Mark Morris' L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato: A Celebration - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1569246319 ISBN 13: 9781569246313

Publisher: Da Capo Press, 2001

Synopsis

Mark Morris' 1988 dance, L'Allegro, il Penseroso, ed il Moderato, set to music by Handel and poems by John Milton, and inspired by watercolors by William Blake, has been called a work of "utopian grandeur," "a masterpiece of craft, invention, and feeling," and "in scale and complexity, in a category by itself." From London to Berkeley to Houston, audiences ecstatically cheer for it. More than 200 photographs capture each of the piece's 32 interconnected dances and are accompanied by the text of Milton's interwoven poems, "L'Allegro" and "Il Penseroso," to which Handel set the music. New Yorker dance critic Joan Acocella provides a new essay; Alastair Macaulay and Wendy Lesser also offer appreciations. An overview of the making of L'Allegro, based on interviews with all of the principal artists and many of Mark Morris's dancers, provides an unprecedented glimpse at the creation of this modern-day masterpiece. A glorious celebration of one of the great dance masterworks of the twentieth century, the book contains over 200 color and black-and-white photographs plus reproductions of the Blake watercolors from which Mark Morris drew inspiration. "Possibly the most exhaustive examination of a single dance work ever published." —New York Times "An extraordinarily handsome new book ... A thorough and valuable critique and appreciation of this glorious dance work." —The New York Observer "A beautiful coffee-table book.... Elegantly photographed, edited, and produced. A treasured gift for a Morris fan."—Dance Magazine

About this title

Review

"A beautiful new photo book...includes essays...Pictures from rehearsals and performances...document each of the piece's 32 movements." -- Out Magazine

"A guide that makes you want to see the dance over and over." -- Francis Mason, The World of Dance

"A stunner." -- Time Out New York

"An extraordinarily handsome new book...It's a thorough and valuable critique and appreciation of this glorious dance work..." -- Robert Gottlieb, The New York Observer

"Possibly the most exhaustive examination of a single dance work ever published." -- Steven Watson, the New York Times

Edition details

• Publisher: Da Capo Press
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1569246319
• ISBN 13: 9781569246313
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 160
• Editor: Escoffier Jeffrey, Lore Matthew