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SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN’S GRAND OPERA Ivanhoe AND ITS MUSICAL PRECURSORS:
Adaptations of Sir Walter Scott’s Novel for the Stage, 1819-1891

Author: 
Year:
Pages:256
ISBN:0-7734-5068-8
978-0-7734-5068-4
Price:$199.95
Explores the drama behind the trajectory of the opera, Ivanhoe, and Arthur Sullivan’s venture into Grand Opera. The back story is complex and entertaining, dealing with issues of English nationalism, socialism, politics and real estate. This book contains ten black and white photographs.

Reviews

“Having made use of the original textual sources and the principal archival collections, Jeff Dailey is ideally positioned to recount and interpret this history.” – Fredric Woodbridge Wilson, Curator of the Harvard Theatre Collection

“Great effort is given to elucidate the reviews and their reviewers to uncover the success of Sullivan’s Ivanhoe in light of Britain’s musical milieu during the latter half of the nineteenth century. . . . the author allows room for the reader to draw their own conclusions by uncovering discrepancies in source materials and reporting more thorough contexts for several of Sullivan’s critics.” - Dr. Jill Miller-Thorn, D.M.A., Professor, Chair of the Music Division, Five Towns College

“. . . the opera occupies a significant position in Sullivan’s notably successful career and stature as a British composer. . . . Dailey recognizes that fact and delightfully chronicles the creation and performance history on Ivanhoe in what will surely become an important addition to the Sullivan bibliography.” - Robert Hansen, D.M.A., Professor of Voice and Opera, West Texas A&M University

Table of Contents

Foreword by Fredric Woodbridge Wilson
Introduction
1 Background
2 Sir Walter Scott’s Ivanhoe on Stage
3 Sullivan’s Desire to Compose a Grand Opera
4 The Libretto and Librettist
5 The Creation of Ivanhoe
6 After the Premiere
7 Subsequent Performances
8 The Music of Ivanhoe
9 Criticism of Ivanhoe
10 Evaluating Ivanhoe
Appendices
A – Table of Nineteenth-Century Stage Adaptations of Ivanhoe
B – Opera Synopses
C – Synopsis of Scott’s Ivanhoe
Bibliography
Index