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The Cambridge companion to opera studies / edited by Nicholas Till.

Contributor(s): Till, Nicholas, 1955-.
Material type: materialTypeLabelBookSeries: Cambridge companions to music: Publisher: Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2012Description: xi, 351 pages ; 26 cm.Content type: text Media type: unmediated Carrier type: volumeISBN: 9780521855617 (hardback) ; 9780521671699 (ppaperback).Subject(s): OperaDDC classification: 782.1
Contents:
Opera, the state and society / Thomas Ertman -- The business of opera / Nicholas Payne -- The operatic event: opera houses and opera audiences / Nicholas Till -- 'Too much music': the media of opera / Christopher Morris -- Voices and singers / Susan Rutherford -- Opera and modes of theatrical production / Simon Williams -- Opera and the technologies of theatrical production / Nicholas Ridout -- The dramaturgy of opera / Laurel E. Zeiss -- Genre and poetics / Alessandra Campana -- The operatic work: texts, performances, receptions and repertories / Nicholas Till -- Opera and gender studies / Heather Hadlock -- Opera and national identity / Suzanne Aspden -- 'An exotic and irrational entertainment': opera and our others; opera as other / Nicholas Till.
Holdings
Item type Current library Call number Copy number Status Barcode
General lending MTU Cork School of Music Library Lending 782.1 (Browse shelf(Opens below)) 1 Available 00167015
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

With its powerful combination of music and theatre, opera is one of the most complex and yet immediate of all art forms. Once opera was studied only as 'a stepchild of musicology', but in the past two decades opera studies have experienced an explosion of energy with the introduction of new approaches drawn from disciplines such as social anthropology and performance studies to media theory, genre theory, gender studies and reception history. Written by leading scholars in opera studies today, this Companion offers a wide-ranging guide to a rapidly expanding field of study and new ways of thinking about a rich and intriguing art form, placing opera back at the centre of our understanding of Western culture over the past 400 years. This book gives lovers of opera as well as those studying the subject a comprehensive approach to the many facets of opera in the past and today.

This book gives lovers of opera as well as those studying the subject a comprehensive approach to the many facets of opera in the past and today.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Opera, the state and society / Thomas Ertman -- The business of opera / Nicholas Payne -- The operatic event: opera houses and opera audiences / Nicholas Till -- 'Too much music': the media of opera / Christopher Morris -- Voices and singers / Susan Rutherford -- Opera and modes of theatrical production / Simon Williams -- Opera and the technologies of theatrical production / Nicholas Ridout -- The dramaturgy of opera / Laurel E. Zeiss -- Genre and poetics / Alessandra Campana -- The operatic work: texts, performances, receptions and repertories / Nicholas Till -- Opera and gender studies / Heather Hadlock -- Opera and national identity / Suzanne Aspden -- 'An exotic and irrational entertainment': opera and our others; opera as other / Nicholas Till.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

This is a collection of essays on the multifaceted aspects of opera. Till (Univ. of Sussex, UK) has written a fine introduction on contemporary opera studies and has also contributed 3 of the 13 essays. The remaining ten essays are all by leading British and American scholars of opera, drama, and/or musicology. Opera studies has only recently become an academic discipline because of its generic combination of theater and music. It is inherently interdisciplinary, which necessitates a wide range of critical approaches; these include looking at the social and historical content of the work and performance practices, and the institutions that sustain them. The essays deal with such varied topics as politics, the state, and society; gender, nationalism, and exoticism; and technologies of theatrical productions, including the movie and live streaming on the Internet. In his essay, Nicholas Payne candidly reminds the reader that opera has never been a business whose reason for existence is to make a profit. It has always required support from the state and/or generous patrons, but it has survived difficult times in the past, and one hopes it will be able to adapt sufficiently to survive as a unique art form in the 21st century. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty; general readers. R. Pitts McLennan Community College