Opera : a listener's guide / Jack Sacher.
| Author/creator | Sacher, Jack |
| Format | Book |
| Publication Info | New York : Schirmer Books, ©1997. |
| Description | xv, 511 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm |
| Subjects |
| Contents | Opera and its tools. The nature of the beast. Is opera "about" anything? ; Opera's focus: drama through music ; Different strokes: opera and the musical ; Humanity through symbol ; Word and music, music and word ; Good or bad? -- The filter of history. Opera is what we make of it ; Music as symbol ; Orfeo ed Euridice and Giulio Cesare: the same century but different worlds ; Voice as symbol ; Opera's history: an overview -- How opera's music works, sound as symbol and metaphor. Symbolism in music: some general comments ; Knowing it when you hear it ; Context ; Archetypes. Song and singing ; The structure of music ; Instrumental genres ; Melody, rhythm, and harmony ; Chromaticism -- Part II: Opera and the human condition. Opera and us -- The search within. Introspection ; Conscience and the sense of good and evil -- The search beyond. Spirituality and wonderment ; Atonement and redemption -- Extremes, the absurd and the beautiful. A sense of the ridiculous ; Aesthetics -- Part III: Some dramas and their music. Introduction ; Why these? ; On pronunciations ; Scenes and "numbers" -- Giulio Cesare in Egitto. Giulio Cesare and opera seria ; Music and drama ; Handel's vocal idioms ; Pictorialization ; Bel canto: the ideal of singing ; Handel and the conventions of opera seria ; The historical background of the plot ; The plot and its music ; The characters -- Iphigénie en Tauride. The myth ; The plot and its music ; The characters -- Don Giovanni. Sui generis: the opera as synthesis ; Ambiguity and "La ci darem la mano" ; Energy and unity ; The plot and its music ; The characters -- Fidelio. The plot and its music ; The characters -- Il Barbiere di Siviglia [Barber of Seville]. The plot and its music ; The characters -- Rigoletto. The plot and its music ; The characters -- Die Walküre. Wagner's principles of music and drama ; Der Ring des Nibelungen: an overview ; The motives of Die Walkure ; The plot and its music ; The characters -- Carmen. Carmen as heroine: "reading" the opera ; Realism and romanticism ; Convention and controversy ; The fate motive ; The plot and its music ; The characters -- Salome. Salome and the dawn of modernism ; Music: imagery and obsession : The historical background ; The plot and its music ; The characters -- Porgy and Bess. Idiom and motive ; The plot and its music ; The characters -- Peter Grimes. The opera as symbol ; The opera as a point of view ; The threads of the music ; The pervasiveness of the sea ; The plot and its music ; The characters -- A glossary of operatic terms. |
| Abstract | This book offers a complete introduction to the world's greatest theatrical music, for both the beginning listener and the experienced connoisseur. The book opens with an overview of the special powers of opera; how the form combines music and drama, with examples drawn from masterpieces from the birth of opera to today. An explanation of the symbols and metaphors found in the words and music reveals how the deeper meanings of operatic performance are given shape and expression. The book's second part explores the relation of opera to the human condition. The book's heart is a comprehensive examination of 11 key operas. For each work, there is a discussion of its historical and literary backgrounds, its importance in shaping the history of the genre, and its position in the life of the work of the composer. A deep discussion of each opera's plot and music, give insight into these masterpieces. The center of each study is a scene-by-scene presentation of the details of the plot and the nature of the music that brings those details to life. Each study also includes a focused reading list. |
| Local note | Little-305131029560Z--309200 |
| Local note | Little-305131013649- --310664 |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references (pages 487-494) and index. |
| LCCN | 97011271 |
| ISBN | 0028722728 |