Opera Buffa in Mozart's Vienna

by Edited by Mary Hunter , James Webster

• ISBN13: 9780521027113
• ISBN10: 052102711X
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-06-22
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

This collection of essays, presented by an internationally known team of scholars, explores the world of Vienna and the development of opera buffa in the second half of the eighteenth century. Among the topics explored are the relationship of Viennese opera buffa to French theater; Mozart and eighteenth century comedy; gender, nature and bourgeois society on Mozart's buffa stage; as well as close examinations of key works such as Don Giovanni and Figaro.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction Mary Hunter and James Webster

Part I. Historical and Literary Contexts: 1. Goldoni, opera buffa, and Mozart's advent in Vienna Daniel Heartz

2. Lo specchio francese: Viennese opera buffa and the legacy of French theatre Bruce Alan Brown

3. Il re alla caccia and Le roi et le fermier: Italian and French treatments of class and gender Marvin Carlson

4. Mozart and eighteenth-century comedy Paolo Gallarati

Part II. Social and Generic Meanings: 5. The sentimental muse of opera buffa Edmund J. Goehring

6. The biology lessons of opera buffa: gender, nature, and Bourgeois society on Mozart's buffa stage Tia Denora

7. Bourgeois values and Opera Buffa in 1780's Vienna Mary Hunter

8. Opera seria? Opera buffa? Genre and style as sign Marita P. McLymonds

9. Figaro as misogynist: on aria types and aria rhetoric Ronald J. Rabin

10. The alternative endings of Mozart's Don Giovanni Michael F. Robinson

11. Don Giovanni: recognition denied Jessica Waldoff

Part III. Analytical and Methodological Issues: 12. Analysis and dramaturgy: reflections towards a theory of Opera Sergio Durante

13. Understanding opera buffa: analysis = interpretation James Webster

14. Operatic ensembles and the problem of the Don Giovanni sextet John Platoff

15. Buffo roles in Mozart's Vienna: tessitura and tonality as signs of characterization Julian Rushton

List of works cited

Index.