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Subject Area: Music-Opera
Magnuson, Elmer T.2021 1-4955-0856-0 120 pages
Dr. Magnuson translates this slim volume by K.H. Kalb, which was initially commissioned to be given to visitors as a memento of an exhibition of historical items from the Bayreuth Festival of 1876, organized by and held on the premises of a local financial institution in observance of the centennial Bayreuth Festival in 1976.
Sacks, Adam J.
2021 1-4955-0873-0 124 pages
Dr. Adam J. Sacks provides a close reading to serve as a critical introduction for a wide audience for this singular entry in the European art-music canon.
Burgess, Robin
2005 0-7734-6048-9 152 pages
This work is an important, but neglected, treatise of 18th century musical aesthetics. It belongs to that mid-century movement in the arts that saw a reaction against the artificiality and formality, as it came to seem, of the Baroque style and towards the naturalness of expression characteristic of the painting, literature, drama, even fashions in gardening in the latter part of the century. Algarotti was a man of wide interests and deep culture who himself assisted in opera productions in Berlin and Parma. In this essay, he sets out a program for the form of opera that bears remarkable resemblances with the first recognisably modern works in the form that are still performed today, the operas of Gluck. The essay attracted considerable attention in its day, being translated into several European languages. The new edition makes available once more the contemporary English translation, which is both accurate and has an attractive period quality.
Root, Scott L.
2004 0-7734-6531-6 175 pages
Robert M. Beadell (1925-1994) modestly referred to himself as a “neoclassic eclectic composer” and an “obscure regional composer”, yet these appellations do not begin to describe the importance of his contribution to twentieth century American music. The four music drams which are the subject of this study are each very different in their size and scope, yet all bear the unmistakable stamp of Beadell’s unique blend of music and drama. This book intends to show that the four music dramas are unique examples of American opera and should have the opportunity to be examined for their musicological and dramatic worth so that American opera directors and impresarios can decide if they should be included as definitive examples of American opera.
Hawes, Jane
1994 0-7734-9092-2 156 pages
This work analyzes how Verdi produced what is not only a monumental piece of music, but a remarkably effective and faithful adaptation. It examines how Verdi (and his librettist, Arrigo Boito) translated from speech to music and discusses what is required generally for a good adaptation. The study is primarily musical, though it examines literary matters as well. It examines principal characters and their relationships, the arias, the structure, and differences and similarities between Verdi and his source, Shakespeare.
Meynell, Hugo
1986 0-88946-425-1 264 pages
Explains how Handel's operas are outstanding expressions of the opera tradition as it had developed to the late 18th century. Contains detailed consideration of Handel's work between 1705 and 1741.
Tian, Min
2010 0-7734-3777-0 436 pages
This is the first English language book to systematically examine the life and art of Mei Lanfang (1894-1961). Mei, who specialized in female roles in classical Chinese theatre, especially jingju, is widely considered the greatest actor of twentieth-century China. This text includes analyses of his work from Chinese, Western, Russian,and intercultural perspectives.
Shrader, James A.
2012 0-7734-2928-X 188 pages
The choruses from the eighteenth century opere serie of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart represent a body of literature that is relatively unknown. While the majority of Italian opere serie exclude the chorus, most of Mozart’s works in this genre contain significant choral scenes. The existence of opera seria as popular musical theater was short-lived, yet the choruses from Mozart’s opere serie are worthy examples of secular choral literature.
The study includes a scholarly examination of the opera seria as a genre, as well as the historical role of the opera chorus. Of particular importance is the operatic reform movement in France.
Fryer, Paul
2009 0-7734-3853-X 1212 pages
Compiled by an Anglo-Russian research team over a four-year period, the chronology has drawn on contemporary records in the archives of the Mariinsky itself, the newspaper archives in the Russian National Library in St Petersburg and material held in the St Petersburg State Museum of Theatre and Music: the vast majority of this material has never appeared in English-translation prior to the current publication.
