The rise of opera / Robert Donington.
| Author/creator | Donington, Robert |
| Format | Book |
| Publication Info | New York : Charles Scribner's Sons, ©1981. |
| Description | 399 pages, 16 pages of plates : illustrations, music ; 26 cm |
| Subjects |
| Contents | Part one: The approach to opera. 1. Defining opera. Drama as the essence of opera ; A totality of staged words and music -- 2. The philosophical ingredient. The long arm of neoplatonism ; The start of renaissance neoplatonism ; Ficino's platonic inwardness -- 3. The poetical ingredient. Neoplatonic poetry in Italy ; Pastoral drama ; Allegory and symbolism -- 4. The musical ingredient. Music and drama ; Modulation and monody -- 5. The threshold. Neoplatonic spectacles in Italy ; A union of the arts in France ; Circe: a French court ballet ; Conti's contemporary explanation ; Bardi's Florentine interludes -- 6. The reciting style. Declamation the central problem ; Sound and sense in poetry ; Poetry in music ; Groups and personalities at Florence ; The start of the reciting style ; Varieties of the reciting style -- 7. The modern style. The reciting style as modern style ; The second practice ; The emulating style ; A blend of styles in early opera -- Part two: The achievement of opera. 8. Across the threshold. Three pastorals near to opera ; Dafne: the earliest opera ; Cavalieri's contribution ; Peri's achievement ; Caccini's exaggerated claims ; Doni's balanced summary -- 9. Opera achieved. The structure of Dafne ; The story of Dafne ; The neoplatonic images -- 10. Opera comes into fashion. Borderline opera ; The genre arrives ; A Florentine wedding ; Opera thereafter taken for granted -- 11. Monteverdi and his 'Orfeo'. From Florence to Mantua ; An opening toccata ; A neoplatonic personification ; Act I: a pastoral idyll ; A dramatic irony ; Act II: sudden catastrophe ; The mythology of snakes ; Act III: the descent ; Act IV: the underworld ; The prohibition disobeyed ; Act V: immortality ; The neoplatonic ending -- 12. Consolidation. The human touch ; Neoplatonic opera in decline ; Initiatives outside Italy -- 13. Rome and Venice. Rome and Venice compared ; Roman spectacle ; Neoplatonism again ; Roman opera falls back ; Venetian opera takes up ; Popular opera at Venice -- 14. Monteverdi at Venice. Monteverdi's later output ; Gods and men ; The familiar Homeric scenario unfolds ; Monteverdi's last opera ; What happens to the history ; The fairy-tale beneath the history -- Part three: The broadening of opera. 15. The Venetian succession. The end of the beginning ; Cavalli as successor ; A pioneering opera of intrigue ; Relaxing the craftsmanship ; Comedy and pathos ; Symptoms of transition -- 16. The Italian sequel. Italian opera on the change ; Mid-baroque opera ; Chamber cantata in advance of opera ; Transition accelerates -- 17. The approach to French opera: French court ballet ; The Italian influence ; The anti-Italian reaction -- 18. The rise of French opera. Two failed attempts ; Lully successful ; Lully and Quinault ; The French Academy ; The French convention -- 19. Love and glory. A chivalric fantasy ; A dark forest of misunderstanding ; A dark prison of the spirit ; The answering glow -- Appendix. Opera and the calendar. |
| Abstract | This book chronicles the beginnings of opera, examining why opera arose when it did with a focus on the traditions of poetry in the late Italian renaissance. The author gives attention to Monteverdi and Italian opera before discussing the rise of French opera and Lully. |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliography (pages 345-361) and index. |
| LCCN | 81050730 |
| ISBN | 0684171651 : |
| ISBN | 9780684171654 |