In this translation of the groundbreaking Le Chant Intime, internationally renowned baritone Francois Le Roux, in conversation with journalist Romain Raynaldy, presents a master class on French art song, with a thorough analysis of 60 selected songs that deviate from the traditionally narrow repertoire of the melodie genre. Taking an approach that goes far beyond the typical limiting conventions, Le Roux and Raynaldy adhere to composer Francis Poulenc's principle that a song should always be "a love affair, not an arranged marriage." Neither theoretical nor purely academic, this guide instills in its readers a deep appreciation for the historical and artistic context of each piece by enriching each analysis with the full text of the lyrical poem and several musical examples, as well as fascinating details of historic premieres, concert halls, singers and poets. Paired with intensive and practical notes related to the nuances of melody and vocal delivery, each analysis provides an essential reference for performers and listeners alike. The translation is due to the expertise of musicologist and pianist Sylvia Kahan, Professor of Music at the Graduate Center and College of Staten Island, CUNY.

Die Studie widmet sich dem Musiktheater, welches mit seiner Formenvielfalt das Theater im deutschen Sprachraum zwischen 1680 und 1740 beherrschte. Den Schwerpunkt der Untersuchung bilden dabei die Buhnen in Hamburg, Braunschweig, Weissenfels und Leipzig, die in den europaischen Kontext des Musiktheaters gestellt werden. Zunachst wird am Beispiel fruher Rezensionen und musiktheoretischer Schriften sowie der pietistischen und der rationalistischen Opernkritik die Art des Sprechens uber das Musiktheater dargestellt. In den zeitgenoessischen Diskursen ergaben sich im Zusammenhang mit der auf die Sinne ausgerichteten Wirkungsabsicht des Musiktheaters Probleme, die im Mittelpunkt der Untersuchung stehen. Das Zusammen- und Gegeneinanderwirken der Kunste und der durch sie angesprochenen Sinne wird vor allem an Prologen untersucht, die den Wettstreit der Kunste thematisieren, sowie an "Antiochus und Stratonica"-Opern, die die Differenzen verbaler und nonverbaler Zeichensysteme einsetzen. Der Funktionswandel des Geschmackssinns wird anhand der Essensthematik verfolgt, die Wandlungen des Tastsinnes an den verschiedenen Liebeskonzeptionen in den Opern. Die politische Dimension von Sinnlichkeit zeigt sich in der Verbindung zwischen Oper und Zeremoniell, wobei das Musiktheater, wie am Beispiel Weissenfels' erkennbar, als Zeremoniellsimulator fungiert.

Wagner's operatic works rank with the supreme achievements of western culture. But acceptance of Wagner's musical genius is tempered by feelings of misgiving and many believe the composer's underlying ideas to be indefensible. A self-styled social revolutionary, Wagner thought the world could be redeemed through vegetarianism and Aryan philosophy. Introducing Wagner: A Graphic Guide separates the composer's art from the ideas and the arrogant destructive personal behaviour of the man.

Nothing strikes the ear quite like a soprano singing in the sonic stratosphere. Whether thrilling, chilling, or repellent to the listener, the reaction to cascades of coloratura with climaxing high notes is strong. Coloratura-agile, rapid-fire singing-was originally essential for all singers, but its function changed greatly when it became the specialty of particular sopranos over the course of the nineteenth century. The central argument of Vocal Virtuosity challenges the historical commonplace that coloratura became an anachronism in nineteenth-century opera. Instead, the book demonstrates that melismas at mid-century were made modern. Coloratura became an increasingly marked musical gesture during the century with a correspondingly more specific dramaturgical function. In exploring this transformation, the book reveals the instigators of this change in vocal practice and examines the historical traces of Parisian singers who were the period's greatest exponents of vertiginous vocality as archetypes of the modern coloratura soprano. The book constructs the historical trajectory of coloratura as it became gendered the provenance of the female singer, while also considering what melismas can signify in operatic performance. As a whole, it argues that vocal virtuosity was a source of power for women, generating space for female authorship and creativity. In so doing, the book reclaims a place in history for the coloratura soprano.

