez's 'hope that it will serve as an intellectual springboard into the mind of one of the most creative musicians of the twentieth century and Messiaen's self-described 'synthesis of all that he had done up to that point in his career as a composer', the opera Saint François d'Assise." -- Melissa Cummins - Sam Houston State University * MLA NOTES *Table of ContentsPrefaceAcknowledgmentsNotes on the TextIntroduction: Setting the Stage for Messiaen's Compositional Summa1. Theology as Light in Saint François d'Assise2. A Theological Opera and Its Musical Themes3. Form as an Expression of the Beyond4. Chords and Colors: The Harmonic Vocabulary of Saint François d'Assise5. Analyzing the Musical Language of Saint François d'Assise6. Light, Freedom, and the Beauty of Creation: Birdsong in Saint François d'Assise7. Tonal-Dramatic Associations in Saint Francis's Spiritual Journey8. Saint Francis's Path toward the Numinous: A Tonal-Color NarrativeEpilogue: Saint François d'Assise as Religious Drama in a Contemporary WorldAppendix 1 GlossaryAppendix 2 Dramatic SynopsisNotesBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewUniquely, this volume gives us innovative translations, detailed comparisons and interdisciplinary analyses of all three texts detailing the journey from Carl Gozzi's fiaba, through Meyerhold/Soloviev/Vogak's Divertissement, to Prokofiev's opera. Previous literature mapped some of the changes, but none offered the comprehensive analyses we find in this book. . . . The tripartite structure of the book is the most logical in terms of the material and, together with the cited paired chapters, as well as reading chapters as stand-alone texts, allow a multi-focus use both for the specialist and the general reader. The editors are to be congratulated for their overall innovative approach and for making the work of many Italian and Russian scholars available in English. -- F Jane Schopf * Stanislavski Studies *Table of ContentsEditorial NotesList of Definitions and AbbreviationsList of IllustrationsList of Musical ExamplesPreface: How Not to Die Laughing in a Lethal Time, by Caryl EmersonAcknowledgmentsIntroduction, by Dassia N. Posner, Kevin Bartig, and Maria De SimonePart I: The Fiaba1. Reflective Analysis of the Fairy Tale The Love of Three Oranges, by Carlo Gozzi , by Maria De Simone2. The Love of Three Oranges, Venice 1761: A Theatrical Provocation, by Alberto Beniscelli3. A Short Note on the First Sacchi Company , by Giulietta Bazoli4. Gozzi's The Love of Three Oranges: A New Horizon of Expectations, by Domenico Pietropaolo5. Carlo Gozzi's Reactionary Imagination, by Ted Emery6. A Cultural Pastiche of Fantasy, Satire, and Citrus: Gozzi's The Love of Three Oranges in its German Afterlife, by Natalya BaldygaPart II: The Divertissement7. Love for Three Oranges. A Divertissement in Twelve Scenes, a Prologue, an Epilogue, and Three Interludes, by Konstantin Vogak, Vsevolod Meyerhold, and Vladimir Soloviev, by Dassia N. Posner8. Carlo Gozzi in The Journal of Doctor Dapertutto , by Raissa Raskina9. Meyerhold and the Russian Commedia dell'Arte Myth , by Vadim Shcherbakov10. The Miklashevsky Connection, by Laurence Senelick11. From Divertissement to Opera: Two Russian Oranges, by Julia GalaninaPart III: The Opera12. Love for Three Oranges, by Sergei Prokofiev , by Kevin Bartig13. Tsardom and Buttocks: From Empress Anna to Prokofiev's Fata Morgana, by Inna Naroditskaya14. Notes on the Musical Parody in Prokofiev's Three Oranges , by Natalia Savkina15. Notes on the Notes , by Simon A. Morrison16. Boris Anisfeld, an Alchemist of Color , by John E. Bowlt17. Oranges in Leningrad , by Kevin BartigList of ContributorsIndex

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"It is often authoritative and comprehensive; it is especially well informed on the origins of the libretto, Maeterlinck's philosophical and literary influences, and the collaborative processes between the playwright, the composer Paul Dukas, and the singer Georgette Leblanc. The tables of recordings, performances, and so on render this book an invaluable tool for researchers."—Laura Watson, author of Paul Dukas: Composer and Critic"This is as thorough an examination of Ariane et Barbe-bleue, in all its aspects, as one is likely to see. Generous appendixes with illustrations and historical documents round out the picture. An intriguing addition to the literature on music."—B. J. Murray, Miami UniversityTable of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction1. Ariane et Barbe-bleue: A Dramatic and Musical Overview, by Matthew Gordon Brown and Thomas Emil Homerin2. The Genesis of Ariane et Barbe-Bleue, by Matthew Gordon Brown3. Performing Ariane et Barbe-Bleue: From Premier to Orchestral Suite, by Matthew Gordon Brown4. A Feminist Opera? Women's Rights and Women's Wrongs in Maurice Maeterlinck's and Paul Dukas' Ariane and Bluebeard, by Jean Elisabeth Pedersen5. Maurice Maeterlinck and the Mystical Ariane, by Thomas Emil Homerin6. Maeterlinck and Plato's Cave, by Nicholas Gresens7. Ariane et Barbe-Bleue and the Legacy of Richard Wagner, by Matthew Gordon Brown8. Singing Ariane: An Interview with Katherine Ciesinski, by Katherine Ciesinski and Matthew Gordon Brown9. Bluebeard, or Female Curiosity? Not the Same Old Story, by Andrea G. Reithmayr10. Reflections on Comic Book Opera: P. Craig Russell's Ariane and Bluebeard, by Thomas Emil Homerin11. An Adaptation of an Adaptation: TableTopOpera's Live Production of Ariane and Bluebeard, by Matthew Gordon BrownAppendicesAlbert Flament, "'Ariane' dans les ruines de St-Wandrille," Femina 163 (1 November, 1907), 484–85. English translation by Sébastien Cornut.Henri Duvernois, "Les femmes de Barbe-Bleue," Femina 153 (1 June, 1907), 246–249. English translation by Sébastien Cornut.Lucien Fugère, "La vie du théâtre," Musica 55 (April 1907), 53–55. English translation by Sébastien Cornut.Paul Dukas, "Ariane et Barbe-Bleue," La Revue Musicale (numéro spécial) (May-June, 1936), 4–7. English translation by Timothy Scheie.Montrose J. Moses, "The Wife of Maurice Maeterlinck," Metropolitan Magazine 34 (March, 1912), 38–52.Georgette Leblanc-Maeterlinck, "The Later Heroines of Maurice Maeterlinck," Fortnightly Review 93 (January 1910), 48–56. English translation by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos.BibliographyContributorsIndex

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"It is often authoritative and comprehensive; it is especially well informed on the origins of the libretto, Maeterlinck's philosophical and literary influences, and the collaborative processes between the playwright, the composer Paul Dukas, and the singer Georgette Leblanc. The tables of recordings, performances, and so on render this book an invaluable tool for researchers."—Laura Watson, author of Paul Dukas: Composer and Critic"This is as thorough an examination of Ariane et Barbe-bleue, in all its aspects, as one is likely to see. Generous appendixes with illustrations and historical documents round out the picture. An intriguing addition to the literature on music."—B. J. Murray, Miami UniversityTable of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction1. Ariane et Barbe-bleue: A Dramatic and Musical Overview, by Matthew Gordon Brown and Thomas Emil Homerin2. The Genesis of Ariane et Barbe-Bleue, by Matthew Gordon Brown3. Performing Ariane et Barbe-Bleue: From Premier to Orchestral Suite, by Matthew Gordon Brown4. A Feminist Opera? Women's Rights and Women's Wrongs in Maurice Maeterlinck's and Paul Dukas' Ariane and Bluebeard, by Jean Elisabeth Pedersen5. Maurice Maeterlinck and the Mystical Ariane, by Thomas Emil Homerin6. Maeterlinck and Plato's Cave, by Nicholas Gresens7. Ariane et Barbe-Bleue and the Legacy of Richard Wagner, by Matthew Gordon Brown8. Singing Ariane: An Interview with Katherine Ciesinski, by Katherine Ciesinski and Matthew Gordon Brown9. Bluebeard, or Female Curiosity? Not the Same Old Story, by Andrea G. Reithmayr10. Reflections on Comic Book Opera: P. Craig Russell's Ariane and Bluebeard, by Thomas Emil Homerin11. An Adaptation of an Adaptation: TableTopOpera's Live Production of Ariane and Bluebeard, by Matthew Gordon BrownAppendicesAlbert Flament, "'Ariane' dans les ruines de St-Wandrille," Femina 163 (1 November, 1907), 484–85. English translation by Sébastien Cornut.Henri Duvernois, "Les femmes de Barbe-Bleue," Femina 153 (1 June, 1907), 246–249. English translation by Sébastien Cornut.Lucien Fugère, "La vie du théâtre," Musica 55 (April 1907), 53–55. English translation by Sébastien Cornut.Paul Dukas, "Ariane et Barbe-Bleue," La Revue Musicale (numéro spécial) (May-June, 1936), 4–7. English translation by Timothy Scheie.Montrose J. Moses, "The Wife of Maurice Maeterlinck," Metropolitan Magazine 34 (March, 1912), 38–52.Georgette Leblanc-Maeterlinck, "The Later Heroines of Maurice Maeterlinck," Fortnightly Review 93 (January 1910), 48–56. English translation by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos.BibliographyContributorsIndex

