Williamsburg Regional Library

A mad love, an introduction to opera, Vivien Schweitzer

eng

Includes bibliographical references and index

index present

non fiction

A mad love

bibliography

1019621595

Vivien Schweitzer

an introduction to opera

There are few art forms as visceral and emotional as opera--and few that are as daunting for newcomers. A Mad Love offers a spirited and indispensable tour of opera's eclectic past and present, beginning with Monteverdi's L'Orfeo in 1607, generally considered the first successful opera, through classics like Carmen and La Boheme, and spanning to Brokeback Mountain and The Death of Klinghoffer in recent years. Musician and critic Vivien Schweitzer acquaints readers with the genre's most important composers and some of its most influential performers, recounts its long-standing debates, and explains its essential terminology. Today, opera is everywhere, from the historic houses of major opera companies to movie theaters and public parks to offbeat performance spaces and our earbuds. A Mad Love is an essential book for anyone who wants to appreciate this living, evolving art form in all its richness.--, Publisher's description

From Gods to mortals : on Monteverdi and the birth of opera, French baroque opera, Handel, and Mozart -- The beautiful song of Italian opera : on the bel canto operas of Bellini, Rossini, and Donizetti and rise of the tenor -- Giants of the nineteenth century : on Wagner, Verdi, and conductors -- Realism in an unrealistic medium : on verismo, Puccini, and Slavic opera -- Fin De Siécle dissonance to midcentury melody : on Strauss, Berg, Shostakovich, Gershwin, Britten, and opera in translation -- Orpheus in the twenty-first century : on contemporary opera, from Philip Glass to Kaija Saariaho -- Ape costumes or period costumes? : on staging opera in the twenty-first century -- Epilogue

adult