Description
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
