Unsettling Opera

by Levin, David J.

• ISBN13: 9780226475226
• ISBN10: 0226475220
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-10-01
• Publisher: Univ of Chicago Pr

Summary

What happens when operas that are comfortably ensconced in the canon are thoroughly rethought and radically recast on stage? What does a staging do to our understanding of an opera, and of opera generally? While a stage production can disrupt a work that was thought to be established, David J. Levin here argues that the genre of opera is itself unsettled, and that the performance of operas, at its best, clarifies this condition by bringing opera's restlessness and volatility to life. Unsettling Operaexplores a variety of fields, considering questions of operatic textuality, dramaturgical practice, and performance theory. Levin opens with a brief history of opera production, opera studies, and dramatic composition, and goes on to consider in detail various productions of the works of Wagner, Mozart, Verdi, and Alexander Zemlinsky. Ultimately, the book seeks to initiate a dialogue between scholars of music, literature, and performance by addressing questions raised in each field in a manner that influences them all.

Author Biography

David J. Levin is associate professor in the Department of Germanic Studies, the Committee on Cinema and Media Studies, and the Committee on Theater and Performance Studies at the University of Chicago.  In addition to his academic work, he has served as dramaturg for various opera companies in the United States and Germany.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations

Preface

Dramaturgy and Mise-en-Scène

Reading a Staging/Staging a Reading: Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg in Performance

Fidelity in Translation: Mozart and Da Ponte's Le nozze di Figaro

Deconstructing Singspiel: Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail

Between Sublimation and Audacity: Verdi's Don Carlos

Beyond the Canon: Zemlinsky's Der König Kandaules

Appendix: Plot Summaries

Index

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