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Book SynopsisDiscusses Wagner's legacy in sound and on screenTrade Review[D]emands and deserves a commitment of time and space from a wide range of readers as they experience its transitions . . . and powerful enlightening moments. Vol. 64 2 Summer 2011 * Jrnl American Musicological Soc JAMS *[Wagner and Cinema] looks at the plethora of senses in which Wagner's music and different kinds of Wagnerian reception histories have informed cinematic production throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. ...Wagner and Cinema is a text that will no doubt be consulted for many years henceforward.Issue 24, 2012 -- Nathan Waddell * Scope *[T]he book . . . present[s] the reader with a strong and very varied attempt to discuss the relation between Wagner, opera and cinema and includes a vast array of densely detailed information covering large historical periods in many of its well-written essays.Issue 29 * Screening the Past *A useful resource for serious students of film, theater, and/or music, the book includes numerous photos, and helpful music notation enhances the text. . . . Recommended. * Choice *Wagner & Cinema provides a comprehensive discussion of its subject . . . [I]t offers an excellent introduction for scholars interested in Wagner's influence on film and offers a starting point for future studies. 34/2 (2011) * German Studies Review *The essays in this collection engage in a critical dialogue with existing studies—extending and renovating current theories related to the topic—and propose unexplored topics and new methodological perspectives.March 01, 2010 * Camero-Stylo *Table of ContentsForeword by Tony PalmerIntroduction: Why Wagner and Cinema? Tolkien Was Wrong \ Jeongwon JoePart 1. Wagner and the Silent Film 1. Wagnerian Motives: Narrative Integration and the Development of Silent Film Accompaniment, 1908–1913 \ James Buhler 2. Underscoring Drama—Picturing Music \ Peter Franklin 3. The Life and Works of Richard Wagner (1913): Becce, Froelich, and Messter \ Paul Fryer 4. Listening for Wagner in Fritz Lang's Die Nibelungen \ Adeline MuellerPart 2. Wagnerian Resonance in Film Scoring 5. The Resonances of Wagnerian Opera and Nineteenth-Century Melodrama in the Film Scores of Max Steiner \ David Neumeyer 6. Wagner's Influence on Gender Roles in Early Hollywood Film \ Eva Rieger 7. The Penumbra of Wagner's Ombra in Two Science Fiction Films from 1951: The Thing from Another World and The Day the Earth Stood Still \ William H. RosarPart 3. Wagner in Hollywood 8. "Soll ich lauschen?": Love-Death in Humoresque \ Marcia J. Citron 9. Hollywood's German Fantasy: Ridley Scott's Gladiator \ Marc A. Weiner 10. Reading Wagner in Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips (1944) \ Neil Lerner 11. Piercing Wagner: The Ring in Golden Earrings \ Scott D. PaulinPart 4. Wagner in German Cinema 12. Wagner as Leitmotif: The New German Cinema and Beyond \ Roger Hillman 13. The Power of Emotion: Wagner and Film \ Jeremy Tambling 14. Wagner in East Germany: Joachim Herz's Der fliegende Holländer (1964) \ Joy H. CalicoPart 5. Wagner beyond the Soundtrack 15. Nocturnal Wagner: The Cultural Survival of Tristan und Isolde in Hollywood \ Elisabeth Bronfen 16. Ludwig's Wagner and Visconti's Ludwig \ Giorgio Biancorosso 17. The Tristan Project: Time in Wagner and Viola \ Jeongwon Joe 18. "The Threshold of the Visible World": Wagner, Bill Viola, and Tristan \ Lawrence KramerPostlude: Looking for Richard: An Archival Search for Wagner \ Warren M. SherkEpilogue: Some Thoughts about Wagner and Cinema; Opera and Politics; Style and Reception \ Sander L. GilmanInterview with Bill Viola \ Jeongwon JoeFilmography \ Jeongwon Joe, Warren M. Sherk, and Scott D. PaulinList of ContributorsIndex

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Book SynopsisOne man's impact on the performing arts in RussiaTrade ReviewThis is a valuable and long overdue work that enriches an ignored but greatly influential artistic enterprise drawn from the era's greatest artistic figures, and sponsored and set together in dynamic collaborations by the ingenuity and tastes of Savva Mamontov. * Sineris *Haldey has performed a crucial service to scholarship and to everyone interested in this fascinating period.V.70.3 July 2011 * The Russian Review *Haldey, a musicologist at the University of Maryland, provides a close-up of what, remarkably, [Mamontov] accomplished and how and why. . . . [S]he manages to evoke successfully a larger than life man and his era. August 22, 2010 * The Reporter-Times *With extensive notes and 40 halftone photographs, this is an important work for Russian and turn-of-the-century cultural studies. Highly recommended.March 2011 * Choice *This fine, rigorously researched book should please anyone interested in the development of the arts in Russia. Opera NewsMarch 1, 2011 * Opera News *Haldey gives an evocative and detailed portrait of the era, drawing on letters, memoirs, contemporary criticism and reviews, and synthesizing important secondary literature in a variety of related fields . . . [This] should be required reading for all historians of Russian theatre. * Slavonic and East European Review *Hadley's research provides an effective reclaiming of the important . . . role played by Savva Mamontov and the MPO in the history of modernist theater in Russia. It should attract the interest of musicologists, visual art and theater historians, as well as social and cultural historians interested in the development of artistic modernism in late imperial Russia. * H-Russia *Haldey's fresh account of Mamontov's vital role in the creation of the modern Russian theater is striking for its originality, the depth of its research and analysis, and the detail it provides. * Slavic and East European Journal *Haldey deserves great credit for re-creating this lost world of art for its own sake and restoring it to its proper place in the pages of Russian history. * Revolutionary Russia *[Haldey's] book will change our understanding of Russian opera in the 'Silver Age.' It is the necessary—and overdue—complement to Braun's 1999 study, whose focus is on the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg. . . .67.4 June 2011 * Notes *Mamontov's Private Opera is a fascinating and detailed presentation—using existing primary source materials—of the power and influence that one man had on both Russian music history and international music history at the turn of the twentieth century. * Music Reference Services Quarterly *This is a bracing account of a time when faith in dramatic art was contagious—and worked wonders. * Slavic Review *Table of ContentsContentsAcknowledgmentsNote on Transliteration and TranslationAbbreviationsIntroduction1. The Silver Age and the Legacy of the 1860s2. Serving the Beautiful3. Echoes of Abramtsevo4. Visual Impressions5. Opera as Drama6. From Meiningen to Meyerhold7. Politics, Repertory, and the Market8. Faces of the EnterpriseAppendix A. Brief Chronology of Savva Mamontov's Life and CareerAppendix B. Selected Premieres and Revivals at the Moscow Private OperaNotesWorks CitedIndex

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Book SynopsisDocuments women's influence on popular culture in twentieth-century China by examining Yue opera. This title documents and analyzes the origins and development of the genre and its unique role in modern Chinese culture. It looks at Chinese women's struggle to control their lives, careers, and public images.Trade Review"Jin Jiang's groundbreaking book is by far the best study of women's Yue opera as a social and cultural history in any language. . . . fascinating and surprisingly accessible. . ." -- Liang Luo * China Review International *"This clearly written text will be useful to those interested in Chinese theatre, women and performance, and the history of modern China. . . . This book, rich in social and theatre history, puts this understudied genre center stage." -- Kathy Foley * Theatre History Studies *"A major contribution to Chinese theater, performance studies, and modern history. . . . It breaks new ground in existing scholarship on traditional Chinese opera . . . [and] draws needed attention to the intriguing question of women's culture and gender identity in cosmopolitan Shanghai during the Republican period." -- Xiaomei Chen * The Opera Quarterly *"Scholars and teachers who work in the fields of China's gender, cultural, and urban histories will commend its publication." -- Yuen Ting Lee * Canadian Journal of History, vol. XLVI *"The stories, people, plays, and films that are the legacy of Yue opera and which Jin Jiang so lovingly preserves in her book are a vital reminder of how deeply engrained our needs are for entertainment focusing on that universal theme: love." -- Andrew Field * American Historical Review *"Jin Jiang's study on the history of Yue opera is as thoughtful in its elucidation of social and political contexts as it is sympathetic in its intimate portraits of its protagonists, the actresses who created Yue opera…. the work provides an important addition to our understanding of the transformations of gender ideology and gendered praxis and performance in twentieth-century China. What is more, her history fully bridges-indeed, incorporates—the challenge that 1949 typically represents for historians of modern Chinese culture." * The Journal of Asian Studies *"The transformation of a rural, male dramatic form into an urban, female phenomenon lies at the heart of this stimulating study of 20th-century Shanghai culture. . . . Recommended." * Choice *"…women of Yue opera expressed modern urban feminine aspirations through the aesthetics and narratives of Yue opera. Such expressions represented the rise of feminine power in Shanghai and in Chinese society in general. This book should be welcomed by scholars in Chinese gender studies." * China Qaurterly *"This well-researched study examines a form of dialect opera that burst onto the scene in Shanghai in the 1920s, transformed itself under the aegis of its female stars in the 1930s and 1940s, eclipsed Bejing opera in the 1940s and maintained its predominance well into the 1980s. . . . This excellent study will be of interest to scholars and students of Chinese drama, urban popular culture, women's history, and gender studies. * Pacific Affairs *"Drawing on a wealth of written and oral sources the author effectively engages the subject from a cultural studies/feminist theory perspective to provide an outstanding example of how social and cultural dynamics can be examined through the lens of a performance tradition." * The Chinese Historical Review *Table of ContentsPreface Introduction | Opera, Gender, and the City 1. The Origins of Yue Opera 2. The Rise of Feminine Opera 3. Patrons and Patronage 4. Staging in the Public Arena 5. The Opera as History 6. A Feminine Aesthetics Conclusion Appendix | Interviews and Informants Notes Chinese Character Glossary References Index

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Book SynopsisThe story of how a trinity of California-based creatives pushed the boundaries to re-imagine a radical Tristan und Isolde opera for our times, resulting in a sensational major body of artwork by visionary American artist Bill Viola

