Italian Opera
$59.99 (C)
Part of National Traditions of Opera
- Author: David R. B. Kimbell, University of Edinburgh
- Date Published: April 1994
- availability: Available
- format: Paperback
- isbn: 9780521466431
$
59.99
(C)
Paperback
Looking for an examination copy?
This title is not currently available for examination. However, if you are interested in the title for your course we can consider offering an examination copy. To register your interest please contact [email protected] providing details of the course you are teaching.
-
Italy was the birthplace of opera. In this authoritative and accessible account of Italian opera, David Kimbell introduces those who, over three hundred years, created not only a national tradition but the central tradition from which others have drawn their inspiration. He traces the history of Italian opera from its origins in the humanism of the Renaissance to Puccini in the early twentieth century, drawing attention not only to musical issues but also to the social, literary, and philosophical ideas that have shaped modern Italian civilization.
Read more- Discussion of key operas, their composers and librettists
- First one-volume history of Italian opera in English
- Consideration of the social, political and cultural context in which the operatic tradition developed
Reviews & endorsements
"...Kimbell excels at shedding a sympathetic light on the repertory, especially in its earlier, less familiar stages, by examining works through the aesthetic viewpoint of each particular era." Notes
See more reviews"David Kimbell has wrestled his enormous topic coolly and efficiently to the mat and comes away with a fairly honorable victory." Opera News
"David Kimbell's gift in keeping the thread of change in view while discussing the particular gift of composers Monteverdi, Cesti and Pergolesi, and the powerful influence of the poet Pietro Metastasio, enlivens the chapters on opera's early buoyancy. Also, Kimbell's essays on Cimarosa, Rossini, Donizetti, Bellini and Verdi give reasons for these composers' dominance." Daniel Webster, Philadelphia Inquirer
Customer reviews
17th Oct 2024 by UName-946046
A wonderful scientist who wrote a wonderful book about Italian opera. Thanks a lot to the author!
Review was not posted due to profanity
×Product details
- Date Published: April 1994
- format: Paperback
- isbn: 9780521466431
- length: 704 pages
- dimensions: 229 x 153 x 44 mm
- weight: 1.011kg
- contains: 12 b/w illus. 1 map 130 music examples
- availability: Available
Table of Contents
List of illustrations
Preface
A note on Italian prosody
Map
Introduction: the Italianness of Italian opera
Part I. The Origins of Opera:
1. The Renaissance intermedi
2. The elements of early opera
3. The beginnings of opera
4. Monteverdi's Orfeo
Part II. The Venetian Hegemony:
5. Opera in seventeenth-century Rome
6. Opera comes to Venice
7. The nature of Venetian opera
8. The development of the musical language
9. Cesti's L'Orontea
Part III. Opera Seria:
10. The dramma per musica
11. 'Perfection and public favour'
12. The performance of opera seria
13. The collapse of the Metastasian ideal
14. Opera seria in an age of ferment
15. A half-century of L'Olimpiade
Part IV. The Tragedy of Comedy:
16. The commedia dell'arte
17. Contrascene and intermezzi
18. The flowering of comic opera in Naples and Venice
19. Apogee and decline
20. Il barbiere di Siviglia: Paisiello's and Rossini's settings
Part V. Romantic Opera:
21. Italian Romanticism
22. Dramatic themes: the libretto
23. The life of the theatre
24. The musical language of Italian Romantic opera
25. Rossini in Naples
26. A franker Romanticism
27. The young Verdi
28. Bellini's Norma
Part VI. Cosmopolitanism and Decadence:
29. Italian grand opera
30. Scapigliati and bohemians
31. Verdi and Boito
32. Verismo
Personalia
Notes
Bibliography
Index.
Related Books
related journals
also by this author
Sorry, this resource is locked
Please register or sign in to request access. If you are having problems accessing these resources please email [email protected]
Register Sign in» Proceed
You are now leaving the Cambridge University Press website. Your eBook purchase and download will be completed by our partner www.ebooks.com. Please see the permission section of the www.ebooks.com catalogue page for details of the print & copy limits on our eBooks.
Continue ×Are you sure you want to delete your account?
This cannot be undone.
Thank you for your feedback which will help us improve our service.
If you requested a response, we will make sure to get back to you shortly.
×