One of the foremost composers of the French Baroque operatic
tradition, Rameau is often cited for his struggle to steer lyric
tragedy away from its strict Lullian form, inspired by spoken
tragedy, and toward a more expressive musical style. In this fresh
exploration of Rameau's compositional aesthetic, Charles Dill
depicts a much more complicated figure: one obsessed with
tradition, music theory, his own creative instincts, and the
public's expectations of his music. Dill examines the ways Rameau
mediated among these often competing values and how he interacted
with his critics and with the public. The result is a sophisticated
rethinking of Rameau as a musical innovator.
In his compositions, Rameau tried to highlight music's potential
for dramatic meanings. But his listeners, who understood lyric
tragedy to be a poetic rather than musical genre, were generally
frustrated by these attempts. In fact, some described Rameau's
music as monstrous--using an image of deformity to represent the
failure of reason and communication. Dill shows how Rameau answered
his critics with rational, theoretical arguments about the role of
music in lyric tragedy. At the same time, however, the composer
sought to placate his audiences by substantially revising his
musical texts in later performances, sometimes abandoning his most
creative ideas.
"Monstrous Opera" illuminates the complexity of Rameau's vision,
revealing not only the tensions within the music but also the
conflicting desires that drove the man--himself caricatured by his
contemporaries as a monster.
Originally published in 1998.
The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand
technology to again make available previously out-of-print books
from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press.
These paperback editions preserve the original texts of these
important books while presenting them in durable paperback
editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly
increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the
thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since
its founding in 1905.
General
Imprint: |
Princeton University Press
|
Country of origin: |
United States |
Series: |
Princeton Legacy Library |
Release date: |
July 2014 |
First published: |
July 2014 |
Authors: |
Charles Dill
|
Dimensions: |
229 x 152 x 12mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Paperback - Trade
|
Pages: |
220 |
ISBN-13: |
978-0-691-60414-5 |
Categories: |
Books >
Arts & Architecture >
Performing arts >
Theatre, drama >
Opera
|
LSN: |
0-691-60414-2 |
Barcode: |
9780691604145 |
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