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Book SynopsisThe Birth of an Opera offers illuminating insight into how operas are written and the personalities, incidents, and musical circumstances that have shaped their composition.Trade Review"Here are chapters of delight, elegantly and evocatively written by Rose, conjuring up the process of creation so as to make one eagerly turn or return to the music—and do so with heightened admiration and enjoyment." -- John Warrack, University of Oxford"In the world of opera the voices of librettists and composers, critics and witnesses, have never been so vividly or so ably assembled as in Michael Rose’s The Birth of an Opera, which takes the reader into the heart of the process by which great operas are made. These essays bring the composers’ partners, friends, enemies, and deepest thoughts to life. It is hard to imagine opera goers who would not be absorbed by the origins and background of their favorite operas, faithfully and lovingly set out as they are here." -- Hugh Macdonald, professor emeritus of music, Washington University in St. Louis"This is a delightful book! Michael Rose writes with grace and charm, his prose light as a feather and entirely accessible to someone approaching this art form for the first time. And yet what passion, what thought and experience lie behind his words, his astonishing quotations, and the subtle but always loyal judgments he delivers. Each of his fifteen chapters reads like a short story, sometimes funny, sometimes filled with twists and turns. But the cumulative effect is to place composers where they should be—at the very centre. For Rose, the musician is the dramatist." -- Gerard McBurney, creative director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's "Beyond the Score" series"Rose's entertaining book reveals new aspects of favorite operas for opera buffs and provides a nice introduction to opera for new listeners." -- Publisher's Weekly"Rather than retreading familiar ground with historical analysis and musical commentary, Rose produces an engaging script in which the individuals most closely concerned with each opera are seen to comment, debate and compromise. In this way Rose offers his readers a direct link to events that are otherwise beyond their reach, and he captures the often bizarre interactions of chance, genius, practical necessity and dogged determination that heralded the creation of opera’s most enduring and compelling masterpieces." -- Alexa B. Antopol - Opera America"An appealing invitation to lovers of opera to discover—or learn anew—how 15 imperishable works of genius came into being." -- John Check - The Wall Street Journal

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Book SynopsisFour centuries of opera through the stories they tell.Table of ContentsPart I: Experiencing Opera Chapter 1: Going to the Opera House Chapter 2: The Orchestra Plays Chapter 3: The Cast Appears Chapter 4: The Story Unfolds Part II: Opera of the 17th Century Chapter 5: Opera in Princely Courts: Florence and Mantua Monteverdi: Orfeo Chapter 6: Opera in Commercial Opera Houses: Venice Cavalli: Giasone Monteverdi: L'incoronazione di Poppea Chapter 7: National Opera: Paris and London Lully: Alceste, Atys, Armide Purcell: Dido and Aeneas Part III: Opera of the 18th Century Chapter 8: Opera on Classical Subjects Handel: Giulio Cesare in Egitto Rameau: Dardamus, Hippolyte et Aricie Gluck: Orfeo et Euridice, Alceste, the Iphigenia operas Chapter 9: Opera on Comic Subjects The Beggar's Opera Pergolesi: La serva padrona Mozart: The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte Part IV: Opera of the 19th Century Chapter 10: Opera on Themes of Political Conflict Grétry: Richard Coeur-de-Lion Beethoven: Fidelio Meyerbeer: Les Huguenots Bellini: Norma Verdi: Aida Musorgsky: Boris Godunov Chapter 11: Opera on Themes of Domestic Conflict Bizet: Carmen Rossini: The Barber of Seville Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoor Verdi: La Traviata, Otello Puccini: La bohème Chapter 12: Opera on Legendary Themes Gounod: Faust Wagner: The Flying Dutchman, Lohengrin, Die Walküre Glinka: Ruslan and Lyudmila Rimsky-Korsakov: The Legend of Kitezh Dvorák: Rusalka Part V: Opera of the 20th Century and Beyond Chapter 13: Human-Interest Opera Janácek: Jenufa Berg: Wozzeck Gershwin: Porgy and Bess Britten: Peter Grimes Operas of Floyd and Heggie Shostakovich: The Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk District Poulenc: Dialogues of the Carmelites Adams: The Death of Klinghoffer Chapter 14: Operas of Dreaming Saariaho: L'Amour de loin Debussy: Pelléas et Mélisande Strauss: Die Frau ohne Schatten Stravinsky: The Rake's Progress Messiaen: Saint Francis of Assisi Schoenberg: Moses and Aaron Operas of Thomson, Glass, and Davis Ligeti: Le Grand Macabre Ravel: L'Enfant et les Sortilèges Glossary Notes Works Cited Credits Index

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Book SynopsisAn original concept: in one volume, a study-size score of a major musical work, and a comprehensive body of tools for the study of that work.

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Book SynopsisHighlights the dynamism of twenty-first-century opera performance practice with regard to sexual violence, establishes methods to evaluate representations of sexual violence on the opera stage, and reframes the primary responsibility of opera critics and creators as being not to opera composers and librettists but to the public.Trade ReviewRape at the Opera: Staging Sexual Violence makes a substantial contribution to the body of updated, ethical criticism about opera narratives and productions. Given the intensified conversations around sexual violence in contemporary culture in general, Cormier’s critical assessment is a timely call for reflection on the responsibilities of staging opera today." - Kristi Brown-Montesano, Herb Albert School of Music, UCLA"Rape at the Opera is a compelling piece of scholarship with clear and engaging writing. Cormier's ethics of care—when it comes to staging—extends to an ethics of care for her reader as well. She presents nuanced analyses of the risks and benefits to staging sexual violence, providing a thoroughly interdisciplinary approach to opera." - Monica Hershberger, SUNY GenescoTable of Contents List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction 1. Staging Rape Myths in Don Giovanni 2. Salomeas Victim 3. Die EntfÜhrung aus dem Serail and the Limits of Critique 4: Rape in/as Warfare: The Perils of Allegory Conclusion Appendix: Don Giovanni Productions

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Book SynopsisDrawing upon a complex web of early modern sources and ancient texts, this study is a treatment of women, gender and sexuality in 17th-century opera. It explores the operatic manifestations of female chastity, power, transvestism, androgyny and desire.Table of ContentsList of Illustrations List of Tables Preface and Acknowledgments List of Abbreviations Editorial Principles Introduction 1. The Emblematic Woman 2. Bizzarrie Femminile: Opera and the Accademia degli Incogniti 3. Didone and the Voice of Chastity 4. "Disprezzata regina": Woman and Empire 5. The Nymph Calisto and the Myth of Female Pleasure 6. Semiramide and Musical Transvestism 7. Messalina la Meretrice: Envoicing the Courtesan Conclusions Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisIlluminates the diverse elements that constitute opera by focusing the investigation around three main categories: composition and production; words, music, and drama; and the interaction of society, genre, and aesthetics.Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Preface to the English Edition Introduction Part 1 Genesis, Performance, and Reception 1 The Genesis of an Opera 2 Performance 3 Reception Part 2 Drama, Poetry, and Music 4 The Construction of a Drama 5 Space and Time 6 Poetic Expression and Musical Expression Part 3 French Opera: Society, Genre, and Aesthetics 7 The Parisian Operatic World 8 Genre 9 The Aesthetic Foundations of Nineteenth-Century French Opera Conclusion Appendix 1 The Sources of Bizet’s Les Pêcheurs de perles Appendix 2 The Versions of Les Pêcheurs de perles Appendix 3 Several States of the Beginning of the Act 2 Finale Appendix 4 Passages Cut in the Course of Performance Appendix 5 Performances and Daily Box-Office Receipts of the Théâtre-Lyrique,September 27–November 28, 1863 Appendix 6 The Staging of Les Pêcheurs de perles Appendix 7 Symmetrical Versification and Reformulation of the Text Biographical Notes on Composers Notes Index

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Book SynopsisExplores the female roles in Mozart's four most frequently performed operas, Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni, Cosi fan tutte, and Die Zauberflote. Each chapter looks at the music, libretto text, literary sources, and historical factors that give shape to a character, re-evaluating common assumptions and proposing fresh interpretations.Trade Review“An interesting, unique, well-written study.” * CHOICE *“Brown-Montesano has set out to write something that will be of value to directors and singers in search of a character and general opera lovers who simply want to understand more about Mozart. This lively, perceptive study succeeds brilliantly on all counts.” * Classical Music Magazine *Table of ContentsContents Acknowledgments Overture Act One: (Anti-)Heroines and Women on the Edge 1. Feminine Vengeance I: The Assailed/Assailant Donna Anna 2. Sisterhood and Seduction I: Abandonment and Rescue Donna Elvira 3. Class Survival Zerlina 4. Feminine Vengeance II: (Over)Powered Politics The Queen of the Night 5. Good Daughter, Good Wife Pamina 6. Woman's Identity I: Sacred and Profane The Three Ladies and Papagena Act Two: Sisterly Alliances and Sisters Subverted 7. Sisterhood and Seduction II: Friendship and Class Countess Almaviva and Susanna 8. Woman's Identity II: Loss and Legitimacy Marcellina and Barbarina 9. Sisterhood and Seduction III: Intimacy and Influence Fiordiligi and Dorabella 10. Survival Class Despina Notes Works Cited Index

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Book SynopsisThe 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, this title tells how the Met became and remains a powerful actor on the global cultural scene.Trade Review"A welcome addition to the annals of opera history. Opera fans will feast on the facts and famous figures that fill these pages." Library Journal "A valuable and readable history of the Met." -- Joseph Horowitz Wall Street Journal "An entertaining and serious contextualization of the state of the Metropolitan Opera today, as well as an emotionally and intellectually satisfying read." -- Weston Williams Christian Science Monitor "This volume tells of a grand operatic melodrama, though played out as often by general managers and unions as by prima donnas." BEST BOOKS OF 2014 -- Richard Fairman Financial Times "Passionate opera fans Charles and Mirella Affron have created a comprehensive, decade-by-decade history of the Metropolitan Opera House and its changing repertoire, from the inaugural 1883 Faust to Marian Anderson's Civil Rights era debut to the age of 'Live in HD"'simulcast. If the Phoenicia Festival of the Voice whetted your operatic appetite, here is a splendid multicourse meal." -- Nina Shengold Chronogram "This new history is an epic treat for the Metophile ... an exhaustively researched, updated, thoughtful Met Opera history. The successive directors' flaws and achievements are described with equanimity. It compellingly conveys the problems and the progress, the failures and the glories of the Metropolitan Opera." -- Carol L. Anderson Wagner Notes "The Affrons have filled a void with 'Grand Opera: The Story of the Met.' ... They have written a conscientious, readable history of this world-renowned opera company. Their writing style is elegant, fitting for the elegant Met." -- Bill Schwab The Missourian "Richly detailed ... For better or worse, where the Met goes, other companies follow; and as the Affrons' gracefully written and finely researched history so often reminds us, the history of the Met is frequently the history of opera itself." -- Ditlev Rindom Cambridge Humanities ReviewTable of ContentsList of Illustrations Preface Acknowledgments 1 * A Matter of Boxes, 1883--1884: Bel Canto 2 * Cultural Capital, 1884--1903: The German Seasons and French Opera 3 * Opera Wars, 1903--1908: Parsifal, Salome, and the Manhattan Opera Company 4 * Modernity, 1908--1929: Puccini 5 * Hard Times, 1929--1940: Wagner 6 * Strains of War, 1940--1950: The Conductor's Opera 7 * Stage Business, 1950--1966: Verdi 8 * In Transit, 1966--1975: American Opera 9 * Maestro Assoluto, 1975--1990: Twentieth-Century European Opera and the Baroque 10 * Patronage and Perestroika, 1990--2006: American Opera (Redux) and Slavic Opera 11 * In the Age of New Media, 2006--2013 Notes Index

