Description
Book SynopsisDorothea Link examines singers' voices and casting practices in late eighteenth-century Italian opera as exemplified in Vienna's court opera from 1783 to 1791. The investigation into the singers' voices proceeds on two levels: understanding the performers in terms of the vocal-dramatic categories employed in opera at the time; and creating vocal profiles for the principal singers from the music composed expressly for them. In addition, Link contextualizes the singers within the company in order to expose the court opera''s casting practices.
Authoritative and insightful, The Italian Opera Singers in Mozart''s Vienna offers a singular look at a musical milieu and a key to addressing the performance-practice problem of how to cast the Mozart roles today.
"Dorothea Link crowns her research into Italian opera in Josephine Vienna by exposing systematically, season by season, the hierarchy of stars and lesser singers and the politics of their terms of employment: a book for scholars to treasure and enjoy."--Julian Rushton, author of
MozartTable of ContentsAcknowledgments
A Note on the Currency Used in Mozart’s Vienna
- The Establishment and Management of the Italian Opera Company at the Vienna Court Theater
- Classification of Operatic Roles, Voice Types, and Singing Styles
- Casting Information in Scores and Librettos of the Operas Produced in the Italian Company, 1783-91
- Nancy Storace: The Italian Company, 1783-84
- Nancy Storace: The Company Stabilizes, 1784-85
- Nancy Storace’s Annus Horribilis and Celeste Coltellini, 1785-86
- Nancy Storace’s Exuberant Year, 1786-87
- Anna Morichelli Comes and Goes, 1787-88
- Luisa Laschi: The Year of the Three Prima Donnas, 1788-89
- Adriana Ferrarese: Opera on a Shoestring, 1789-90
- Adriana Ferrarese: Portents of Change, 1790-91
- A Neapolitan Prima Donna and the End of Josephine Opera, 1791-92
Appendix A. Roles of Ten Major Singers
Appendix B. A Tale of Four Scores
Notes
Bibliography
Index