Eckelmeyer, Judith A.
1991 0-7734-4602-8 496 pages
Addresses problems of symbols and references in The Magic Flute by considering a broad cultural heritage, including the early 17th-century movement of the Rosicrucians, 17th and 18th-century educational, scientific, philosophical and religious developments, and late 18th-century social and political circumstances. The appendices that appear in Volume Two provide sources for further study not only for scholars but also opera companies and the Masonic communities. Appendix I is a 3-part representation of the text of The Magic Flute: a photocopy of the original German libretto; a side-by-side English translation; and the German text that appears in Mozart's handwritten score of the opera which shows differences in words from the printed libretto and sometimes reveals a slightly different thinking of the characters' personalities and stage action. Appendix II is a photo reproduction and translation of the complete article "Ueber die Mysterien der Aegyptier", written by the Master of one of the most important and active Masonic lodges in Vienna in the 1780's, Ignaz von Born. It is said to have inspired some of the plot and detail in The Magic Flute.
Eckelmeyer, Judith A.
1991 0-7734-9642-4 356 pages
Addresses problems of symbols and references in The Magic Flute by considering a broad cultural heritage, including the early 17th-century movement of the Rosicrucians, 17th and 18th-century educational, scientific, philosophical and religious developments, and late 18th-century social and political circumstances. The appendices that appear in Volume Two provide sources for further study not only for scholars but also opera companies and the Masonic communities. Appendix I is a 3-part representation of the text of The Magic Flute: a photocopy of the original German libretto; a side-by-side English translation; and the German text that appears in Mozart's handwritten score of the opera which shows differences in words from the printed libretto and sometimes reveals a slightly different thinking of the characters' personalities and stage action. Appendix II is a photo reproduction and translation of the complete article "Ueber die Mysterien der Aegyptier", written by the Master of one of the most important and active Masonic lodges in Vienna in the 1780's, Ignaz von Born. It is said to have inspired some of the plot and detail in The Magic Flute.
Glick, Andrew S.
2004 0-7734-6284-8 470 pages
This tremendous reference is in dictionary style for the easy reference and use by researchers, scholars, and any reader interested in the opera. It is an excellent source for looking up anything from specific data on a particular opera to which aria is connected with which opera. This volume is generously cross-referenced and should prove invaluable in answering many questions on the opera.
Scheppach, Margaret
1990 0-88946-447-2 204 pages
Jones, Richard Elfyn
1996 0-7734-8816-2 300 pages
No recent composer of art music has so successfully articulated a visionary concern with the human condition and the discovery self than Michael Tippett, and nowhere is this more potently expressed than in his five operas, the first three of which form the subject of this study. This study first deals with the fasinating range of verbal and dramatic symbolism of three operas (The Midsummer Marriage, King Priam, and The Knot Garden) in chapters which do not require from the reader a technical knowledge of music. The other chapters, with their extensive musical analyses, will be of more particular interest to musical scholars and students.
Oby, Jason
1998 0-7734-2225-0 116 pages
A study of casting of the Black male opera singer and issues that have not been formally addressed or openly confessed before, enriched by significant statements by fellow professionals. Offers evidence of sociological problems that must be addressed to overcome serious misconceptions. Includes an interview with George Shirley, and quotes from Simon Estes, Arthur Thompson, and Vinson Cole.
Smith, Arnold Ian
2014 0-7734-4301-0 416 pages
The work focuses on what led to the establishment of the unheroic in Victorian opera. It focuses sharply on two instrumental factors that gave rise to the unheroic; middleclassness and Victorian ideas on the morality and immorality of music.
An interdisciplinary examination of the literary, musical, and sociological aspects of the works written for the Victorian lyric stage. It presents a vivid picture of the 19th century English lyric stage and provides a framework for this study by examining some of the 17th and 18th century forerunners of the Victorian operatic repertoire.