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Book SynopsisPresents a different view of Richard Wagner based on research that does not shy away from some truths about this controversial composer. This book tells what Wagner did, said, and wrote. It suggests that an estimation of Wagner does not lie in an all too easy condemnation of his many provocative actions and ideas.Trade Review"Essential reading for all who take an intelligent, informed interest in Wagner." Wagner Journal "Engaging." Australian Book Rev "A solid and stimulating read." -- George Hall Opera "Wide-ranging and eclectic, this volume presents the latest Wagner scholarship and criticism." -- S. Edwards Choice "An engaging portrait" Music Educators JournalTable of ContentsPreface part i. a few beginnings 1. Wagner Lives Issues in Autobiography 2. "Pale" Senta Female Sacrifice and the Desire for Heimat 3. Wagner the Progressive Another Look at Lohengrin part ii. der ring des nibelungen 4. Fairy Tale, Revolution, Prophecy Preliminary Evening: Das Rheingold 5. Symphonic Mastery or Moral Anarchy? First Day: Die Walkure 6. Siegfried Hero Second Day: Siegfried 7. Finishing the End Third Day: Gotterdammerung part iii. the elusiveness of tragedy 8. Don Carlos and Gotterdammerung Two Operatic Endings and Walter Benjamin's Trauerspiel 9. Wagner's Greeks, and Wieland's Too Contents part iv. tristan und isolde 10. Dangerous Fascinations 11. Public and Private Life Reflections on the Genesis of Tristan and Isolde and the Wesendonck Lieder 12. Postmortem on Isolde part v. mature polemics 13. Strange Love, Or, How We Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Parsifal 14. Mendelssohn and the Strange Case of the (Lost) Symphony in C 15. Unfinished Symphonies part vi. Operatic Futures 16. Configurations of the New 17. Wagner and Beyond List of Abbreviations Notes Acknowledgments Index

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Book SynopsisArgues that Brecht's simultaneous work on opera and Lehrstuck in the 1920s generated the concept of audience experience that would come to define epic theater, and that his revisions to the theory of Gestus in the mid-1930s are reminiscent of nineteenth-century opera performance practices of mimesis.Trade Review"A noteworthy, compelling, and occasionally provocative addition to the vast body of literature about Brecht that even literary scholars would not want to miss perusing." -- Eve M. Duffy H-German "An impressive book: impeccably researched, with two essential and pioneering chapters and three more which have much of interest to offer." -- Michael Ewans Comparative Drama "Excellent... Recommended." -- John Harrison, University of Northern Colorado Opera JournalTable of ContentsList of Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction 1. Lehrstuck, Opera, and the New Audience Contract of the Epic Theater 2. The Operatic Roots of Gestus in The Mother and Round Heads and Pointed Heads 3. Fragments of Opera in American Exile 4. Lucullus: Opera and National Identity 5. Brecht's Legacy for Opera: Estrangement and the Canon Notes Bibliography Index

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Book Synopsisexamines the influence of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony on two major nineteenth-century composers, Richard Wagner and Robert Schumann. During 1845 46 the compositional styles of Schumann and Wagner changed in a common direction, toward a style that was more contrapuntal, more densely motivic, and engaged in processes of thematic transformation.Trade Review"Wagner, Schumann, and the Lessons of Beethoven's Ninth is a fascinating new examination... It is as though a careful magnifying glass were held to past interactions between two very different composers..." -- Nancy Lorraine The Midwest Book Review "This is a multilayered book. It is on one level a formidable piece of forensic musical detective work displaying detailed critical understanding of the works in question through identification of influences and tracing of possible thematic cross-references across generic boundaries; on another it is a musically highly intelligent study of interactive compositional processes in the different but related guises of operatic and instrumental music." Music & LettersTable of ContentsPreface Acknowledgments Introduction 1. Wagner's Faustian Understanding of Beethoven's Ninth 2. The Impact of the Ninth on The Flying Dutchman 3. Wagner, Thematic Dispersion, and Contrary Motion 4. Schumann, Thematic Dispersion, and Contrary Motion 5. Late Schumann, Wagner, and Bach 6. Brahms's Triple Response to the Ninth 7. Wagner and Schumann Appendix 1: Citations of Wagner's Possible Allusions and Influences in The Flying Dutchman Appendix 2: Contrary Motion Counterpoint in the First Movement of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony Appendix 3: Contrary Motion Counterpoint in The Flying Dutchman Appendix 4: Contrary Motion Counterpoint in the Fourth Movement of Schumann's Second Symphony Appendix 5: Contrary Motion Counterpoint in the First Movement of Brahms's First Symphony Abbreviations Notes Works Cited Index

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Book SynopsisHow did voice become a metaphor for selfhood in the Western imagination? The Lyric Myth of Voice situates the emergence of an ideological connection between voice and subjectivity in late eighteenth-century Italy, where long-standing political anxieties and new notions of cultural enlightenment collided in the mythical figure of the lyric poet-singer. Ultimately, music and literature together shaped the singing voice into a tool for civilizing modern Italian subjects. Drawing on a range of approaches and frameworks from historical musicology to gender studies, disability studies, anthropology, and literary theory, Jessica Gabriel Peritz shows how this ancient yet modern myth of voice attained interpretable form, flesh, and sound. The publisher gratefully acknowledges the generous support of the AMS 75 PAYS Fund of the American Musicological Society, supported in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.Table of ContentsContents List of Illustrations and Tables Editorial Principles Introduction 1 • The Poet Sings 2 • The Orfeo Act 3 • Civilizing Song 4 • Domesticating the Tenth Muse 5 • Sublime Suffering and the Good Mother Epilogue Acknowledgments Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisIs The Marriage of Figaro just about Figaro? Is Don Giovanni's story the only oneor even the most interesting onein the opera that bears his name? For generations of critics, historians, and directors, it's Mozart's men who have mattered most. Too often, the female characters have been understood from the male protagonist's point of view or simply reduced on stage (and in print) to paper cutouts from the age of the powdered wig and the tightly cinched corset. It's time to give Mozart's womenand Mozart's multi-dimensional portrayals of feminine charactertheir due. In this lively book, Kristi Brown-Montesano offers a detailed exploration of the female roles in Mozart's four most frequently performed operas, Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte, and Die Zauberflöte. Each chapter takes a close look at the music, libretto text, literary sources, and historical factors that give shape to a character, re-evaluating common assumptions and proposing fresh interpretations. Brown-Montesano views each character as the subject of a story, not merely the object of a hero's narrative or the stock figure of convention. From amiable Zerlina, to the awesome Queen of the Night, to calculating Despina, all of Mozart's women have something unique to say. These readings also tackle provocative social, political, and cultural issues, which are used in the operas to define positive and negative images of femininity: revenge, power, seduction, resistance, autonomy, sacrifice, faithfulness, class, maternity, and sisterhood. Keenly aware of the historical gap between the origins of these works and contemporary culture, Brown-Montesano discusses how attitudes about such conceptspast and currentinfluence our appreciation of these fascinating representations of women.Trade Review“An interesting, unique, well-written study.” * CHOICE *“Brown-Montesano has set out to write something that will be of value to directors and singers in search of a character and general opera lovers who simply want to understand more about Mozart. This lively, perceptive study succeeds brilliantly on all counts.” * Classical Music Magazine *Table of ContentsContentsAcknowledgmentsOvertureAct One: (Anti-)Heroines and Women on the Edge1. Feminine Vengeance I: The Assailed/AssailantDonna Anna2. Sisterhood and Seduction I: Abandonment and RescueDonna Elvira3. Class SurvivalZerlina4. Feminine Vengeance II: (Over)Powered PoliticsThe Queen of the Night5. Good Daughter, Good WifePamina6. Woman’s Identity I: Sacred and ProfaneThe Three Ladies and PapagenaAct Two: Sisterly Alliances and Sisters Subverted7. Sisterhood and Seduction II: Friendship and ClassCountess Almaviva and Susanna8. Woman’s Identity II: Loss and LegitimacyMarcellina and Barbarina9. Sisterhood and Seduction III: Intimacy and InfluenceFiordiligi and Dorabella10. Survival ClassDespinaNotesWorks CitedIndex

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Book SynopsisRepublic of Images traces the evolution of French filmmaking from 1895the year of the debut of the Cinematographe in Paristo the present day. Alan Williams offers a unique synthesis of history, biography, aesthetics and film theory. He captures the formal and stylistic developments of film in France over nearly one hundred years.Trade ReviewThe history of French cinema is the history of cinema. -- Nestor AlmendrosTable of ContentsA Note on Film Titles and Dates Introduction Part I: French Cinema Dominates the World Market 1. The Cinema Before Cinema 2. An Industry Begins 3. Growth and Diversification Part II: The Golden Age of the Silent Film 4. Decline and Mutation 5. The Mental and the Physical 6. The Commercial and the Esoteric Part III: The Golden Age of the Sound Cinema 7. An Unexpected Upheaval 8. Art and Entertainment in the Sound Film 9. Politics, Poetics, and the Cinema Part IV: A New Kind of Cinema 10. War and Occupation 11. Liberation-Change and Continuity 12. An Alternative Film Culture Part V: The Nouvelle Vague and After 13. Fourth Wave 14. Filmmaking at the Margins 15. Winds of Change Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisOne of the foremost composers of the French Baroque operatic tradition, Rameau is often cited for his struggle to steer lyric tragedy away from its strict Lullian form, inspired by spoken tragedy, and toward a more expressive musical style. In this fresh exploration of Rameau's compositional aesthetic, Charles Dill depicts a much more complicated fTable of ContentsPreface ix Abbreviations xvii Chapter 1. Monstrous Opera 3 Chapter 2. Different Tragedies 31 Chapter 3. Rameau's Twins 57 Chapter 4. Rameau Mise-en-Scene 106 Chapter 5. In the Mirror 135 Notes 153 Sources Cited 183 Index 195

