The Cambridge Companion to Eighteenth-Century Opera

The perfect accompaniment to courses on eighteenth-century opera for both students and teachers, this Companion is a definitive reference resource.

Anthony R. DelDonna (Edited by), Pierpaolo Polzonetti (Edited by)

9780521695381, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 25 June 2009

344 pages, 2 b/w illus. 15 tables 41 music examples
24.7 x 17.5 x 1.6 cm, 0.68 kg

'This Companion has succeeded in its aim to address a wide range of skills and interests. The style is always accessible … It cannot fail to leave its readers enlightened.' Musical Times

Reflecting a wide variety of approaches to eighteenth-century opera, this Companion brings together leading international experts in the field to provide a valuable reference source. Viewing opera as a complex and fascinating form of art and social ritual, rather than reducing it simply to music and text analysis, individual essays investigate aspects such as audiences, architecture of the theaters, marketing, acting style, and the politics and strategy of representing class and gender. Overall, the volume provides a synthesis of well established knowledge, reflects recent research on eighteenth-century opera, and stimulates further research. The reader is encouraged to view opera as a cultural phenomenon that can reveal aspects of our culture, both past and present. Eighteenth-century opera is experiencing continuing critical and popular success through innovative and provoking productions world-wide, and this Companion will appeal to opera goers as well as to students and teachers of this key topic.

Chronology of relevant events in eighteenth-century opera
Part I. The Making of Opera: 1. Opera as process Pierpaolo Polzonetti
2. Aria as drama James Webster
3. Ensembles and finales Caryl Clark
4. Metastasio: the dramaturgy of eighteenth-century heroic opera Francesco Cotticelli and Paologiovanni Maione
5. Roles and acting Gianni Cicali
6. Ballet Rebecca Harris-Warrick
7. Orchestra and voice in eighteenth-century Italian opera John Spitzer
8. To look again (at Don Giovanni) Alessandra Campana
Part II. National Styles and Genres: 9. Genre and form in French opera David Charlton
10. Genre and form in German opera Estelle Joubert
11. Opera in eighteenth-century England: English opera, masques, ballad operas Michael Burden
12. Opera in Naples Anthony R. DelDonna
13. Portugal and Brazil Manuel Carlos de Brito
14. Opera, genre, and context in Spain and its American colonies Louise Stein and José Máximo Leza.

Subject Areas: Opera [AVGC9], Classical music [c 1750 to c 1830 AVGC4]