Bringing opera to life : operatic acting and stage direction / Boris Goldovsky.
| Author/creator | Goldovsky, Boris |
| Format | Book |
| Publication Info | Englewood Cliffs, NJ : Prentice-Hall, Inc., ©1968. |
| Description | x, 424 pages : illustrations, music ; 24 cm |
| Subjects |
| Contents | The language of the theater. The singer as actor ; Making the mechanics of performing automatic ; Thinking in character ; Developing the character ; La traviata, Act II: scene between Violetta and Father Germont ; Making thoughts and emotions visible ; Dramatic expressiveness ; Techniques of the proscenium stage -- The language of music. Energy and mood ; Informative devices ; Musical timing -- The motivations of operatic characters. Reasons and urges ; The influence of music ; Motogenic ideas ; Repeated words and sentences ; Analysis of motivations in two operatic scenes ; Motivations and movement patterns -- Operatic pantomimes. Cavalleria Rusticana: pantomime for Santuzza's entrance ; Don Carlo: pantomime preceding the aria "Ella giammai m'amo" ; The Abduction from the Seraglio: pantomime preceding the aria "Marten aller arten" ; The Telephone: Ben's pantomime during Lucy's first aria ; Don Giovanni: Donna Elvira's pantomime during Leporello's catalog aria -- The singing actor. Enunciating the text ; Vocal disguises ; Aria stagings -- The Barber of Seville, Act I: Rosina's cavatina "Una voce poco fa" ; Carmen, Act III: the card song ; Rigoletto, Act II: scene and aria "Ella mi fu rapita" ; The Masked Ball, Act II: Renato's recitative and aria "Eri tu" ; Don Giovanni: Leporello's catalog aria -- Achieving musical accuracy. What causes musical mistakes ; Musical beats, signals, and landmarks ; Problems of timing and intonation ; Secco recitatives ; Problems involving tempo changes ; Harmless tempo changes ; Tempo changes which require adjustments ; Difficult tempo changes ; The realities of an operatic career -- Operatic stage direction. The role of the stage director ; How a stage composition is developed ; The marriage of Figaro, Act II: the countess' cavatina -- Vocal ensembles and choral scenes. Different types of ensembles ; Scenes with soloists and a chorus ; Large choral scenes -- Various problems of staging opera. Orchestral introductions ; Achieving variety in actions, groupings, and stage positions ; When music and drama seem mismatched ; Dance sequences ; Asides and mistaken identities -- Imaginative staging. Elaborations ; Transpositions ; Extensions -- Appendix A: Opera in English ; Appendix B: Reconstructing an operatic plot: an essay in dramatic research ; Appendix C: Operas and background texts ; Operas: alphabetical listing ; Operas: chronological listing by composers' date of birth. |
| Abstract | Based upon the author's many years of professional directing and teaching, this book is designed primarily for persons planning operatic careers either as singers or as directors of operatic productions. It stresses the interdependence of drama and music and discusses opera from the viewpoints of the singer, the stage director, and the intelligent listener. As the author points out: 'The skills analyzed in Bringing Opera to Life are more than practical. What composers and playwrights actually create is not the work of art itself, but only a symbolic blueprint, a recipe for bringing it to life. The creations of painters and sculptors stand alone; no one else is needed to complete them. But librettists and composers need conductors, instrumentalists, and scenic designers. And most of all they need singing actors and stage directors. In a very real sense these performing artists become the author's actual partners. It is this feeling of artistic collaboration that gives the professions of the operatic singer and the stage director their intoxicating aura.' Included in the work are detailed discussions of scenes from many of the major operas, reflecting the particular responsibilities of the stage director in working with opera, and the singer's role in presenting a convincingly dramatic as well as musical production. There are over 100 diagrams to illustrate the placement and movement of singers in specific operatic scenes, and over 150 musical examples to further clarify the problems of bringing opera to life. |
| General note | Includes index. |
| Bibliography note | "Bibliography of background texts": pages 414-420. |
| ISBN | 9780130831057 |
| ISBN | 0130831050 |
Availability
| Library | Location | Call Number | Status | Item Actions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Music | Closed Stacks - Ask at Circulation Desk | ML1700.G65 B7 1968 | ✔ Available | Place Hold |