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Book SynopsisTrade Review[A] vast amount of research […] has gone into this project. […] Didier makes the reader constantly aware of the historical, social, aesthetic, theoretical, philosophical, psychological complexities involved ; this work is a much richer tapestry than a review can convey. Her well-shaped, elegantly written study is an excellent contribution to our knowledge and understanding of eighteenth-century French culture.- NZ Journal of French StudiesToujours éclairant […], l’ouvrage de Béatrice Didier rend hommage à certains écrivains et théoriciens majeurs (Metastasio, Fontenelle, Voltaire, Diderot, Rousseau), loue le génie de Quinault, brillant partenaire de Lully, et n’oublie pas de remettre en lumière Cahusac et Fuzelier, collaborateurs trop souvent décriés de Rameau. Fruit d’un long travail, s’il est d’abord une source inépuisable d’informations, il donne surtout matière à réflexion, et son intérêt est indéniable [… et] son sujet très pointu.- Opéra MagazineTable of ContentsAvant-proposIntroduction. Le livret d’opéra: un genre décrié et fécondI Les librettistes1. Situations et contingences2. Nostalgies de grandeur3. Quatre écrivains librettistesII Les livrets et leurs formes4. Justifications 5. Les genres lyriques6. Langages et mise en scèneIII Vers le mythe 7. Les portes du merveilleux8. Les livrets des opéras de Rameau et le mythe9. Le premier romantismeConclusion. Le livret, prodigieux réservoir de mythesRépertoire des librettistes (fin XVIIe-début XIXe) BibliographieIndex

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Book SynopsisHow well do you think you know your opera? Match wits with Metropolitan Opera quiz master Father Owen Lee in forty-five opera-related puzzles, including straight-forward quizzes, anagrams, vertical patterns, crostics, and crossword puzzles. Each puzzle has a theme, such as baseball and opera, movies and opera, and operas set in Paris. Forty-three of the puzzles have been collected from Father Lee's column in The Opera Quarterly, along with two new puzzles especially created for this volume.

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Book SynopsisOpera is quin-tessentially an art of love and desire, of loss and suffering, of disease and death. This title offers an understanding of both content and context.Trade Review"A fascinating interdisciplinary study of the interconnected subtexts of erotic attraction, illness, and death in several 19th- and 20th-century operatic texts... This is an extraordinary examination of how opera uses the singing body-gendered and sexual-to give voice to the suffering person. Highly recommended."-Library Journal Library Journal "The authors' argument is rich and complex; it draws on source, text and music; it is also medically sound. Opera is quintessentially an art of love and desire, of loss and suffering, of disease and death. Hutcheon and Hutcheon enrich our understanding of both content and context."-Opera News Opera News "Linda and Michael Hutcheon have done a fine job of pulling together medical and literary sources to make sense of the changing depiction of disease in opera... For opera lovers and for anyone interested in seeing good, synthetic reasoning at work, this is a fine study."-Publishers Weekly Publishers Weekly

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Book SynopsisWith Richard Wagner, opera reached the apex of German Romanticism. Originally published in 1851, when Wagner was in political exile, this work outlines a revolutionary type of musical stage work, which would finally materialize as "The Ring of the Nibelung".

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Book SynopsisThis text presents a series of essays on opera by a number of contemporary European and American literary and cultural theorists. They offer a variety of contemporary critical approaches ranging from the Frankfurt School through Lacanian psychoanalysis and post-structuralism to discourse analysis.Table of ContentsContents LEVIN DAVID J. STAROBINSKI JEAN ADORNO THEODOR W. LACOUE-LABARTHE PHILIPPE KAMUF PEGGY WEBER SAMUEL THEWELEIT KLAUS ZIZEK SLAVOJ KITTLER FRIEDRICH

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Book SynopsisOpera and the City analyzes court-city (and state-society) tensions surrounding gender, class, and ethnicity during the Qing dynasty through the prism of opera performance in the capital city of Beijing.Trade Review"Raising provocative arguments for discussion is one of the most important things an historical monograph can do, and when, as in Goldman's book, it is combined with deep erudition and empirical richness, it is an occasion to celebrate. Opera and the City is truly a work that not only scholars of Chinese literature but those of late imperial urban society and culture will certainly want to read." -- William T. Rowe * Frontiers of History in China *"Goldman offers a lively, stimulating account of the complex interaction between opera and urban culture in China between 1770 and 1900. This period tends to be underrepresented in scholarship, due to the difficulty of positioning what was innovative and socially challenging within the traditions of Qing society, but the author approaches these issues with wit and precision, and expertly reveals to the reader the colorful world of 19th-century Beijing . . . Highly recommended." -- S. Yoon * CHOICE *"This thoroughly researched and erudite study turns the history of Chinese opera, often treated elsewhere as an esoteric subject, into a key venue for broad social and cultural inquiry into the evolution of Chinese urban politics and culture in the second half of the Qing era . . . This book's major strengths are Andrea Goldman's highly original interpretive vision and her extensive primary-text scholarship . . . This volume is an important addition to the scholarship on late imperial Beijing society, politics, and culture . . . Goldman's study opens up a refreshing vista on late imperial Chinese artistic and cultural life and its social meanings and politics, pushing us toward a horizon of understanding this history through new perspectives and in unexpected locations." -- John Kong-cheong Leung * The Historian *"Opera and the City is an extremely well-researched and well-argued monograph on the development of commercial theatre in Beijing from the heyday of the Manchu Qing dynasty in the middle of the eighteenth century to the eve of the dynasty's collapse in 1911." -- Wilt L. Idema * Journal of Chinese Studies *"Goldman's study of Peking opera is thorough, convincing, and fascinating. It will be required reading for scholars of Chinese theater, late imperial culture, Qing history, and gender studies. The scholarship is as good as it gets." -- Catherine Swatek * University of British Columbia *"Like a rewarding afternoon at the theater in Qing Beijing, Opera and the City is a lively, sexy, and artistically accomplished performance. Andrea S. Goldman's erudition and passion for theater animate her important study of the gender, class, and Court politics of Qing commercial theater. A must-read for anyone interested in late imperial China." -- Peter J. Carroll * Northwestern University *"Andrea S. Goldman has written a thoughtful study of the cultural and political context of operatic production, performance, and consumption in Beijing from the late eighteenth to the end of the nineteenth century. Thoroughly researched, theoretically innovative, and engagingly written, this work is both a pleasure to read and a substantial contribution to our understanding of how the urban milieu of the late imperial capital city influenced and was influenced by the political dynamics of China's administrative center . . . [Opera in the City is] a truly impressive piece of scholarship that should be considered essential reading for all those interested in Chinese opera, Qing urban history, cultural history, Beijing history, and the intersection of politics and culture in the late-imperial period." -- Richard Belsky * American Historical Review *"Tightly anchored on historical and literary sources, and informed by gender and cultural studies, Goldman's erudite social history of opera takes us on an exciting walk in the capital city, from the height of the empire to the foreign occupation in 1900 that disrupted the state the society, and the practice of opera. Augmented by fascinating illustrations, the text unravels the evolving opera culture as it tracks turning points where politics, society, and war shaped the urbanite community of a million people." -- Jennifer W. Jay * Histoire sociale / Social History *

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Book SynopsisDiligently transcribed and annotated by Michael Burden, Anton Reiff's diary presents an extraordinarily rare view of life with a foreign opera company as it traveled across America by river and rail.

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewThis study’s scope is impressive and engaging and opens a window not only on the genesis and development of the opera from a variety of standpoints but also on the politics of producing such a potentially ‘controversial’ piece on black history and black life in the United States. It is at once eclectic and single-minded, and offers insight not only into the underpinnings of Margaret Garner but also into the sociocultural impact of high art.–Justine Tally, Universidad de La Laguna (Spain), author of Toni Morrison's ""Beloved"": Origins

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Book SynopsisIn Sensing Sound Nina Sun Eidsheim offers a vibrational theory of music that radically re-envisions how we think about sound, music, and listening. Eidsheim shows how sound, music, and listening are dynamic and contextually dependent, rather than being fixed, knowable, and constant. She uses twenty-first-century operas by Juliana Snapper, Meredith Monk, Christopher Cerrone, and Alba Triana as case studies to challenge common assumptions about sound—such as air being the default medium through which it travels—and to demonstrate the importance a performance''s location and reception play in its contingency. By theorizing the voice as an object of knowledge and rejecting the notion of an a priori definition of sound, Eidsheim releases the voice from a constraining set of fixed concepts and meanings. In Eidsheim''s theory, music consists of aural, tactile, spatial, physical, material, and vibrational sensations. This expanded definition of music as manifested throuTrade Review"Even if we consider 'the voice' as a sound source, in an average personal imaginary ‘sound’ is something external, while 'the voice' is something internal and intimate. If we add to that the extreme power of language, it’s even harder to treat the voice as 'sound.' Eidsheim explores these contradictions in her book with knowledge and vision. Her theory of sound as a 'universal connection of entities,' for example, is simply enrapturing...." -- Aurelio Cianciotta * Neural *"Eidsheim’s formulation of music as vibrational practice engenders new ways of considering communication between singer and audience, environment and body, and animate and inanimate materials. ... Her work generates wide-ranging and pragmatic resonances for those interested in questions surrounding sound and multi-sensory experience." -- Amy Skjerseth * Theatre Research International *"[Eidsheim's] book invites readers to remember that music itself is a complex phenomenon better understood as an experience and practice of 'intermaterial vibration.'" -- Cecilia Livingston * Cambridge Opera Journal *“Sensing Sound is a captivating and rewarding book. Eidsheim’s ‘vibrational practice’ provides a liberating take on vocal sound, and one that can be applied not only to singing and listening, but to many dimensions of sensory experience.” -- Rebecca Lentjes * Journal of Interdisciplinary Voice Studies *“No doubt [Sensing Sound] will become required reading in many academic disciplines that touch on voice studies.” -- Marit MacArthur * Yale Review *“Sensing Sound delivers a provocative theory of musical sonority—one that interrogates the participatory, material, and ex­periential dimensions of music-making in new and exciting ways. . . . Sensing Sound is sure to enliven music and sound studies research for years to come.” -- Daniel Akira Stadnicki * Intersections *“Eidsheim’s book is sensitive to bodies, attentive to physics, and mindful of encultured practices of listening and sounding. It is a much-needed meeting point for musicology, sound studies, philosophy of sound, performance studies, vocal pedagogy, and those interested in theorizing difference in music.” -- Lucie Vágnerová * Current Musicology *Table of ContentsIllustrations viii Acknowledgments xi Introduction 1 1. Music's Material Dependency: What Underwater Opera Can Tell Us about Odysseus's Ears 27 2. The Acoustic Mediation of Voice, Self, and Others 58 3. Music as Action: Singing Happens before Sound 95 4. All Voice, All Ears: From the Figure of Sound to the Practice of Music 132 5. Music as a Vibrational Practice: Singing and Listening as Everything and Nothing 154 Notes 187 Bibliography 241 Index 261

