Opera: Passion, Power And Politics

Author: Kate Bailey (Editor); Kasper Holton (Introduction by)

Stock information

General Fields

  • : $75.00 AUD
  • : 9781851779284
  • : V&A Publishing
  • : V & A Publishing
  • :
  • : 1.96859
  • : September 2017
  • : 310mm X 240mm
  • : United Kingdom
  • : 74.99
  • : November 2017
  • :
  • :
  • : books

Special Fields

  • :
  • :
  • : Kate Bailey (Editor); Kasper Holton (Introduction by)
  • :
  • : Hardback
  • : 1117
  • :
  • : English
  • : 782.1
  • : 304
  • :
  • : 260 col
  • :
  • :
  • :
  • :
  • :
  • :
Barcode 9781851779284
9781851779284

Description

Opera is traditionally regarded as an elitist art form, far removed from reality with its fantastical plots and melodramatic divas. This lush new book shows that beneath all the opulent sets and sumptuous costumes, opera--like all the arts--draws on essential human emotions, creating an experience that can be endlessly reinvented to reflect changes in society. Through the lens of seven opera premieres in seven cities across the past 400 years, the authors look at snapshots in time where politics, art, and social history intersected, providing an immersive account of the society from which these pieces and performances evolved. Noted opera designers, performers, conductors, singers, and directors come together with musicologists and historians to discuss the following premieres:

- Venice, Monteverdi's L'Incoronazione di Poppea (1642)
- London, Handel's Rinaldo (1711)
- Vienna, Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro (1786)
- Milan, Verdi's Nabucco (1842)
- Paris, Wagner's Tannhauser (1861)
- Dresden, Strauss' Salome (1905)
- St Petersburg, Shostakovitch's Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District (1934)

This book will fascinate seasoned opera goers and history buffs alike.

Author description

Kate Bailey is Senior Curator of Design and Scenography in the Theatre and Performance department at the V&A.

Table of contents

Introduction, Kasper Holton; 1. Venice - introduced by Danielle de Niese, The Triumph of Poppea; Virtue, Vice, and Song in the Venetian Republic, Wendy Heller; 2. London - introduced by Robert Carsen, London: World City - Handel and Rinaldo, Daniel Snowman; 3. Vienna - introduced by Sir Antonio Pappano, Vienna and the Enlightenment, Nicholas Till; 4. Milan - introduced by Placido Domingo, Verdi and Milan: From Nabucco to Nabucco, Roger Parker; 5. Paris - introduced by Michael Levine, Wagner among the boulevards, Tannhauser in Paris, Flora Wilson; 6. Dresden, introduced by Simone Young, Visions of Women, Kate Bailey; 7. Leningrad - introduced by Graham Vick, Heroine, Victim or Criminal? Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District, Elizabeth Wilson