The Gilded Stage: A Social History of Opera - Couverture rigide

Snowman, Daniel

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 1843544660 ISBN 13 : 9781843544661

Editeur : Atlantic Books, 2009

Synopsis

From opera's beginnings in the courts of northern Italy, to its spread across Europe and the world, The Gilded Stage explores the world of opera houses and impresarios, monarchs and money makers, artists and audiences. On this operatic Grand Tour, Daniel Snowman leads us through Renaissance Florence and Mantua, the Paris of Louis XIV, Handel's London and the Vienna of the Emperor Joseph II and Mozart. By the nineteenth century, opera was no longer a European monopoly and Daniel Snowman follows Mozart's librettist and Rossini's first Count Almaviva to New York and beyond, catching glimpses of performances alongside the bravado and bawdiness of the American and Australian frontiers, where Gold Rush millionaires flaunted their flamboyant claims to high culture. Towards the end of the century a WASP patron of New York's Metropolitan Opera could watch a French work sung by a Czech, Polish and Italian cast led by a German conductor. Twenty years later, Caruso sang Puccini in Havana and Toscanini performed Wagner in Buenos Aires. Neverthless, even Caruso and Toscanini could scarcely have imagined the global reach of opera in our own times. More opera is performed, financed, seen, heard, filmed and broadcast than ever before, and the world's leading performers are worshipped and paid like pop stars. Yet the art form is widely derided as 'elitist' and parts of the classical recording business appear close to bankruptcy. However, as Daniel Snowman reveals , the world of opera has always known crisis and uncertainty - and the resulting struggles have often proved every bit as dramatic as those portrayed onstage.

A propos du livre

À propos de l'auteur

Daniel Snowman was born in London. A Lecturer at Sussex University in his twenties, he went on to work at the BBC where he was responsible for a wide variety of radio series on cultural and historical topics. A long-time member of the London Philharmonic Choir, and currently a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Historical Research (University of London), his books include critical portraits of the Amadeus Quartet and Plácido Domingo and, more recently, Historians and a study of the cultural impact of The Hitler Emigrés.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Atlantic Books
• Date d'édition: 2009
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 1843544660
• ISBN 13: 9781843544661
• Reliure: Relié
• Nombre de pages: 496
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
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