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Book SynopsisHistoric accounts and new material illuminate the creation, early history and artistic intentions of Britten's first opera.The premiere of Peter Grimes on 7 June 1945 announced the emergence of the first great composer of opera in English since Purcell. Surviving documents offer evidence of the complex interaction of differing ideas about the possible shape and content of the new work, most notably the composition draft, which these essays are particularly concerned to illuminate. They juxtapose historic material with fresh studies: three items written by members of theteam involved in the 1945 production are set alongside specially-commissioned articles, with the three-fold intention of presenting the views of some of the creators of the opera, outlining the work's early history, and offeringcontemporary perspectives on its historical context and its message.Professor PAUL BANKS is Research Development Fellow at the Royal College of Music.Contributors: PAUL BANKS, PHILIP BRETT, BENJAMIN BRITTEN, ERIC CROZIER, DONALDMITCHELL, PETER PEARS, PHILIP REED, ROSAMUND STRODE. Packed away in its pages is a very large amount of new information. TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT A fitting tribute to the opera's enduring international stature, and undoubtedly [a] significant achievement in Britten studies. MUSIC AND LETTERSTrade ReviewPacked away in its pages is a very large amount of new information. TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT A fitting tribute to the opera's enduring international stature, and undoubtedly [a] significant achievement in Britten studies. * MUSIC AND LETTERS *Table of ContentsPreface - Paul Banks Peter Grimes (1965) - Eric Crozier

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Book SynopsisFocuses on Chicago's love affair with opera. With hundred illustrations, this book offers an overview, which is supplemented with a complete list of all the professional opera performances in Chicago, from 1850 to 2005. It is suitable for people interested in music - especially opera - and the history of Chicago.Trade ReviewFact-packed, lively.... 150 Years of Opera in Chicago radiates the affectionate and comprehensive knowledge of [Marsh and Pellegrini] about the most glamorous and expensive of the performing arts. * Illinois Heritage *A fine book. With the unusual stylishness of the writing and its fascinating subject... every line that you read demands that you keep going, and makes you read on and on. * Opera Today *Essential reading. * Chicago Tribune *Table of ContentsTable of Contents Preface Author's Preface Introduction 1 The Roots of a Tradition, 1850–1864 2 The Crosby Years, 1865–1871 3 A Tradition Rebuilt, 1872–1889 4 The Met West, 1884–1910 5 A New Tradition, 1910–1929 6 The Ravinia Opera, 1912–1931 7 A New Theater, 1929–1947 8 New York Takes Over, 1943–1954 9 The Lyric Theater, 1954–1955 10 The Fox Years, 1956–1981 11 The Krainik Years, 1981–1997 12 A New Beginning, 1997–2000 13 A Changing Repertory over the First 150 Years 14 Paying the Bills and Broadening the Audience Appendix A—Overview of Chicago Opera Staging Organizations Appendix B—Annals of Opera in Chicago, 1850–2005 —Index —Annals Notes Selected Bibliography Index Permissions

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Book SynopsisDiscusses social and historical context, stages, stagecraft, and literary art of Yuan drama and presents complete translations of three plays - a bandit adventure, a melodrama, and a murder mystery.

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Book SynopsisOffers a unique perspective in to what it takes to perform Richard Wagner's operas.Performing Wagner studies each of the iconic Wagnerian heldentenor roles from the unique perspective of the performer. Stephen Gould studied and acted them hundreds of times in scores of productions around the world prior to his passing in 2023. In this thoughtful book, he offers insights to building a character, understanding the dramatic arc of each role, analysing each scene for cogency and dramatic structure, and finding the clues embedded in the music and the words. His intelligence and eloquence offer perspectives that only a performer can experience. The book is unique in opera literature. Neither a memoir nor a musical analysis, Performing Wagner is a practical guide to preparing for, and performing, these roles. Stephen Gould hoped to share his experiences with enthusiasts of Wagner's works, as well as opera audiences more generally who seek to learn what singing actors do in performance. It is invaluable to young artists approaching this repertoire and to scholars studying Wagner's dramaturgy. More broadly, this volume speaks to the condition of every opera fan who has ever been floored by a great performance and wondered, 'how did they do that?'A chapter is devoted to each role, and a foreword is provided by Katharina Wagner, the composer's great-granddaughter and Director of the Wagner Festival in Bayreuth, Germany.

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Book SynopsisOpera is community, comfort, art, voice, breath, life. It's hope.All art exists to make life more bearable. For Alison Kinney, it was the wild, fantastical world of opera that transformed her listening and her life. Whether we're listening for the first time or revisiting the arias that first stole our hearts, Avidly Reads Opera welcomes readers and listeners to a community full of friendship, passion, critiqueand, always, beautiful music. In times of delirious, madcap fun and political turmoil, opera fans have expressed their passion by dispatching records into the cosmos, building fairy-tale castles, and singing together through the arduous work of social activism. Avidly Reads Opera is a love letter to the music and those who love it, complete with playlists, a crowdsourced tip sheet from ultra-fans to newbies, and stories of the turbulent, genre-busting, and often hilarious history of opera and its audiences. Across five actsand the requisite intermissionAlison Kinney takes us evTrade ReviewExplaining a musical genre’s appeal for the uninitiated is a tricky feat, but Kinney’s personal approach and passion for her subject distinguish this book from other 'opera 101' attempts. An appealing primer by a fan, for (potential) fans. * Library Journal *When making a solo trip to the opera, almost everyone who wasn't raised on the art faces this question: 'Do I really belong here?' Alison Kinney says 'yes,' and invites you to ride along with her: to performances at Wagner's theater, and also, less conventionally, at a prison. She's insightful and entertaining, but not merely good company. Her larger conversation with the tradition—regarding its pleasures and its problems—should excite anyone eager to see opera with new eyes. * Seth Colter Walls, New York Times contributing music critic *Alison Kinney’s words are like the opinionated arguments you seek out from a friend you trust and respect enough to disagree with—but only occasionally. The energy, care, and excitement are palpable and propel you through this chatty romp through the repertoire. From classic operas to lesser-known and recent works, this book holds opera accountable for its sins while also walking humbly through the halls of a genre that can still say important and trenchant things about social justice today. Kinney shows us that there is a seat for everyone in the opera audience, and welcomes us in. * Naomi André, University of Michigan *

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Book SynopsisOpera is community, comfort, art, voice, breath, life. It's hope.All art exists to make life more bearable. For Alison Kinney, it was the wild, fantastical world of opera that transformed her listening and her life. Whether we're listening for the first time or revisiting the arias that first stole our hearts, Avidly Reads Opera welcomes readers and listeners to a community full of friendship, passion, critiqueand, always, beautiful music. In times of delirious, madcap fun and political turmoil, opera fans have expressed their passion by dispatching records into the cosmos, building fairy-tale castles, and singing together through the arduous work of social activism. Avidly Reads Opera is a love letter to the music and those who love it, complete with playlists, a crowdsourced tip sheet from ultra-fans to newbies, and stories of the turbulent, genre-busting, and often hilarious history of opera and its audiences.Across five actsand the requisitTrade Review"Explaining a musical genre’s appeal for the uninitiated is a tricky feat, but Kinney’s personal approach and passion for her subject distinguish this book from other 'opera 101' attempts. An appealing primer by a fan, for (potential) fans." * Library Journal *"When making a solo trip to the opera, almost everyone who wasn't raised on the art faces this question: 'Do I really belong here?' Alison Kinney says 'yes,' and invites you to ride along with her: to performances at Wagner's theater, and also, less conventionally, at a prison. She's insightful and entertaining, but not merely good company. Her larger conversation with the tradition—regarding its pleasures and its problems—should excite anyone eager to see opera with new eyes." * Seth Colter Walls, New York Times contributing music critic *"Alison Kinney’s words are like the opinionated arguments you seek out from a friend you trust and respect enough to disagree with—but only occasionally. The energy, care, and excitement are palpable and propel you through this chatty romp through the repertoire. From classic operas to lesser-known and recent works, this book holds opera accountable for its sins while also walking humbly through the halls of a genre that can still say important and trenchant things about social justice today. Kinney shows us that there is a seat for everyone in the opera audience, and welcomes us in." * Naomi André, University of Michigan *

