Description
Book SynopsisOpera has long fascinated creative artists and audiences alike. It is often regarded as the pinnacle of high art, yet it is also shrouded in mystique. Understanding Italian Opera unravels its many layers by looking closely at five of the most enduring and emblematic Italian operas from Monteverdi to Puccini.
Trade ReviewRequired reading. * C. A. Traupman-Carr, CHOICE *
[Carter's] book provides a splendid corrective that makes it recommended reading for anyone seeking a more complete 'understanding' of one of the most successful genres in Western culture. * Kenneth Chalmers, Opera *
Table of ContentsPreface ; 1: What is Opera? ; Some definitions ; In praise of librettists ; Italian versification ; Poetic structures and musical consequences ; Two examples from Mozart ; An "exotic and irrational entertainment"? ; 2: Giovanni Francesco Busenello and Claudio Monteverdi, ; L'incoronazione di Poppea (Venice, 1643) ; Monteverdi in Venice ; The first operas ; "But here the matter is represented differently" ; "Speaking" and "singing" ; Seductive Poppea ; Seneca's death ; Ottavia in exile ; Ecstasies of love ; 3: Nicola Francesco Haym and George Frideric Handel, ; Giulio Cesare in Egitto (London, 1724) ; Arcadian reforms ; Adapting Bussani ; Recitatives and arias ; Some alternatives ; "Fly, my heart, to the sweet enchantment" ; Taming Cleopatra ; Cesare returns ; All's well... ; 4: Lorenzo da Ponte and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, ; Le nozze di Figaro (Vienna, 1786) ; ... these Italian gentlemen are very civil to your face ; Translating Beaumarchais ; Aria forms ; A duet, a trio, and a sextet ; Finales ; Readings and messages ; 5: Francesco Maria Piave and Giuseppe Verdi, ; Rigoletto (Venice, 1851) ; "Le Roi s'amuse" ; Cantabiles and cabalettas ; Duets ; Arias and monologues ; A quartet ... a storm ... and a death ; 6: Giuseppe Giacosa, Luigi Illica, and Giacomo Puccini, ; La Boheme (Turin, 1896) ; Bohemian rhapsodies ; A publisher, two librettists, and a rival ; A missing act ; Verse and music ; Formless forms? ; Operatic realisms ; Mimi dies ; 7: Afterthoughts
