A history of opera

Abbate, Carolyn. (Author). Parker, Roger, 1951- (author.).

Summary: A bold, engaging exploration of opera's fundamental nature and enduring appeal, from the sixteenth century to the present. There are lively discussions of opera's social, political, and literary backgrounds, its economic circumstances, and the almost continual polemics that have accompanied its development through the centuries. The authors examine the problems that opera has faced in the last half century, when new works--once opera's lifeblood--have shrunk to a tiny minority and have largely failed to find a permanent place in the repertoire. Yet opera as an art form remains extraordinarily buoyant and challenging.

Record details

ISBN: 0393348954
ISBN: 9780393348958
Physical Description: print
xxi, 623 pages, 24 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 21 cm
Edition: Updated edition.
Publisher: New York : W.W. Norton & Company, 2015.
Copyright: ©2012

Content descriptions

General Note:	"First published in Great Britain in 2012 by Allen Lane, an imprint of Penguin Books, under the title A history of opera : the last four hundred years"--Title page verso.
Bibliography, etc. Note:	Includes bibliographical references (pages 568-597) and index.
Formatted Contents Note:	Opera's first centennial -- Opera seria -- Discipline -- Opera buffa and Mozart's line of beauty -- Singing and speaking before 1800 -- The German problem -- Rossini and transition -- The tenor comes of age -- Young Verdi -- Grand opera -- Young Wagner -- Opéra comique, the crucible -- Old Wagner -- Verdi--older still -- Realism and clamour -- Turning point -- Modern -- Speech -- Revenants in the museum -- We are alone in the forest.