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Book SynopsisA beguiling exploration of the last Habsburg monarchs' grip on Europe's historical and cultural imagination. In 1919 the last Habsburg rulers, Emperor Karl and Empress Zita, left Austria, going into exile. That same year, the fairy-tale opera Die Frau ohne Schatten (The Woman Without a Shadow), featuring a mythological emperor and empress, premiered at the Vienna Opera. Viennese poet Hugo von Hofmannsthal and German composer Richard Strauss created Die Frau ohne Schatten through the bitter years of World War I, imagining it would triumphantly appear after the victory of the German and Habsburg empires. Instead, the premiere came in the aftermath of catastrophic defeat. The Shadow of the Empress: Fairy-Tale Opera and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy explores how the changing circumstances of politics and society transformed their opera and its cultural meanings before, during, and after the First World War. Strauss and Hofmannsthal turned emperors and empresses into fantastic fairy-tale characters; meanwhile, following the collapse of the Habsburg monarchy after the war, their real-life counterparts, removed from political life in Europe, began to be regarded as anachronistic, semi-mythological figures. Reflecting on the seismic cultural shifts that rocked post-imperial Europe, Larry Wolff follows the story of Karl and Zita after the loss of their thrones. Karl died in 1922, but Zita lived through the rise of Nazism, World War II, and the Cold War. By her death in 1989, she had herself become a fairy-tale figure, a totem of imperial nostalgia. Wolff weaves together the story of the opera's composition and performance; the end of the Habsburg monarchy; and his own family's life in and exile from Central Europe, providing a rich new understanding of Europe's cataclysmic twentieth century, and our contemporary relationship to it.Trade Review"In Larry Wolff's brilliant telling, an opera's fairy-tale empress and a real-life Habsburg empress come to embody the phantom political culture of an empire that to this day maintains a powerful hold over Central and Eastern European institutions and imagination."—Pieter M. Judson, author of The Habsburg Empire: A New History"This alluring and original work of history explores the parallel lives of a twentieth century opera, the twilight of the Habsburg Empire, and its last emperor and empress. Politics is woven into the opera's creation and its later life. In this brilliant book, art imitates life, and life art, through mirror images, shadows and the unexpected destinies of historic personages."—Leon Botstein, Bard College"Larry Wolff's dual biography of Richard Strauss and Hugo von Hofmannsthal's fictional empress (The Woman without a Shadow, premiered in 1919) and the last Habsburg empress Zita, who lived until 1989, is a silver rose of a book—a brilliant account of an imperfect operatic masterpiece, its allegorical investments, and its call for the repopulation and humanization of Europe in the wake of World War I."—Michael P. Steinberg, author of The Afterlife of MosesTable of ContentsIntroduction: Pulling Roots 1. Giving Language Time 2. The Transported Word: Wheatley's Part 3. Voices of the Ground: Blake's Language in Deep Time 4. Radical Diversions: Wordsworth's Overgrowth 5. The Primitive Today: Thoreau in the Wild Conclusion: Deracination

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Book SynopsisA volume of collected essays which engage Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg from the perspective of both active performers and academics in a wide range of disciplines. Richard Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg has been one of the most performed operas ever since its premiere in 1868. It was adopted as Germany's national opera ("Nationaloper"), not least because of its historical coincidence with the unification of Germany under Bismarck in 1871. The first section of this volume, "Performing Meistersinger," contains three commissioned articles from internationally respected artists - a conductor (Peter Schneider), a stage director (Harry Kupfer) and a singer (Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau), all experienced in the performance of this unusually demanding 5-hour work. The second section, "Meistersinger and History," examines both the representation of German history in the opera and the way the opera has functioned in history through political appropriation and staging practice. The third section, "Representations," is the most eclectic, exploring in the first place the problematic question of genre from the perspective of a theatrical historian. The chronic issue of Wagner's chief opponent, Eduard Hanslick, and his musical and dramatic representation in the opera as Beckmesser, is then addressed, as are gender issues, and Wagner's own utterances concerning the opera. Contributors: Nicholas Vazsonyi, Peter Schneider, Harry Kupfer, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Hans Rudolf Vaget, Lutz Koepnick, David B. Dennis, Klaus Van Den Berg, Thomas S. Grey, Lydia Goehr, Eva Rieger, Peter Höyng. Nicholas Vazsonyi is associate professor of German and comparative literature, University of South Carolina.Trade ReviewIntellectually speaking, this is a delicious tome . . . an indispensable book. Vazsonyi, Rochester University Press, and the individual essayists are to be roundly congratulated on an outstanding contribution to Wagnerian scholarship. WAGNER NOTES, Wagner Society of NY * . *This superb volume of essays . . . [is] the best ever published on 'Die Meistersinger' . . . a book that demands to be read by anyone interested in the politics of opera. -- Barry Millington * BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE *A wonderfully wide-reaching introduction to the extensive field of 'Meistersinger' scholarship. * CHOICE *Nicholas Vazsonyi has organized a collection of new writings whose eleven authors keep the reader up to date with this abundant literature. More than that, the diverse contributors he has chosen complement one another . . . what results is a book that fulfills its underlying interdisciplinary aim. For readers seriously interested in Wagner it will be both instructive and absorbing. * THE OPERA *Nicholas Vazsonyi has assembled a collection of essays that deal with aspects of the opera not necessarily addressed elsewhere, affirming the continuing relevance of the work. This book offers a collection of interdisciplinary studies that should supplement some of the more traditional literature on this seminal work by Wagner. * MONATSHEFTE, 2006 *Table of Contents"Climbing Mount Everest": On Conducting Die Meistersinger - Peter Schneider "We Must Finally Stop Apologizing for Die Meistersinger!": A Conversation with Harry Kupfer - Harry Kupfer Richard Wagner's Cobbler Poet - Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau The Dangers of Satisfaction: On Songs, Rehearsals, and Repetition in Die Meistersinger - Stereoscopic Vision: Sight and Community in Die Meistersinger - Lutz Koepnick "The Most German of All German Operas": Die Meistersinger through the Lens of the Third Reich - David B. Dennis http://worldwidewagner.richard.de: An Interview with the Composer concerning History, Nation, and Die Meistersinger - Peter Höyng Die Meistersinger as Comedy: The Performative and Social Signification of Genre - Klaus van den Berg Masters and Their Critics: Wagner, Hanslick, Beckmesser, and Die Meistersinger - Thomas Grey "Du warst mein Feind von je": The Beckmesser Controversy Revisited - Hans Rudolf Vaget "I Married Eva": Gender Construction and Die Meistersinger - Eva Rieger

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Book SynopsisAn overview of the history of the Prague musical community from 1900 until the end of democracy in 1938, with attention to polemics about "Czechness" and "modernism." This study presents a history and analysis of the Prague musical community from 1900 until the end of democracy in 1938. Opera and Ideology in Prague not only narrates the fascinating history of a local musical community but also reveals much about music and culture in Europe. The fin-de-siècle period was dominated by the musicologist Zdenek Nejedly's polemics regarding the competing "legacies" of Smetana and Dvorák and the merits of modernism.After Czech independence in 1918, a new generation of musicians accepted modernist foreign influences only with extreme hesitation. The 1926 Prague premiere of Berg's opera Wozzeck and the ascendancy of a young groupof avant-garde composers changed the cultural climate entirely, providing new ground for the exploration of jazz, neo-classicism, quarter tones, and socialist music. As the Czechoslovak Republic drew to a close, a resurgence of nationalism appeared in the musical expressions of both Czechs and German-Bohemians. The analyses of operas and tone poems by Novák, Ostrcil, Zich, Jeremiás, Hába, Kricka, and Suk provide a cross-section of musical life in early twentieth-century Prague, as well as a series of interpretations of Czech cultural identity. Populist endeavors such as jazz and neo-classicism represented some of the ways in which composers of the 1930s attempted to regain anaudience alienated by modernism: in this respect, the trends in Prague mirrored those of the rest of Europe. Brian Locke is Assistant Professor of Music History at Western Illinois University, Macomb. He has written extensively on twentieth-century music, including Czech operatic and symphonic works and Alban Berg's Wozzeck.Trade ReviewA most impressive achievement and a major work of scholarship of the period. There is nothing in any language that quite matches its range and depth. -- John Tyrrell * TWENTIETH-CENTURY MUSIC *Meticulously detailed. . . . [Locke shows] where Czech Modernism fits into the European landscape. . . . Besides treating in great detail . . . the main aesthetic and ideological debates of the Prague musical community, Locke provides extensive description and analysis of nine works that played an important role in the formation of Czech Modernism [by Novak, Suk, and others]. -- Harlow Robinson * SLAVIC AND EAST EUROPEAN JOURNAL *This excellent study connects historical opinion with the music and brings us closer to understanding the impact of critical reviews on the development of musical style in east central Europe. , Spring 2008 -- William Smialek * SLAVIC REVIEW *At last we have a book that situates Prague properly at the forefront of the modernist music movement. Through a probing analysis of the heated press debates that occasioned the premieres of greater and lesser Czech operas, Brian Locke demonstrates that Prague, the amorphous capital of an amorphous nation, served as fertile ground for the cultivation of universal -- not provincial -- concepts of musical nationalism. The book greatly refines our understanding of the careers of Smetana, Dvorák, Janácek, and Martinu, while also documenting the astonishing impact of the music critic and politician Zdenek Nejedly on Czech culture. -- -- Simon Morrison, Associate Professor of Music, Princeton UniversityThis is truly a landmark book, filling a gap in our knowledge and understanding of early twentieth-century Czech music and culture, and, in the process, illuminating events in the rest of Europe and in America. The author relates this fascinating account with an engaging style that makes one eager to read on. The music (including a good number of in-depth analyses), the political intrigues, the main characters and events -- all are presented with clarity and style based on solid research. -- -- Timothy Cheek University of Michigan, author of Singing in Czech: A Guide to Czech Lyric Diction and Vocal RepertoireTable of ContentsIntroduction: Nationalism, Modernism, and the Social Responsibility of Art in Prague Smetana, Hostinsky, and the Aesthetic Debates of the Nineteenth Century Legacies, Ideologies, and Responsibilities: The Polemics of the Pre-Independence Years (1900-1918) "Archetypes Who Live, Rejoice, and Suffer": Czech Opera in the Fin de Siecle The Pathology of the New Society: Debates in the Early Years of the First Republic (1918-24) Infinite Melody, Ruthless Polyphone: Czech Modernism in the Early Republic "A Crisis of Modern Music or Audience?" Changing Attitudes to Cultural and Stylistic Pluralism (1925-30) "I Have Rent My Soul in Two": Divergent Directions for Czech Opera in the Late 1920s Heaven on Earth: Socialism, Jazz, and a New Aesthetic Focus (1930-38) "A Sad Optimism, the Happiness of the Resigned": Extremes of Operatic Expression in the 1930s The Ideological Debates of Prague Within a European Context

