The Cambridge Companion to Grand Opera

A fascinating and accessible exploration of the world of grand opera, first published in 2003.

David Charlton (Edited by)

9780521646833, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 4 September 2003

522 pages, 29 b/w illus. 20 tables 46 music examples
25.1 x 16.8 x 2.5 cm, 0.88 kg

'This is a comprehensive and extensive book. Anyone needing to study grand opera should ensure that they have it to hand. It also provides superb background reading if you want to explore the operas of Meyerbeer et al.' www.musicweb-international.com

This 2003 Companion is a fascinating and accessible exploration of the world of grand opera. Through this volume a team of scholars and writers on opera examine those important Romantic operas which embraced the Shakespearean sweep of tragedy, history, love in time of conflict, and the struggle for national self-determination. Rival nations, rival religions and violent resolutions are common elements, with various social or political groups represented in the form of operatic choruses. The book traces the origins and development of a style created during an increasingly technical age, which exploited the world-renowned skills of Parisian stage-designers, artists, and dancers as well as singers. It analyses in detail the grand operas by Rossini, Auber, Meyerbeer and Halévy, discusses grand opera in Russia and Germany, and also in the Czech lands, Italy, Britain and the Americas. The volume also includes an essay by the renowned opera director David Pountney.

1. Introduction David Charlton
Part I. The Resourcing of Grand Opera: 2. The 'machine' and the State Hervé Lacombe
3. Fictions and librettos Nicholas White
4. The spectacle of the past in grand opera Simon Williams
5. The chorus James Parakilas
6. Dance and dancers Marian Smith
7. Roles, reputations, shadows: singers at the Opéra, 1828–49 Mary Ann Smart
Part II. Revaluation and the Twenty-first Century: 8. Directing grand opera: Rienzi and Guillaume Tell at the Vienna State Opera David Pountney
Part III. Grand Operas for Paris: 9. La Muette and her context Sarah Hibberd
10. Scribe and Auber: constructing grand opera Herbert Schneider
11. Meyerbeer: Robert le Diable and Les Huguenots Matthias Brzoska
12. Meyerbeer: Le Prophète and L'Africaine John H. Roberts
13. The grand operas of Fromental Halévy Diana R. Hallman
14. From Rossini to Verdi M. Elizabeth C. Bartlett
15. After 1850 at the Paris Opéra: institution and repertory Steven Huebner
Part IV. Transformations of Grand Opera: 16. Richard Wagner and the legacy of French grand opera Thomas Grey
17. Grand opera in Russia: fragments Marina Frolova-Walker
18. Grand opera among the Czechs Jan Smaczny
19. Italian opera Fiamma Nicolodi
20. Grand opera in Britain and the Americas Sarah Hibberd.

Subject Areas: Opera [AVGC9]