Not without Madness – Perspectives on Opera (Emersion: Emergent Village resources for communities of faith) - Hardcover

Seta, Fabrizio Della

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0226749142 ISBN 13: 9780226749143

Publisher: University of Chicago Press, 2012

Synopsis

Opera often seems to arouse either irrational enthusiasm or visceral dislike. Such madness, as Goethe wrote, is indispensable in all theater, and yet in practice, sentiment and passion must be balanced by sense and reason. Exploring this tension between madness and reason, "Not without Madness" presents new analytical approaches to thinking about eighteenth - and nineteenth-century opera through the lenses of its historical and cultural contexts. In these twelve essays, Fabrizio Della Seta explores the concept of opera as a dramatic event and an essential moment in the history of theater. Examining the meaning of opera and the devices that produce and transmit this meaning, he looks at the complex verbal, musical, and scenic mechanisms in parts of "La sonnambula", "Ernani", "Aida", "Le nozze di Figaro", "Macbeth", and "Il trovatore". He argues that approaches to the study of opera must address performance, interpretation, composition, reception, and cultural ramifications. Purely musical analysis does not make sense unless we take into account music's dramatic function. Containing many essays available for the first time in English, Not without Madness bridges recent divisions in opera studies and will attract musicologists, musicians, and opera lovers alike.

About this title

About the Author

Fabrizio Della Seta is professor of music history and musical philology in the Facolta di Musicologia at the University of Pavia in Cremona, Italy. Mark Weir is a lecturer in English and English translation at the University of Naples, L'Orientale.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Publication date: 2012
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0226749142
• ISBN 13: 9780226749143
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 328