Description
Book SynopsisExamines the mechanisms through which 17th-century musicians simulated extreme affective states - desire, divine rapture, and ecstatic pleasure. This book demonstrates how major genres of the period, from opera to religious music to instrumental pieces based on dances, were part of this striving for heightened passions by performers and listeners.
Trade Review"Passionate, learned and often thrilling." Clevelandclassical.com "Lively and engaging... [A] brilliant musical mapping of the seventeenth century." -- Tess Knighton Times Literary Supplement (TLS) "An enjoyable study... Skillfully dissected in a series of well-chosen examples." -- Patricia Howard The Musical Times "Admirably documented and researched." -- Gerald Seaman The European Legacy: Toward New Paradigms
Table of ContentsPrelude: The Music of Pleasure and Desire Part I. The Hydraulics of Musical Desire 1. The Expansion Principle 2. Composites, or the Still-Divided Subject Part II. Gendering Voice 3. Soprano as Fetish: Professional Singers in Early Modern Italy 4. Gender Ambiguities and Erotic Excess in the Operas of Cavalli Part III. Divine Love 5. Libidinous Theology 6. Straining Belief: The Toccata Part IV. Dancing Bodies 7. The Social History of a Groove: Chacona, Ciaccona, Chaconne, and the Chaconne 8. Dancing about Power, Architecture about Dancing Part V. La Mode Francaise 9. Temporality and Ideology: Qualities of Motion in Seventeenth-Century French Music 10. The Dragon Cart: The Femme Fatale in Seventeenth-Century French Opera Postlude: Toward Consolidation Notes Index