Hollard, Thoron
2012 0-7734-2592-6 644 pages
Here for the first time, the various French treatments of Dido’s tragic story in both drama and music, most of which are little known today, are brought together, examined, compared, and evaluated. In Virgil’s Aeneid, the evocation of Dido’s great and fateful passion had an impact that has continued to reverberate over two millennia. Among the vast array of artistic creations that Dido has inspired are a number of French tragedies and musical works from the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries. This study embraces different genres and spans several centuries, demonstrates the commonalities between the works, and reveals the individuality and uniqueness of each interpretation. This study first looks at the broader European context before the French dramas, cantatas and operas are each analyzed in detail. What emerges is that there is indeed a myriad of ways to tell and interpret a story. The various interpretations show an intriguing and sometimes surprising degree of individuality on the part of these writers and composers.
Rice, Paul F.
2004 0-7734-6438-7 352 pages
During the eighteenth century, the French court made yearly trips to the chateau of Fontainebleau during the autumn months enjoying evenings of operas and plays presented by the leading performers from Paris.
Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764), the leading French composer of the period, was asked to present five new operas at the chateau in 1753 and 1754. Only one of these works was ever published and three of the five were never heard in Paris. Consequently, these works have remained little known.
This book presents Rameau’s works first heard at Fontainebleau in the context of their compositional and performance histories, a context which is rich in court intrigues and social change. This study is the first published work to investigate these operas in detail, Rameau’s relationship to the court and the public opera house of Paris is reevaluated, and the richness of Rameau’s musical imagination is revealed in works from his maturity.
Schmidt, Carl B.
2024 1-4955-1217-7 312 pages
"In 1946, Poulenc wrote that 'inspiration is such a mysterious thing that it is best not to explain it.' Explain it or not, Poulenc reminded us that 'my music is my portrait,' and Dialogues is both his most substantial work and his most inspired creation. Tens of thousands have encountered his music through this opera, and many of them have been brought to tears by its emotionally wrenching last scene. ... It is time that the complex history of this splendid opera, including the many documents surrounding it, be made available together." -Dr. Carl B. Schmidt ("Preface") This book is also available in softcover.
Schmidt, Carl B.
2024 1-4955-1241-X 312 pages
This is a softcover book. "In 1946, Poulenc wrote that 'inspiration is such a mysterious thing that it is best not to explain it.' Explain it or not, Poulenc reminded us that 'my music is my portrait,' and Dialogues is both his most substantial work and his most inspired creation. Tens of thousands have encountered his music through this opera, and many of them have been brought to tears by its emotionally wrenching last scene. ... It is time that the complex history of this splendid opera, including the many documents surrounding it, be made available together." -Dr. Carl B. Schmidt ("Preface")
Hollard, Thoron
2015 1-4955-0327-5 376 pages
The relationship between humans and dolphins has been a subject of interest since earliest times… This fascinating book explores first the classical background to Arion and his dolphin story and then its treatment by French literary and artistic figures who, in a variety of genres and forms, have recreated the story and brought out new meanings more appropriate to their particular times.”
-Chris Dearden,
Emeritus Professor of Classics,
Victoria University of Wellington ,New Zealand
Robinson, Michael
2023 1-4955-1161-8 592 pages
"This two-volume catalogue attempts to classify and enumerate all the music of Italian composer Giovanni Paisiello (1740-1816) and to identify which sources purporting to be of his music are authentic. Since it was a common practice among performers, copyists and publishers in Paisiello's time to adapt and change a composer's music to suit themselves, modern reseachers of this period of music history should not assume that the contents of a score are as described on the title page[s]...or [rely on] library lists [compiled on the basis of them]. ...When commencing the research for this catalogue we, the authors, determined to visit as many libraries as possible to see for ourselves what was contained in manuscripts and printed scores of Paisiello's music. Between 1975 and 1982, we visited, either together or singly, 150 libraries and archives in 17 countries. ...[W]e also obtained by correspondence details of the Paisiello holdings of 41 libraries which we were not able to visit personally. ...[T]his catalogue is a significant step forward toward clarifying just what Paisiello wrote and when, based on the evidence of over 3000 catalogued items in 191 public and private collections." -Michael F. Robinson [Foreword] The first volume of this work was originally published by Pendragon Press in 1991; the second volume was published by Pendragon Press in 1994.
