Opera: A History in Documents - Hardcover

Weiss, Piero

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0195116372 ISBN 13: 9780195116373

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2002

Synopsis

Richly textured, extravagantly colorful, and filled with larger-than-life characters, the history of opera is as mesmerizing and commanding as opera itself. And no art form benefits more from being seen from the inside out--through eye-witness accounts of singers, composers, librettists, critics, historians, patrons, satirists, impresarios, designers, performers, and others--than opera.
Now, in Opera: A History in Documents, Piero Weiss presents a sweeping, vivid, and carefully researched tour of operatic history. The chronologically organized primary sources include 115 passages--private letters, portions of libretti, literary criticism, satire, and poetry--from opera's late Renaissance infancy through modern times. This first-hand testimony allows readers to experience the history of opera as eyewitnesses, offering an immediacy and validity unmatched by standard histories. Opera lovers will be transported to a Medici wedding in sixteenth century Florence, to the Haymarket Theatre for a performance of Handel's Rinaldo, to Mozart at work on Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail, and to Bertolt Brecht's writing desk, among many other landmarks in opera's history. Weiss expertly guides readers, providing highly accessible introductions to each section that both contextualize the excerpts and position them within the broader historical narrative. In addition, Weiss offers original translations of more than half of the material in the book, many of them appearing in English for the first time. Stage settings, costumes, portraits, contemporary playbills, and other illustrations enliven the text and help to recreate the feel of the era under discussion.
Perfect for opera aficionados, Opera: A History in Documents offers a uniquely exciting entrée into the origins and development of one of our most enduring art forms.

About this title

About the Author

Piero Weiss is Chair of the Musicology Department at the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University. He lives in Baltimore, Maryland.

Reviews

Beginning with the Intermedio, which was performed at a Medici wedding in 1589, and ending with John Adams's 1987 Nixon in China, this book provides a novel view of dozens of operas over the centuries. The author, a noted scholar and authority on the history of opera who chairs the musicology department at the Johns Hopkins Peabody Conservatory, illuminates the history of opera through documents, each presented in historical context. His selection of documents includes letters, diary accounts, critical notices, playbills, and libretto excerpts that highlight fascinating aspects of the works and their performances, as well as the era in which they originated. We learn, for example, what Stendhal thought of Rossini's Barber of Seville, as well as Tchaikovsky's own thoughts on Eugene Onegin and Mozart's first ideas about his Marriage of Figaro. Opera lovers will be delighted at this new and excellent source of information and insight. Recommended for public and academic libraries. Timothy J. McGee, Univ. of Toronto

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0195116372
• ISBN 13: 9780195116373
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 352