Bach's Operas of the Soul is the first introduction for the general music lover to Bach's sacred cantatas to appear in nearly half a century. In clear and accessible language, Mark Ringer examines this vast output of masterpieces as the great musical dramatic creations that they are in order to open these works to a wider audience. Bach's sacred cantatas represent an almost superhuman artistic and spiritual achievement, arguably the richest investment by a great composer within a single genre. But outside of a handful of pieces, they remain a closed book to a majority of serious listeners already familiar with Bach's large-scale religious works. Nevertheless, the same musical-dramatic genius of Bach's Passions is fully evident in virtually all of the composer's sacred cantatas. This book's innovative approach to Bach's Sacred Cantatas is to think of them as sermons in musical-dramatic form, un-staged operas, planned for each occasion of the church year. Bach's ability to dramatize text through music is unmatched throughout history. His era relished dramatic contrast and Bach's use of the human voice offers a constantly changing pallet of vocal colors. The singers play 'roles' throughout the cantatas from penitent sinner, to ardent believer, to Christ himself. The emotions and dramatic situations expressed are as varied as the human condition. This book will be of use to readers interested in opera and vocal music who have already come to love Bach's Passions and who want to familiarize themselves with this wide array of masterpieces.

Metatheater, or ""theater within theater,"" is a critical approach often used in studies of Shakespearian or modern drama. Breaking new ground in the study of ancient Greek tragedy, Mark Ringer applies the concept of metatheatricality to the work of Sophocles. His innovative analysis sheds light on Sophocles' technical ingenuity and reveals previously unrecognized facets of fifth-century performative irony. Ringer analyzes the layers of theatrical self-awareness in all seven Sophoclean tragedies, giving special attention to Electra , the playwright's most metatheatrical work. He focuses on plays within plays, characters who appear to be in rivalry with their playwright in ""scripting"" their dramas, and the various roles that characters assume in their attempts to deceive other characters or even themselves. Ringer also examines instances of literal role playing, exploring the implications of the Greek convention of sharing multiple roles among only three actors. Sophocles has long been praised as one of the masters of dramatic irony. Awareness of Sophoclean metatheater, Ringer shows, deepens our appreciation of that irony and reveals the playwright's keen awareness of his art. Originally published in 1998. A UNC Press Enduring Edition -- UNC Press Enduring Editions use the latest in digital technology to make available again books from our distinguished backlist that were previously out of print. These editions are published unaltered from the original, and are presented in affordable paperback formats, bringing readers both historical and cultural value. |Applies the concept of metatheater, or ""theater within theater"" to the work of Sophocles. Analyzes all seven Sophoclean tragedies, revealing previously unrecognized facets of fifth-century performative irony.

Euripides and the Boundaries of the Human presents the first single volume reading in nearly fifty years of all of Euripides' surviving plays. Rather than the piece meal examination of one or a handful of dramas in monograph or article form, the book insists on the thematic and stylistic parallels that unite a diverse canon of works. Euripides is often referred to as the most modern of the three Ancient Greek Tragedians, but in what way can the work of this fifth century BC artist be claimed as modern? The multi layered presentation of character is new within the context of Athenian Tragedy. The plays reveal also equal concern with the preservation and re-vitalization of tradition, especially with respect to the portrayal of the Olympian gods. Euripidean drama upholds tradition just as vigorously as it posits a new kind of realism in character portrayal in the Ancient Theatre. Euripidean drama fuses what was old with what was new in order to revitalize and perpetuate the art of tragedy. This book will be of interest to professionals and students in the fields of Classics, Greek Drama in Translation or the original Greek, Theatre Studies, Comparative Literature, Tragedy and Religion.

Euripides and the Boundaries of the Human presents the first single-volume reading in nearly fifty years of all of Euripides' surviving plays. Rather than examining one or a handful of dramas in monograph or article form, Mark Ringer insists on the thematic and stylistic parallels that unite a diverse canon of works. Euripides is often referred to as the most modern of the three Ancient Greek tragedians, but in what way can the work of this fifth-century B.C. artist be claimed as modern? The multi-layered presentation of character is new within the context of Athenian Tragedy. The plays also reveal equal concern with the preservation and re-vitalization of tradition, especially with respect to the portrayal of the Olympian gods. Euripidean drama upholds tradition just as vigorously as it posits a new kind of realism in character portrayal in the Ancient Theatre. Euripidean drama fuses what was old with what was new in order to revitalize and perpetuate the art of tragedy. This book will be of interest to professionals and students in the fields of classics, Greek drama in translation or in the original Greek, theater studies, comparative literature, tragedy, and religion.