Mazzini, Giuseppe
2004 0-7734-6469-7 133 pages
Political thinker, philosopher, patriot, and republican, Giuseppe Mazzini (1805-1872) sought solace from his intense activity as a political activist and writer by singing to his own guitar accompaniment. A genuine music lover, in 1836, Mazzini published a pamphlet (40 pages) entitled Filosofia della musica in which he denounced the condition into which music had fallen and suggested the remedy for its resurgence -- this time as a social art.
“The committed composer cannot restrict himself to writing notes and chords, but must understand the vast influence which [opera] could exercise on society. He should not renounce the idea in favor of the form; progressive operatic music must abandon the rigid rules of the classicists, to take on characteristic tint and historical reality; the idea of opera as entertainment must change to one of opera as a mission; the chorus, which portrays the people, must be used more.”
This publication of Mazzini’s Philosophy of Music comes at a juncture when musicologists, especially in the English-speaking world, are increasingly reconsidering the topics and formulas through which the history of music in the nineteenth century has familiarly, for a long time now, been written. Mazzini’s text offers this project some promising leads. It does not as theory but as practice, not for the answers it gives but for the questions it raises.
Little known among English-speaking musical scholars, Mazzini’s work is presented here in a version edited and annotated by Franco Sciannameo. It comprises (1) a Foreword by American leading musicologist Lawrence Kramer, (2) a historical introduction which also offers a critique of various commentaries on Mazzini’s work published in Italian and French during the past fifty years, (3) an English translation of Mazzini’s original text and notes published in 1867 by Emilie Ashurst Venturi with Mazzini’s full approval, (4) a full bibliographical apparatus, (5) Mazzini’s original Italian text.
This book is of interest to musicologists, philosophers, political, and social historians.
Blair, Donald
1991 0-7734-9850-8 138 pages
Contains biographical sketches of fifty great opera singers of the twentieth century, with photographs of each singer in a famous role.
Beeson, Jack
2008 0-7734-4947-7 572 pages
In this work Jack Beeson, the composer of ten operas, recounts his search for subjects and the writing of five of their librettos, his collaboration with the librettists of the other five (William Saroyan, Richard Plant, Kenward Elmslie, and Sheldon Harnick), and the varied and tangled events leading to their premieres in theatres and on television here and abroad. This book contains eighteen black and white photographs.
Inwood, Margaret
1999 0-7734-7774-8 228 pages
This book presents the historical evidence of Wagner’s own writings, reported conversations about Shakespeare, and the circumstantial evidence of the Shakespearean traits to be found in some of his works, including Das Liebesverbot, Parsifal, and the Ring cycle.
Beckerman, Michael
2023 1-4955-1165-0 408 pages
"Although the majority of articles [in this volume] deal with Janáček, we felt that it was quite important to have sessions devoted to Czech music before the "national" period. Within the specific area of Janáček studies, we tried to encourage diversity by arranging sessions on the operas, analysis, the Danube Symphony, and also on the relationship between Janáček and his contemporaries and the larger sphere of European culture. Finally we arranged two sessions dealing specifically with scholarly problems." -Michael Beckerman [Introduction] This book was originally published by Pendragon Press in 1995.
Kleine-Ahlbrandt, W. Laird
1990 0-88946-444-8 152 pages
Translation of La Tosca, the play that inspired the Puccini opera, complete with annotations and critical comments. Gives a well-rounded picture of Sardou as a playwright who imbued his pieces with a wealth of historical knowledge.
Eckelmeyer, Judith A.
1979 0-88946-955-5 96 pages
The libretto.
Thomson, Ian
2014 0-7734-0059-1 480 pages
This libretto-based study exposes the existence of an overriding purpose rooted in late-eighteenth-century eschatological thought. It also offers a new perspective on the opera’s origins.
Dr. Thomson examines the Alberti libretto of The Magic Flute (Die Zauberflöte) as a literary form and reveals unexamined literary, historical and religious sources, leading to a new, more coherent interpretation of the opera and to hypotheses about the identity of the libretto’s author and Mozart’s death.
Tuttle, Marshall
2000 0-7734-7642-3 372 pages
This monograph presents original research based on Wagner’s theoretical writings and demonstrates that there is a precise logic to his tonal structures.
Lazarevic, Slobodan
2015 1-4955-0269-4 184 pages
“This work written by authors Slobodan Lazarevic and Radmila Paunovic Stajn is a true scientific contribution to contemporary aesthetic thinking and post-structural study of the semantic and meta-semantic in the artifacts of contemporary art… using musicological and narrative methods, when discussing librettos and carefully composing their idea through overall Britten’s oeuvre, the authors emphasize the presence of mythological pattern in the work of this prolific and significant artist.”
-Prof. Dr. Miomir Petrovic,
Faculty for Culture and Media,
Megatrend University, Belgrade
Sciannameo, Franco
2005 0-7734-6099-3 108 pages
Federico Fellini entered the pantheon of 20th-Century artists for his path-breaking films like, La dolce vita (1960) and Otto e mezzo (1963). However, it was with Amarcord (1973), that Fellini achieved universal fame. That celebration of youth and memory transcends all barriers of ethnic origin and national belonging by simply appealing to human commonalities. Similarly, Nino Rota’s music, an integral part of this film, eludes cultural boundaries by blending learned and popular musical styles – as in a folk-opera in which stories or episodes are expressed through song and dance representative of everyday life. By juxtaposing music and images, their own creative personae and their youth as it relates to our collective memories, Fellini and Rota made this film about “remembering youth” an unforgettable experience for generations of viewers and listeners. This monograph is of interest to scholars of music, cinema, and cultural studies.
Grétry, André-Ernest-Modeste
2023 1-4955-1119-7 408 pages
André Ernest Modeste Grétry (1741-1813) was one of the most successful and most productive opera composers of the eighteenth century. Although he was born in the Prince-Bishopric of Liège, in present-day Belgium, he spend most of his life in Paris, making him one of those "Belgian Parisians". ...Much of the aesthetic debate at the time centered around the concept of 'Truth' in music and theatre. ...In 1795 Grétry started writing his essay 'De la vérité', that would eventually comprise of three volumes issued in 1801. -David Vergauwen
Martin, Jessie Wright
2014 0-7734-4273-1 256 pages
This is the first ever English language resource encompassing an extensive survey of all Emmerich Kálmán’s operettas and illuminating his enormous contribution to the genre of operetta. It is supported with explanations of musical inheritance and synthesis including musical examples. This book is filled with fascinating contextual details never before presented.
Berrong, Richard M.
1992 0-7734-9230-5 160 pages
Catalani's letters contain a fascinating eyewitness account of the process of creating opera in turn-of-the-century Italy. They show what he and his contemporaries, among them Puccini, Mascagni, Leoncavallo, and Giordano, went through to obtain a libretto, arrange a premiere, and encourage subsequent productions of a new score. And, since there is no English-language biography of Catalani, this volume also provides readers not versed in Italian an opportunity to learn about the composer of La Wally and Loreley.
Phillips, George Harwood
2023 1-4955-1120-0 220 pages
"To declare that Porgy, a play that has received only limited attention from critics and scholars, is one of the great works of American musical theater may seem hyperbolic. The following chapters, however, will present evidence supporting that contention. The book begins with an overview of the history of the people who came to reside in what became known as South Carolina. Emphasis is given to the Gullah, an African-American community that emerged during slavery. The early life of Dubose Heyward, the author of the novella upon which the play is based, is examined in some detail because his knowledge of the Gullah people was crucial to the development of the characters in the play. A synopsis of the play follows, then a chapter on Rouben Mamoulian, the play's director. ...Chapters on the play's critical reception and its legacy conclude this study." -George Harwood Phillips ("Preface")
Burton, Deborah
2023 1-4955-1169-3 348 pages
"[T]he thesis of this volume is that the diametrically opposed forces of the traditional and progressive live together in Puccini's music, embedded deeply within his harmonic constructs and in many musical parameters. The author hopes that the observations set forth in these pages will help frame Puccini studies in a way that helps to reconcile previously contentious issues." -Deborah Burton [Introduction] This book was originally published by Pendragon Press in 2012.
Parsons, Charles H.
2002 0-7734-7278-9 372 pages
The Ohio Light Opera at The College of Wooster is the only professional repertory company in the United States devoted exclusively to the performance of late 19th and early 20th century operetta. In addition to Gilbert and Sullivan, they perform many classics of the European and American operetta repertoire. All are performed in English, with many of the foreign-language works specially translated for the Ohio Light Opera. This book is a personal memoir as well as a history. Includes many color and black-and-white illustrations.
Stokes, Harvey J.
1990 0-88946-577-0 80 pages
A listing of articles and books on the music of eleven Italian serial composers: Berio, Bussotti, Castiglioni, Clementi, Dallapiccola, Donatoni, Maderna, Nono, Petrassi, Togni, and Vlad. Listed documents take the form of interviews, musical critiques and analyses, stylistic surveys, biographies, and listings of companies.
Ginger, Andrew
2000 0-7734-7506-0 344 pages
These essays offer an interdisciplinary approach to the figure of Don Juan, exploring the developing and different responses to him over the centuries, also across genres and media. It addresses the key formulation of the character in 17th century Spain, traces his development through the opera up to and beyond Mozart, and, finally, surveys his destiny in the Modern Period of literature.
Dailey, Jeff S.
2008 0-7734-5068-8 256 pages
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.
Soder, Aidan
2008 0-7734-5178-7 136 pages
This study offers a brief history of Sprechstimme and Pierrot lunaire, Schoenberg’s recordings of Pierrot, and the ambiguity inherent in the execution of Sprechstimme. The book also presents the substantial Pierrot discography and the range of interpretational styles heard in the recordings. The author provides a thorough discussion of Pierrot’s technical vocal requirements and how the sound recordings can assist in the interpretation and performance of the Sprechstimme.
Campra, Andre
2023 1-4955-1160-X 420 pages
This book contains facsimiles of the libretto (1738) and score (1702) of Tancrede: Tragedie en Musique by Andre Campre. It also offers significant editorial commentary by Antonia L. Banducci, James R. Anthony, and Judith L. Schwartz concerning the facsimiles, the work, biographical information, and wider scholarly context. This book was originally published by Pendragon Press in 2006.
Zhong, Mei
2002 0-7734-7190-1 228 pages
Difficulties in establishing tempos for Puccini’s soprano arias arise from the lack of markings in some cases, ambiguous or impractical markings in others, doubts about the authorship of some markings, and wide variations in tempo among recorded performances. This study seeks to establish the originally intended tempos for these operas. By examining Puccini’s autographs, the first edition vocal scores, and many early recordings – especially those by the sopranos or conductors who worked with the composer or performed the arias during Puccini’s lifetime – it establishes tempos that conform to Puccini’s musical and dramatic intentions. Additional sources include the commentaries of Luigi Ricci, Puccini’s rehearsal pianist; contemporaneous and contemporary commentaries; and current scholarship.
Crispin, Judith Michelle
2007 0-7734-5407-1 332 pages
This study explores an elite esoteric tradition of music composition, transmitted to succeeding generations by practicing musicians with an avid interest in the occult. Motivated by a conception of music as an agent of transcendence, this tradition has been most clearly articulated by Ferruccio Busoni as Junge Klassizität, or Young Classicality. The core ideas of Busoni’s Junge Klassizität have been passed from teacher to pupil in the manner of esoteric school, and encrypted as symbols within original compositions. One inheritor of Busoni’s esoteric legacy was the Australian composer Larry Sitsky, a composition student of Busoni via Egon Petri. Building on existing research into the esoteric nature of Busoni’s Junge Klassizität, this study traces the passage of the esoteric tradition along the Budoni-Petri-Sitsky line. It outlines a new, living and evolving tradition born from Sitsky’s reinterpretation and revitalization of Busoni’s model. Within the Busoni-Sitsky tradition of orientation of Junge Klassizität remains unchanged but has flowered into new esoteric manifestations. To further elucidate this tradition, this study examines the two major operas it has generated: Busoni’s Doktor Faust and Sitsky’s The Golem. It is demonstrated that the tradition’s core ideas are transmitted through these operas as encrypted symbols, awaiting future decipherment. This work will appeal to scholars of music history, pedagogy, and composition, as well as scholars of Australian music, Busoni, Sitsky and Western esotericism.
Aleandri, Emelise
2011 0-7734-1588-2 728 pages
Aleandri, Emelise
2013 0-7734-4359-2 464 pages
As we progress through these volumes chronicling the Italians in New York theatre, each year’s compilation loom noticeably larger than the one before. The surge began dramatically after the Civil War and continued to expand, with more Italian visitors and residents participating in the theatrical life and business of the city.
Petty, Jonathan Christian
2022 1-4955-0990-7 188 pages
This work applies tenets of Group Mental System theory to the Madama Butterfly: "The main tenet of this theory is that the sole linguistic object of music, language of the emotions, is Self. Musical language qualifies Self by qualifying its affect (emotions, moods, dispositions). ...[I]t is of particular interest to consider those musical works in which alterations to the Self play a direct role. One such work is Puccini's Madama Butterfly." -Jonathan Christian Petty
Bendikas, Kristina
2004 0-7734-6485-9 220 pages
This work is the first full-length analysis of the major productions of Jean-Pierre Ponnelle (1932-1988), who has been hailed internationally as one of the most important opera directors/ designers of the last century. In a career spanning four decades he was in demand at the leading opera houses of the world where he regularly collaborated with world-class conductors and singer-actors producing an enormous range of operas representing every period, genre and style from Monteverdi and Rossini to Wagner and Strauss. He was instrumental in reinstating the seria operas of Mozart into the active repertoire and was a formidable champion for new works. These credentials require an investigation into the reasons why he was so critically and popularly successful and the influence that he has had on opera production.
Kristina Bendikas has crafted a uniquely scholarly investigation into Ponnelle’s most important and influential productions at the San Francisco Opera, the Metropolitan Opera and the Houston Grand Opera, as well as those he premiered throughout Europe. In meticulously documented chapters the author draws from substantial primary source material including reviews, interviews, and production notes in order to document and analyze the choices of the director/ designer in operas ranging from Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito to Rossini’s La Cenerentola to modern operas such as Reimann’s Lear. Ponnelle’s views on the relationship between the music of opera and theatre of opera – still central to debates about the future of opera production – construct the critical juncture “opera theatre” which lies at the heart of the book. This book illuminates the work of a formidable artist and more importantly, leads to a deeper understanding of the concerns and controversies that shaped opera production in the late twentieth century.
Rowat, Malcolm
2012 0-7734-3078-4 252 pages
The main purpose of this volume is to provide an overview to all of Richard Strauss’s musical and operatic compositions. Usually the operas are ignored by scholars and composers who only perform his instrumental works. This book shows that there is incredible musical value in the operas as well. It also showcases his compositional style and techniques, as the author states, Strauss could compose while riding on a noisy train, he was just that talented.
Because of his involvement with the Nazi Party, Richard Strauss has been ignored by musical scholars for quite some time. Even when he is studied his operas are often viewed as being less important than his instrumental works. This book remedies that misconception by addressing how his operas were created and pin pointing the musical importance by chronicling their compositional qualities. There is also quite a bit about Strauss’s life in this book as well.
Bruhn, Siglind
2023 1-4955-1168-5 438 pages
"In the 1930s, Paul Hindemith, then Germany's foremost composer, found himself torn between three forces. The Nazi government demanded that he write music glorifying the Third Reich...friends and colleagues urged that he use his influence and speak up against the immorality of German politics, while his own deepest wish was to live exclusively for his art--to compose, perform and teach. In the midst of this dilemma, which eventually led to his emigration, Hindemith composed his opera Mathis der Maler." -Siglind Bruhn [Introduction] This book was originally published by Pendragon Press in 1998.
Boyd, Melinda J.
2019 1-4955-0759-9 296 pages
This book is intended to broaden our understanding of opera by investigating the contributions of selected women composers who successfully navigated educational, institutional and social restrictions, and traditions in order to bring their operas to the public theaters, where their lives, as well as their works, were subject to scrutiny and criticism of the musical press. Ingeborg von Bronsart (1840-1913), Ethel Smyth (1858-1944), and Thea Musgrave (b. 1928) all made distinguished contributions to their art, producing operas of considerable artistic merit that were admired by many of their contemporaries.
Petty, Jonathan Christian
2005 0-7734-6007-1 632 pages
This book re-theorizes Wagner’s post-Opera and Drama tonal language in the linguistic terms in which the composer himself conceived and executed the Ring of the Nibelung and Parsifal. Topics include Wagner’s lexical use of key; the composition of semantics from tonal lexicality and orthodox tonal syntax; the cognitive structure of tonal language [TL] semantics, the linguistic coordination of words and keys; Wagner’s concept of Tonal Households and the alignment of TL syntax with poetically specified protagonists, objects, and dramatic situations; key characteristics and TL Lexemes as public cultural linguistic properties; the virtual spatiality of TL syntax and semantics; TL spatiality and spatialized emotions; and tonal cartography. The four scores of the Ring dramas are analyzed bar-by-bar to derive a complete linear harmonic analysis-based readout of each of its keys and claimed lexical referent. The result–over 3,780 TL lexemes–is the first TL Lexicon of the entire Ring. Two concluding chapters on Parsifal discuss its mediaeval sources as suggested by Wagner’s prose writings, letters, and religious discourse to argue for the Gnostic and alchemistic basis of its libretto imagery, lexical tonality, and anti-Semitism. Throughout, lexical theory is argued against in-depth critiques of the theories of Heinrich Schenker and others.
Muller, Julia
1990 0-88946-495-2 520 pages
Although both the complete libretto (1690) and the full score (1691) of Henry Purcell's first semi-opera The Prophetess: or, The History of Dioclesian have been preserved, the work has never been fully discussed. In this study its relationship to the play of the same name by John Fletcher and Philip Massinger (1622?) and in particular the "Alterations and Additions After the Manner of an OPERA" by Thomas Betterton, actor-manager of the Dorsert Garden Theatre, come under scrutiny. With a line-by-line comparison of the opera with the only two published versions of the play extant, which are in the Beaumont and Fletcher First Folio (1647) and Second Folio (1679). Double numbering ensures easy reference to both Notes and Folios. The alterations are shown to be classifiable under such headings as late seventeenth-century theatre conventions, political expediency, providing scope for music and dance, and unification. The high degree of unification found in the text and particularly in the music, which is dealt with separately, shows that earlier criticism of this semi-opera as lacking coherence is unfounded.