Opera Acts
Singers and Performance in the Late Nineteenth Century

Karen Henson explores a wealth of new historical material about singers and opera performance in the late nineteenth century.

Karen Henson (Author)

9781107004269, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 15 January 2015

282 pages, 17 b/w illus. 44 music examples
25.3 x 18 x 1.7 cm, 0.72 kg

'Karen Henson upsets conventional wisdom to argue for the continuing influence of singers on operatic creation in the late nineteenth century. Weaving together journalism, photography, theater, and fashion, she shows that the physicality of performers as much as their voices shaped works by Verdi, Bizet, Massenet, and Wagner. This is a virtuosic account of opera's rich cultural fabric - beautifully written, always engaging.' Steven Huebner, McGill University, Montréal

Opera Acts explores a wealth of new historical material about singers in the late nineteenth century and challenges the idea that this was a period of decline for the opera singer. In detailed case studies of four figures - the late Verdi baritone Victor Maurel; Bizet's first Carmen, Célestine Galli-Marié; Massenet's muse of the 1880s and 1890s, Sibyl Sanderson; and the early Wagner star Jean de Reszke - Karen Henson argues that singers in the late nineteenth century continued to be important, but in ways that were not conventionally 'vocal'. Instead they enjoyed a freedom and creativity based on their ability to express text, act and communicate physically, and exploit the era's media. By these and other means, singers played a crucial role in the creation of opera up to the end of the nineteenth century.

Introduction: on not singing and singing physiognomically
1. Verdi, Victor Maurel, and the operatic interpreter
2. Real mezzo: Célestine Galli-Marié as Carmen
3. Photographic diva: Massenet, Sibyl Sanderson, and the soprano as spectacle
4. Jean de Reszke, the 'problem' of the tenor, and early international Wagner performance
Supporting cast.

Subject Areas: Opera [AVGC9], Romantic music [c 1830 to c 1900 AVGC5], Music [AV]