The reception accorded to Jacques Offenbach's (1819-1880) stage works is traditionally dominated by concepts such as 'satire' or 'parody'. But the insistence on such categories fails to do justice to the heterogeneous nature of his oeuvre. One way of remedying this defect is to examine the works in the literary and dramatic context of the age in which they were written. Paradigmatic for the preoccupation with moral discourse typical of that age is Alexandre Dumas fils' essay AThA(c)A[tre utileA. The study sets out to demonstrate that at an idealistic level Dumas fils and Offenbach had more in common than has been hitherto supposed.

Starting in the late 18th century a development is observable in which a new theatrical aesthetic of dramatic speech exploiting the musical potential of the voice went hand in hand with an abundance of melo-dramatic forms. Cutting across the boundaries of genre and the customary distinction between spoken art and music, theoreticians and practitioners explored the declamatory use of speech as a musical phenomenon in its own right. The present interdisciplinary study examines the development of this historical combination of the speaking voice and the musical arts, concentrating in particular on the profusion of different forms of 'Melodram' in the period in question.

The English tenor, Peter Pears, made a unique contribution to British musical life, not only through his own singing, but as the inspiration and muse of his life-long companion Benjamin Britten, who created for Pears some of the greatest tenor roles in 20th-century opera. This book describes Pears's life, his childhood and school days at Lancing College, his abortive academic career at Oxford and his early professional work as a member of the BBC singers. The first half of this book culminates in Pears's meeting with Britten in the 1930s, and their relationship consolidated during their wartime years in America, and by the fruitfulness of their artistic collaboration which resulted in several extraordinary song cycles and a number of inspirational roles on the stage including Grimes in Peter Grimes, Captain Vere in Billy Budd and Aschenbach in Death in Venice.

Ernst Lichtenhahn ist ohne UEbertreibung ein Doyen der schweizerischen Musikforschung. Als einer der wenigen Musikwissenschaftler im deutschsprachigen Raum hat er unterschiedliche sprachkulturelle und disziplinare Forschungstraditionen zusammengefuhrt. In seinem Wissenschaftsverstandnis sind historische und systematische Musikwissenschaft, Musikethnologie und Musikpraxis ganz im Sinne des von Guido Adler formulierten holistischen Konzepts sowohl methodisch wie auch inhaltlich immer eng aufeinander bezogen. Mit dem Titel "Communicating Music" versucht diese Festschrift zum 80. Geburtstag von Ernst Lichtenhahn, die durch dieses Verstandnis hervortretende Vielschichtigkeit wissenschaftlicher Fragestellungen aufzugreifen und weiterzudenken. Sie versammelt Beitrage, die sich aus ganz unterschiedlichen methodischen und theoretischen Perspektiven mit Fragen nach dem diskursiven Charakter von Musik, den musikalischen Vermittlungs- und Transformationsprozessen sowie dem Sprechen uber Musik an sich auseinandersetzen. Without any exaggeration one can call Ernst Lichtenhahn a doyen of Swiss music research. As one of the few musicologists in the German-speaking sphere he has succeeded in merging different linguistic-cultural and disciplinary research traditions. In his manner of scientific understanding, historical and systematic musicology, ethnomusicology and music practice are methodologically and topically related closely to each other, entirely consistent with the holistic concept of music research as developed by Guido Adler. With the title "Communicating Music", this Festschrift for Ernst Lichtenhahn's 80 birthday attempts to take up and to further develop the diversity of scientific issues as emerged through such an understanding. It collects papers that come from a variety of methodological and theoretical perspectives to deal with issues about the discursive nature of music, about mediation and transformation processes of music as well as about the discourse on music itself.

Casa Ricordi is the original publisher for the unforgettable Italian operas that have made their mark on musical history and now hold a special place in the hearts of millions of music lovers. Now, for the first time, Ricordi makes their full orchestral scores available to us with covers featuring beautiful color reproductions of authentic Ricordi artwork from opera posters, set designs and postcards from the turn of the century. Each edition features lyrics in the original language, and includes a synopsis of each act in English, Italian, German and French.

