Handel's Operas, 1704-1726 - Couverture souple

Dean, Winton

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 0198164416 ISBN 13 : 9780198164418

Editeur : Clarendon Press, 1995

Synopsis

After two centuries of near total neglect, Handel's operas - nearly forty of them - are becoming increasingly popular in the theatre. However, despite tremendous advances in musicological research in recent years, there is still nothing approaching a reliable edition of the operas, and modern productions are still hampered by dependence on obsolete and inaccurate editions, and by ignorance of the musical and theatrical practice of Handel's age. This work takes the story as far as the spring of 1726, when the Italian singer Faustina Bordoni arrived in London, and covers Handel's first seventeen surviving operas including many of the greatest and most successful. Each opera has a chapter to itself which includes: a full synopsis of the Libretto (including the original stage directions); comparison between the Libretto and its literary and dramatic sources; a discussion of the music with special emphasis on its dramatic power; and a history of the opera in performance General chapters deal with the "Opera Seria" convention and Handel's treatment of it; the operatic background in the three countries where he worked; the operas of his contemporaries and rivals; audiences and performance practice; and other related matters. Eight appendices list all performances in Handel's time (with location of librettos), borrowings, modern revivals, new information on his singers, and a complete index of Italian first lines in all Handel's works. The book is intended for Handelians, students and scholars of music, opera, and theatre in the eighteenth century.

A propos du livre

Présentation de l'éditeur

This first of the classic two-volume survey of Handel's operas was first published in 1987 and reissued in a revised paperback edition in 1995. Now it is brought back into print in a year which has seen numerous productions and recordings of the operas and which marks the 250th anniversary of Handel's death. Their revival in the modern theatre - not a single opera was staged or performed anywhere between 1754 and 1920 - has been among the most remarkable phenomena in the history of the art, and is due in no small measure to the painstaking research of Dean and Knapp in volume one, and Dean himself in volume two, published by Boydell in 2006. This first volume devotes a chapter to each of Handel's first seventeen operas, offering a full synopsis and study of the libretto, extensive discussions of the music, a performance history, and a comparison of the different versions of the opera. In addition there are several general chapters on the historical and stylistic context of Handel's operatic career to 1726, and a number of Appendices including a list of performances during Handel's life and the location of librettos, Handel's borrowings, Handel's singers, and modern stage productions up to the end of 1993.

Revue de presse

One of the great monuments of musical scholarship of our day - a mine of information lucidly delved, sharply stimulating...a pleasure to read for its crisply expressed, infinitely discerning and above all loving responses to the works themselves. --Financial Times

This volume is a monument to the source-critical method. It is a rigorous investigation of the bewilderingly abundant musical and literary sources of each opera, and its most lasting influence will be on future editions of Handel's music. --Early Music

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Clarendon Press
• Date d'édition: 1995
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 0198164416
• ISBN 13: 9780198164418
• Reliure: Broché
• Numéro d'édition: 2
• Nombre de pages: 810
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible