Opera and the Enlightenment - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0521034779 ISBN 13: 9780521034777

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2006

Synopsis

This is the first collection of essays to explore the wide dimensions and influence of eighteenth-century opera. In a series of fresh articles by leading scholars in the field, new perspectives are offered on the important figures of the day, including Handel, Vivaldi, Gluck, Rameau and Mozart, and on the fundamental problems of creation, revision, borrowing, influence and intertextuality. Allied arts, notably painting, the novel, ballet, and the spoken stage are also examined in their relationship to the development of opera. The book contains numerous rare illustrations, and will be of interest to scholars and students of opera and theater history.

About this title

From the Back Cover

This is the first collection of essays to explore the wide dimensions and influence of eighteenth-century opera. In a series of fresh articles by leading scholars in the field, new perspectives are offered on the important figures of the day, including Handel, Vivaldi, Gluck, Rameau, and Mozart, and on the fundamental problems of creation, revision, borrowing, influence, and intertextuality. Other essays reinterpret librettos of serious opera in the French and Italian theater during the later eighteenth century. Sister arts, notably painting, the novel, ballet, and the spoken stage are also examined in their relationship to the development of opera. Bracketing the collection are studies of the early pastoral opera and of Prokofief, which expand our historical view of operatic life during the Age of Reason. The book contains numerous rare illustrations, and will be of interest to scholars and students of opera and theater history.

Review

"...this collection can be seen to have something for everbody wishing to delve into the artistic world of the eighteenth century. If the title is slightly misleading, this is more than made up for by the breadth of the subject matter and the approach of the authors to an extremely complex period." The Opera Journal

"...because most of the material is so inherently interesting, readers are less likely to feel misled by the book's title than delightfully surprised by the rich variety of topics it encapsulates. Editors Thomas Bauman and Maria Petzoldt McClaymonds sustain a unified scholarly tone from cover to cover without stifling the individuality of style and subject matter found in fifteen contributions." E. Thomas Glasow, Opera Quarterly

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0521034779
• ISBN 13: 9780521034777
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 332
• Editor: Bauman Thomas, McClymonds Marita Petzoldt