'Wingbeats' was an ambitous cultural project inspired by our perennial wish to fly and the paradoxical question: how can we fly without leaving the ground? Over a period of two years, the project brought together international and UK artists, school children, university students and residents of the East Riding to create two ambitous operas performed in Leeds and Bridlington. For this book, Adam Strickson, lead artist for Wingbeats, has compiled a fascinating selection of material from the project including poems, excerpts from diaries and blogs, and the full texts of both operas.

Prokofiev considered himself to be primarily a composer of opera, and his return to Russia in the mid-1930s was partially motivated by the goal to renew his activity in this genre. His Soviet career coincided with the height of the Stalin era, when official interest and involvement in opera increased, leading to demands for nationalism and heroism to be represented on the stage to promote the Soviet Union and the Stalinist regime. Drawing on a wealth of primary source materials and engaging with recent scholarship in Slavonic studies, this book investigates encounters between Prokofiev's late operas and the aesthetics of socialist realism, contemporary culture (including literature, film, and theatre), political ideology, and the obstacles of bureaucratic interventions and historical events. This contextual approach is interwoven with critical interpretations of the operas in their original versions, providing a new account of their stylistic and formal features and connections to operatic traditions.

A superb new translation of the libretto to Wagner's Ring cycle 'Smiling in sorrow I sing of love' The Ring of the Nibelung, Wagner's epic cycle of four musical dramas about primal envy, cosmic conflict, the search for glory, spectacular self-sacrifice, redeeming human love and the downfall of gods, revolutionized the nature of opera and conjured up an entire mythological world. It is also one of the greatest texts ever written for the lyric stage, where words are not an adjunct to the music, but an essential part of a transformative experience. John Deathridge's superb new facing page translation of the Ring libretto conveys the pungency and vitality of Wagner's words, reflecting the work's literary power while retaining its sense and dramatic energy. Translated with an introduction and notes by John Deathridge

This is the first book to compare these two composers and cultural heroes, both of whom were born in 1813 and achieved huge national and international renown in their lifetimes. Yet not only did they never meet, but the differences between them in music, culture, environment, significance, and legacy were profound.

Peter Conrad begins his tale in a public park in Venice, home to a pair of statues of the composers that are positioned so as to appear to shun each other. This provides a fitting starting point for his argument that they represent two opposite yet equally integral and compelling dimensions of European culture: north versus south, cerebral versus sensual, proud solitude versus human connection, epic mythmaking versus humane magnanimity. The book is a richly argued tour de force that engages passionately and profoundly with music, biography, history, politics, philosophy, psychology, and culture in the broadest sense. As Conrad concludes, At one time or another, if not simultaneously, we still need the two contradictory, complementary kinds of music that Verdi and Wagner left us. "

Unscrupulous, devilishly ambitious and undeniably charismatic, Domenico Barbaja was the most celebrated Italian impresario of the early 1800s and one of the most intriguing characters to dominate the operatic empire of the period. Dubbed the 'Viceroy of Naples', Barbaja managed both the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples and La Scala in Milan. He was the influential force behind the careers of a plethora of artists including Vincenzo Bellini, Gioachino Rossini and the great mezzo-soprano Isabella Colbran, who became Barbaja's lover before eventually deserting him to marry Rossini. Most vitally, Barbaja's vision had an irrevocable impact on the history of Italian opera; determined to create a lucrative business, he cultivated an energetic environment of new artists producing innovative, exciting opera that people would flock to hear. Philip Eisenbeiss brilliantly pieces together the forgotten story of a tireless tyrant who began life as a barely educated coffee waiter, yet grew to be one of the richest and most potent men in Italy. A natural entrepreneur, Barbaja had the ability to predict a sensation; a skill he exploited his entire life, forging his fortune as a cafe-owner, arms profiteer, gambling tycoon and eventually, opera magnate. Eisenbeiss unlocks the enigma of this eccentric and fascinating personality that has been hitherto neglected.