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More copies of this ISBN:This title in other formats:Divas and Scholars: Performing Italian Operaby Philip Gossett
Synopses & ReviewsPublisher Comments:Winner of the 2007 Otto Kinkeldey Award from the American Musicological Society and the 2007 Deems Taylor Award from the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers.
Divas and Scholars is a dazzling and beguiling account of how opera comes to the stage, filled with Philip Gossetts personal experiences of triumphantand even failedperformances and suffused with his towering and tonic passion for music. Writing as a fan, a musician, and a scholar, Gossett, the world's leading authority on the performance of Italian opera, brings colorfully to life the problems, and occasionally the scandals, that attend the production of some of our most favorite operas. Gossett begins by tracing the social history of nineteenth-century Italian theaters in order to explain the nature of the musical scores from which performers have long worked. He then illuminates the often hidden but crucial negotiations opera scholars and opera conductors and performers: What does it mean to talk about performing from a critical edition? How does one determine what music to perform when multiple versions of an opera exist? What are the implications of omitting passages from an opera in a performance? In addition to vexing questions such as these, Gossett also tackles issues of ornamentation and transposition in vocal style, the matters of translation and adaptation, and even aspects of stage direction and set design. Throughout this extensive and passionate work, Gossett enlivens his history with reports from his own experiences with major opera companies at venues ranging from the Metropolitan and Santa Fe operas to the Rossini Opera Festival at Pesaro. The result is a book that will enthrall both aficionados of Italian opera and newcomers seeking a reliable introduction to itin all its incomparable grandeur and timeless allure. Review:"Thanks to the authors immense erudition concerning all aspects of 19th-century opera, his book provides a wealth of information not readily available elsewhere. . . . The authors relaxed, chatty style . . . makes for entertaining reading." Review:"Philip Gossett has made a tremendous contribution to the performance practice of Italian operatic repertoire from Bel Canto to Verdi. His research and dedication to the task have enabled him to provide us, the performers, with a depth and breadth of knowledge about how to approach the specific stylistic challenges of this music. In addition to his scholarly integrity, he is also a fine musician who can implement his own research by creating appropriate ornamentation for singers. I would never dream of approaching this repertoire without first consulting and coaching with him. Fortunately, this book provides a reference so now all musicians can benefit from his work." Review:"This enthralling and important book offers vital reading for anyone with a serious interest in opera. Its author, Philip Gossett, describes himself as a fan, a musician, and a scholar. . . . This volume is his lifes work. Written with unfailing clarity and waspish wit, it charts the musical problems, both theoretical and practical, presented by the autograph manuscripts, printed scores, and performances of this great corpus."-Rupert Christiansen, Spectator Review:"This is the book that is indispensable for opera performers, scholars, and lovers. I am thrilled to have mine."-Marilyn Horne Review:"To my knowledge, there is no other book like it. No one else has treated an important genre of half a century in its social and political setting, its stylistic development, together with a detailed history of dissemination and performance over a century and a half. . . . All of this is accomplished by a prose style sensible, often original, provocative, learned, technical but lucid, and always entertaining-and, most remarkably, in only 603 succinct pages. . . . Gossett shows a tolerance and a largeness of spirit rare in those scholars who have so much passion." -Charles Rosen, New York Review of Books Review:"Philip Gossett is a superb scholar, but he is also a true man of the theater."-G. W. Bowersock, New Republic Review:"I knew Philip Gossett was a great scholar. Now I find out that he is also a tremendous storyteller. Divas and Scholars is not only erudite: it's as entertaining and charming as a novel. Singers, conductors, directors, musicologists, real or ideal characters are portrayed here with the right irony (and self-irony). And what a mine of information: for a professional musician such as myself, part two of this book (Performing the Opera) was a welcome benefit, an indispensable guidebook. In my youth I was a pupil of and assistant to Tullio Serafin. Now in my later years I've found in Philip Gossett my prophet."-Bruno Bartoletti About the AuthorPhilip Gossett is the Robert W. Reneker Distinguished Service Professor in Music and the College at the University of Chicago. He is the general editor of The Works of Giuseppe Verdi, published by the University of Chicago Press and Casa Ricordi, and The Works of Gioachino Rossini. In 2004 he received one of four lifetime achievement awards given by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and in 1998 he received the Cavaliere di Gran Croce, the highest civilian award given by the Italian government. Table of ContentsPreface PROLOGUE 1. Mare o monti: Two Summer Festivals PART I - KNOWING THE SCORE 2. Setting the Stage 3. Transmission versus Tradition 4. Scandal and Scholarship 5. The Romance of the Critical Edition INTERMEZZO 6. Scholars and Performers: The Case of Semiramide PART II - PERFORMING THE OPERA 7. Choosing a Version 8. Serafin’s Scissors 9. Ornamenting Rossini 10. Higher and Lower: Transposing Bellini and Donizetti 11. Words and Music: Texts and Translations 12. Instruments Old and New 13. From the Score to the Stage CODA 14. Two Kings Head North: Italian Opera in Scandinavia Notes Glossary Bibliography Index to Operas and Performances General Index What Our Readers Are SayingBe the first to add a comment for a chance to win!Product Details
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