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Books > Arts & Architecture > Performing arts > Theatre, drama > Opera
The DVD Book of Pavarotti covers the life of this preeminent
opera singer, from his first performances at the age of five, to
his parents, to televised concerts he gave singing in stadiums and
great open spaces such as La Bombonera in Buenos Aires and Hyde
Park.
Long before the satirical comedy of The Daily Show and The Colbert
Report, the comic operas of W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan were
the hottest send-ups of the day's political and cultural
obsessions. Gilbert and Sullivan's productions always rose to the
level of social commentary, despite being impertinent, absurd, or
inane. Some viewers may take them straight, but what looks like
sexism or stereotype was actually a clever strategy of critique.
Parody was a powerful weapon in the culture wars of
late-nineteenth-century England, and with defiantly in-your-face
sophistication, Gilbert and Sullivan proved that popular culture
can be intellectually as well as politically challenging. Carolyn
Williams underscores Gilbert and Sullivan's creative and acute
understanding of cultural formations. Her unique perspective shows
how anxiety drives the troubled mind in the Lord Chancellor's
"Nightmare Song" in Iolanthe and is vividly realized in the sexual
and economic phrasing of the song's patter lyrics. The modern body
appears automated and performative in the "Junction Song" in
Thespis, anticipating Charlie Chaplin's factory worker in Modern
Times. Williams also illuminates the use of magic in The Sorcerer,
the parody of nautical melodrama in H.M.S. Pinafore, the ridicule
of Victorian aesthetic and idyllic poetry in Patience, the
autoethnography of The Mikado, the role of gender in Trial by Jury,
and the theme of illegitimacy in The Pirates of Penzance. With her
provocative reinterpretation of these artists and their work,
Williams recasts our understanding of creativity in the late
nineteenth century.
Die Zauberfloete had its premiere at the Theater auf der Wieden in
Vienna on 30th September 1791, less than ten weeks before Mozart's
death. It has proved to be one of the most enduringly popular of
all his works and has enchanted generations of opera-goers of all
ages. In a fairy-tale allegory imbued with serious philosophical
concerns, the opera combines ethereal music with earthy comedy to
convey a message of hope for a better world. In this guide,
Nicholas Till writes about the background and genesis of the opera,
locating it on the cusp of the Enlightenment and the beginnings of
German Romanticism. Julian Rushton provides a detailed analysis of
the score with numerous musical examples highlighting its many
delights, and Hugo Shirley surveys the different and often bizarre
permutations that the opera has undergone on stage since some of
its very earliest performances through to the present day. The
guide contains the complete German libretto with a new English
translation by Kenneth Chalmers and incorporates all the dialogue
so frequently cut in performances. There are sixteen pages of
illustrations, a musical thematic guide, a discography, a
bibliography and DVD and website guides. The guide provides a
perfect companion to opera-goers wishing to extend their
understanding and increase their enjoyment of this much beloved
work.
(Vocal Collection). For well over a century, the G. Schirmer
edition of 24 Italian Songs & Arias of the 17th and 18th
Centuries has introduced millions of beginning singers to serious
Italian vocal literature. Offered in two accessible keys suitable
for all singers, it is likely to be the first publication a voice
teacher will ask a first-time student to purchase. The classic
Parisotti realizations result in rich, satisfying accompaniments
which allow singers pure musical enjoyment. For ease of practice,
carefully prepared accompaniments are also available that were
recorded by John Keene, a New York-based concert accompanist and
vocal coach who has performed throughout the United States for
radio and television. Educated at the University of Southern
California, Keene has taught accompanying at the university level
and collaborated with Gian Carlo Menotti and Thea Musgrave on
productions of their operas.
Without scenery, costumes, and stage action, an opera would be
little more than a concert. But in the audience, we know little
(and think less) about the enormous efforts of those involved in
bringing an opera to life - by the stagehands who shift scenery,
the scenic artists who create beautiful backdrops, the electricians
who focus the spotlights, and the stage manager who calls them and
the singers to their places during the performance. The first
comprehensive history of the behind-the-scenes world of opera
production and staging, "From the Score to the Stage" follows the
evolution of visual style and set design in continental Europe from
its birth in the seventeenth century up to today. In clear, witty
prose, Evan Baker covers all the major players and pieces involved
in getting an opera onto the stage, from the stage director who
creates the artistic concept for the production and guides the
singers' interpretation of their roles to the blocking of singers
and placement of scenery. He concentrates on the people -
composers, librettists, designers, and technicians - as well as the
theaters and events that generated developments in opera
production. Additional topics include the many difficulties in
performing an opera, the functions of impresarios, and the business
of music publishing. Delving into the absorbing and often neglected
history of stage directing, theater architecture and technology,
and scenic and lighting design, Baker nimbly links these technical
aspects of opera to actual performances and performers, and the
social context in which they appeared. Out of these details arise
illuminating discussions of individual productions that cast new
light on the operas of Wagner, Verdi, and others. Packed with
nearly two hundred color illustrations, "From the Score to the
Stage" is a revealing, always entertaining look at what happens
before the curtain goes up on opening night at the opera house.
Giacomo Puccini's La Boheme is one of the most frequently performed
operas in the world. But how did it come to be so adored? In this
book, author Alexandra Wilson traces La Boheme's rise to fame and
demonstrates that its success grew steadily through stage
performances, recordings, filmed versions and the endorsements of
star singers. More recently, popular songs, film soundtracks and
musicals that draw on the opera's music and themes added further to
its immense cultural impact. This cultural history offers a fresh
reading of a familiar work. Wilson argues that La Boheme's approach
to realism and its flouting of conventions of the Italian operatic
tradition made it strikingly modern for the 1890s. She explores how
Puccini and his librettists engaged with gender, urban poverty and
nostalgia-themes that grew out of the work's own time and continue
to resonate with audiences more than 120 years later. Her analysis
of the opera's depiction of Paris reveals that La Boheme was not
only influenced by the romantic mythologies surrounding the city to
this day but also helped shape them. Wilson's consideration of how
directors have reinvented this opera for a new age completes this
fascinating history of La Boheme, making it essential reading for
anyone interested in this opera and the works it inspired.
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