Chronicle Of Opera 2E Pa

by Raeburn,Michael

• ISBN13: 9780500286678
• ISBN10: 0500286671
• Edition: Revised
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 2007-06-17
• Publisher: THAMES&HUD

Summary

"Practical for reference and delightful for browsing....Excellent introduction for the opera novice as well as the more experienced listener." --Booklist Four hundred years after it began, opera's combination of grandeur and intimacy continues to beguile audiences around the world. Covering subjects as diverse as the opening of La Scala in Milan, the legendary career of Maria Callas, and the extraordinary success of the Three Tenors,The Chronicle of Operacelebrates the great eras of music and performance, mixing fact and anecdote, personalities and stylistic development with hundreds of illustrations. Opera developed quickly from its modest beginnings as the re-creation of classical Greek drama. By the seventeenth century, the time of Monteverdi, it included all the components of much later operas: choruses, arias, recitatives, instrumental ensembles, and interludes. Toward the end of the eighteenth century, artifice had been replaced by the classical perfection and wit of Mozart. The next hundred years saw the rise of romanticism, with famous masterworks by Rossini, Donizetti, Verdi, and Wagner, while the twentieth century saw the brilliant innovations of Berg, Stravinsky, Britten, and Gershwin, among many others. A new section brings the story of opera into the twenty-first century. The comprehensive reference section includes biographies, a timeline, opera house openings and premieres, a glossary, and a discography, making this an essential reference book for all opera lovers. 320 illustrations, 100 in color.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. 8
1589-1761: Baroque Opera	p. 16
1589-1634 The New Art	p. 20
1635-1646 Opera in Venice	p. 24
1647-1677 Italian Opera Reaches Paris	p. 16
1678-1702 France, Germany, England	p. 30
1703-1716 The Second Century of Opera	p. 34
1717-1731 Prima Donnas and Castrati	p. 38
1732-1739 The Seeds of Change	p. 44
1740-1761 The Death of Handel	p. 50
1762-1850: Classical and Romantic Opera	p. 56
1762-1775 Opera is Reborn	p. 60
1776-1780 Melodrama and Singspiel	p. 66
1781-1786 Mozart in Vienna	p. 68
1787-1791 Mozart's Last Operas	p. 72
1792-1804 Opera after the French Revolution	p. 78
1805-1816 Opera during the Empire	p. 82
1817-1821 Weber and German Romanticism	p. 88
1822-1828 Romantic Opera	p. 92
1829-1835 Bel Canto	p. 98
1836-1841 Successors to Rossini	p. 106
1842-1850 Verdi and Wagner	p. 110
1851-1914: International Opera	p. 116
1851-1857 Verdi's Middle Period	p. 120
1858-1867 The Second Empire	p. 124
1868-1875 The New Repertory	p. 132
1876-1882 Bayreuth	p. 138
1883-1895 Perfect Wagnerites	p. 144
1896-1902 The Turn of the Century	p. 152
1903-1907 Revival and Rebellion	p. 158
1908-1914 A Blaze of Glory	p. 164
1915-: The Age of Recording	p. 170
1915-1918 Neoclassicism	p. 174
1919-1925 After the War	p. 178
1926-1932 Opera in the Weimar Republic	p. 184
1933-1944 Opera in the Shadow of War	p. 190
1945-1953 The New Order	p. 198
1954-1960 Grand Opera Reborn	p. 204
1961-1975 Opera and Anti-Opera	p. 212
1976-1991 Postmodernism	p. 218
After 1992 Radical Stagings	p. 224
Reference Data
Glossary	p. 229
Timeline	p. 230
Opera Premieres	p. 234
Biographies of 100 Singers	p. 236
Discography	p. 241
Bibliography	p. 244
Sources of Illustrations	p. 245
Index	p. 246
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