A History of Opera: The Last Four Hundred Years - Softcover

9780141009018: A History of Opera: The Last Four Hundred Years
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Abbate and Parker's A History of Opera is the first full new history of opera in sixty years - now in paperback in an updated second edition

'The best single volume ever written on the subject' The Times Literary Supplement

Why has opera transfixed and fascinated audiences for centuries? Carolyn Abbate and Roger Parker answer this question in their scrupulous and provocative retelling of the history of opera, examining its development, the means by which it communicates, and its societal role. In a new revision with an expanded examination of opera as an institution in the twenty-first century this book explores the tensions that have sustained opera over 400 years: between words and music, character and singer, inattention and absorption. Abbate and Parker argue that, though the genre's most popular and enduring works were almost all written in a distant European past, opera continues to transform the viewer with its enduring power.

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Review:
Essential reading for all who love this most ambitious of art forms. --Daniel Snowman, author of The Gilded Stage: A Social History of Opera

This book is not only a total delight to read, but its insights are so varied, its arguments so wonderfully precise and unpredictable, its prose so generous and engaging, that it is an utter delight to re-read. --David J. Levin, executive editor, Opera Quarterly

An extended duet of intertwined voices, this inspiring book is at once a history of opera and a poetic meditation on the genre itself, its complexity, depth, and allure. --Ellen Rosand, George A. Saden Professor of Music, Yale University

A revealing genealogy of a living tradition that will speak vividly to those who continue to fall for opera's mad charms, and entice those who might be about to. --Christopher Morris, author of Reading Opera Between the Lines

Experts and beginners alike will enjoy what is sure to become a classic work. --Andrew Moravcsik, director, European Union Program, Princeton University

There's reason to applaud a new volume like...A History of Opera, in which vast scholarly authority is put to the service of a narrative both lucid and sweeping. --Jeremy Eichler

Unfailingly intelligent ...their coverage of every period in opera's history is scrupulous and provocative.

[A History of Opera] will surely become essential reading for anyone seeking an engaging and highly informed chronicle of the great composers and their works. --Daniel Snowman

Parker and Abbate have written ... a highly idiosyncratic and personal history of opera. [It] has a brio, insouciance, and even irreverence that are very much their own. --G.W. Bowersock

[F]resh... brave, challenging and, above all, useful.
From the Author:
Carolyn Abbate is Professor of Music at Harvard University and the author of Unsung Voices and In Search of Opera. Her work has been translated into many languages. She herself is a translator, and has been involved in theatre as a dramaturge and director. Roger Parker is Professor of Music at King's College, London, and the author of Leonora's Last Act and Remaking the Song. He is founding co-editor of the Donizetti critical edition, and editor of The Oxford Illustrated History of Opera.

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  • PublisherPenguin
  • Publication date2015
  • ISBN 10 0141009012
  • ISBN 13 9780141009018
  • BindingPaperback
  • Edition number1
  • Number of pages656
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Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. The first full new history of opera in sixty years, now in paperback in an updated second editionWhy has opera transfixed and fascinated audiences for centuries? Carolyn Abbate and Roger Parker answer this question in their scrupulous and provocative retelling of the history of opera, examining its development, the means by which it communicates, and its societal role. In a new revision with an expanded examination of opera as an institution in the twenty-first century, this book explores the tensions that have sustained opera over 400 years- between words and music, character and singer, inattention and absorption. Abbate and Parker argue that, though the genre's most popular and enduring works were almost all written in a distant European past, opera continues to transform the viewer with its enduring power. Why has opera transfixed and fascinated audiences for centuries? The authors answer this question in their scrupulous and provocative retelling of the history of opera, examining its development, the means by which it communicates, and its societal role. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability. Seller Inventory # 9780141009018

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