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Book SynopsisA renowned Verdi authority offers here the often-astounding first history of how Verdi's early operas -- including one of his great masterpieces, Rigoletto -- made their way into America's musical life. The operas of Giuseppe Verdi stand at the center of today's operatic repertoire, and have done so for more than a century. The story of how the reputation and wide appeal of these operas spread from Western Europe throughout the world has long needed to be told. This latest book by noted Verdi authority George W. Martin, Verdi in America: Oberto through Rigoletto, specifically details the changing fortunes of Verdi's early operas in the theaters andconcert halls of the United States. Among the important works whose fates Martin traces are Nabucco, Attila, Ernani, Macbeth (in its original version), Luisa Miller, and one of Verdi's immortal masterpieces: Rigoletto, denounced in 1860 as the epitome of immorality. Martin also explores the astonishing revival of many of these operas in the 1940s and onward (including Macbeth in its revised version of 1865), and the first American productions-sometimes in small opera houses outside the main circuit of some Verdi operas that had never previously managed to cross the Atlantic. Extensive quotations from newspaper reviews testify tothe eventual triumph of these remarkable works. They also reveal the crucial shifts in tastes and expectations that have occurred from Verdi's day to our own. Independent scholar George W. Martin is the author of several books on Italian opera, including Verdi, His Music, Life and Times, Verdi at the Golden Gate: Opera and San Francisco in the Gold Rush Years, and Aspects of Verdi.Trade ReviewMartin's most comprehensive study on this subject to date. It reflects an awareness of how Verdi's reception outside Italy has influenced our understanding of the complex and fascinating legends and legacies surrounding his career. Martin's aim to shed light on the historical context behind the Verdi productions produces some of the most intriguing aspects of the book. -- Chloe Valenti * MUSIC & LETTERS *A tour de force. . . . Succeeds extraordinarily in achieving his stated goals. A vibrant book that is filled with enough detailed information on Verdi's operas to satisfy a researcher's needs, but is also readily accessible to the general operagoer. -- John Graziano * JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY FOR AMERICAN MUSIC *A unique panorama of Verdi's early operas and American operatic practice, past and present. . . . Martin's discussions of each opera illuminate historical trends that are often overlooked. . . . Perhaps most valuable are Martin's discussions of . . . a network of smaller companies, venues, and concert series that are rarely, if ever examined. . . . Methodologically unique, illuminating for the first time the transformation of operatic practice (in America) from the mid-nineteenth century through the current day. . . . A student of American opera, American musical institutions, and Giuseppe Verdi should consider George W. Martin's book required reading, and its dual functionality as both a reference book and monograph makes it a particularly useful addition to the library shelf. -- Christopher Lynch * MUSIC REFERENCE SERVICES QUARTERLY *Keen insight. . . . A history of the early American operatic stage through the prism of Verdi's early works. Especially pertinent is information on many of the US's most important regional opera house -- material unavailable elsewhere -- and [on the] recording histories of the operas. . . . Deeply edifying. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers. -- S. C. Champagne * CHOICE *Offers informed, trenchant assessments of important Met stagings. . . . Especially insightful about the work of regional companies. . . . Martin's effort combines a critic's eye, a scholar's rigor and a fan's enthusiasm. -- Fred Cohn * OPERA NEWS *Informative and filled with engaging materials and useful data. . . . Provides a wealth of details about how different religious beliefs in different areas created barriers against opera. -- Claudio Vellutini * CAMBRIDGE OPERA JOURNAL *Table of ContentsIntroduction Nabucco I Lombardi alla prima crociata Ernani I due Foscari Attila Macbeth The Country's Growth Stimulates Opera I masnadieri Jérusalem Luisa Miller Rigoletto Opera on Tour and the Rise of Regional Companies Oberto Un giorno di regno Giovanna d'Arco Alzira Il corsaro La battaglia di Legnano Stiffelio Appendix A: The Operas, Their World, Western Hemisphere, and U.S. Premieres Appendix B: The Swift Spread of Ernani Appendix C: Dollar Values and Populations Appendix D: The San Carlo Touring Company: Repertory and Number ofPerformances, 1913/14 through 1928/29 Appendix E: Number of Performances of Verdi's Operas at the Metropolitan, 1883/84 through 2008/9 Appendix F: An Arrangement, a Reduction, and the Score as Written: Stiffelio

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Book SynopsisThe first book about Elliott Carter's only opera--or indeed about any single work by this still-productive modern master. In 1997, the eminent American composer Elliott Carter teamed with British music critic/librettist Paul Griffiths to create the one-act opera What Next? Hailed by the New York Times as "theatrically dynamic" and "poignant," the opera explores how six people work together to emerge from the wreckage of an accident. Today, What Next? enjoys a prominent position in Carter's celebrated "late late" compositional period. In the firstbook to focus exclusively on one Carter composition, Guy Capuzzo uses the metaphors of communication, cooperation, and separation to trace the dramatic arc of What Next? Through an approach that places stage action, words,and music on equal footing, Capuzzo's readings of four excerpts from the opera reveal the inner workings of Carter and Griffiths's tragicomedy. Elliott Carter's "What Next?": Communication, Cooperation, and Separation sheds light on a significant work by a major figure in twentieth-century concert music and will be of interest to all who study American music, vocal music, and musical criticism. Guy Capuzzo is associate professor of music theory at the University of North Carolina - Greensboro.Trade ReviewKeenly perceptive. . . . Excellent choice of an illustrative `analytical vignette' at end of chapter 2. . . . Illustrated with exceptionally well-produced music examples that will aid anyone wanting to be rewarded by close listening to the connections he uncovers. -- Marguerite Boland * MUSIC & LETTERS *Among the best musicological writings devoted to Carter. . . . Greatly facilitated by a presentation that is remarkably clear. -- Denis Vermaelen * REVUE DE MUSICOLOGIE *A rare example of a book devoted entirely to a single, recent composition. . . . Show[s] how Carter manages to create a reliably functioning mechanism more than equal to the demands he makes on it. -- Arnold Whittall * MUSICAL TIMES *In elucidating the inner workings of Carter's musical language Capuzzo makes a significant contribution to Carter scholarship, and to the literature of contemporary music theory. -- -- John Link, William Paterson UniversityA fascinating study. . . . Capuzzo addresses the inner clarity and expressive immediacy of 'What Next,' as well as the tragicomedy.'OPERA NEDERLAND [Mark Duijnstee] Capuzzo's prose style is plain-spoken and approachable. . . . Lively and rewarding. OPERA NEWS [Arlo McKinnon] Full Review In his insightful book-length analytical study of this opus, Guy Capuzzo has contributed an invaluable resource to Carter studies, as well as to post-tonal music theory. . . . [He] expresses his ideas with clarity, and those who do not have a predilection for technical analysis will still be able to gain much insight into the narrative, drama, history, and critical reception of the work. Readers are also fortunate that the quality of the publication is quite high, and University of Rochester Press is to be commended for their attention to editorial detail. Furthermore, Capuzzo's study makes a nice companion to those books on Carter and his music already in the press's catalogue (Carter 1997 and Meyer and Shreffler 2008). Anyone who knows these sources will certainly want Capuzzo's monograph as part of their collection as well. -- J. Daniel Jenkins Full Review * MUSIC THEORY ONLINE *Table of ContentsIntroduction Preliminaries An Analytic Approach to What Next? Identity Formation in Episodes 1-2 Communication and Irony in the Explanation Episodes Cooperation and Confusion in the Hope Episodes Communication and Gender Breakdown in Episodes 37-38 Appendix: Libretto Excerpts Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisThe first comprehensive study of Verdi's perennially popular opera Il trovatore, written by one of the world's great Verdi authorities. No full-length study has ever been written on Il trovatore, in his day Verdi's most successful stage work. This book by one of the world's great Verdi authorities fills that gap, providing a comprehensive look at the opera,from its genesis and structure to its early performance history and critical reception. Starting with the background of the opera, the volume traces the origins of the original play by Antonio García Gutiérrez, El trovador, and offers a new, more credible source for the drama. In addition, it examines the evolution of the libretto, the music, and the arrangement of the narrative, revealing innovative musical and dramatic features not seenby other critics. The book also includes a discussion of contemporary reviews and a section on some of the important performers in the twentieth century (for example, Toscanini and Caruso), as well as a consideration of several ofthe more unusual stagings of the work mounted during the final decades of the century. With these and other explorations, Martin Chusid offers a thorough survey of Verdi's Il trovatore and in the process deepens and enhances our encounter with one of the mainstays of the operatic reparatory. Martin Chusid is Professor Emeritus of Music, New York University, and founding director of the American Institute for Verdi Studies.Trade ReviewChusid has offered us an effective analytical and conceptual introduction to one of Verdi's perennial masterpieces, and his love for Verdi's middle-period operas shines through on every page. Significant and original contributions to the canon of Verdi scholarship. * JOURNAL OF MUSICOLOGICAL RESEARCH *His wide-ranging account makes for engaging and entertaining reading. Many passages from Verdi's and Cammarano's letters are translated into English here for the first time. [Chusid's book is] an essential introductory study of the opera. Cogent observations on matters of tonal structure. Valuable background about the Spanish theatrical context of the play and its operatic origins in 'Scribe's libretto for Halévy's opera La juive. General readers including opera-goers and record collectors, will find it a wonderful source of valuable background information about the opera, and scholars will be able to build on it as a starting point for further research and investigation. -- David Lawton * VERDI FORUM *Who could have imagined that Verdi's most popular opera, Il trovatore, would have to wait until now for a monograph in English? But Martin Chusid, with his vast experience in the world of Verdi studies and whose archive at NYU has supplied original material for his analysis, is the right person to have written it. After reading Chusid's remarks about the reception and history of Il trovatore and understanding Verdi's complex treatment of structure and tonality, no one can think any more of the opera as a 'concert in costume,' one that simply requires the four greatest singers in the world. -- -- Philip Gossett, general editor, The Works of Giuseppe VerdiTable of ContentsThe Spanish Background and the Play El trovador Cammarano's Role in Shaping the Libretto andVerdi's Emendations New Wine in Old Bottles: The Drama and the Music The Scene of the "Miserere" The Reception and Diffusion of Il trovatore

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