Opera Acts: Singers And Performance In The Late Nineteenth Century (Cambridge Studies In Opera)

Opera Acts explores a wealth of new historical material about singers in the late nineteenth century and challenges the idea that this was a period of decline for the opera singer. In detailed case studies of four figures - the late Verdi baritone Victor Maurel; Bizet's first Carmen, Célestine Galli-Marié; Massenet's muse of the 1880s and '90s, Sibyl Sanderson; and the early Wagner star Jean de Reszke - Karen Henson argues that singers in the late nineteenth century continued to be important, but in ways that were not conventionally "vocal". Instead they enjoyed a freedom and creativity based on their ability to express text, act and communicate physically, and exploit the era's media. By these and other means, singers played a crucial role in the creation of opera up to the end of the nineteenth century.

• | Author: Karen Henson
• | Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• | Publication Date: Feb 21, 2019
• | Number of Pages: 280 pages
• | Language: English
• | Binding: Paperback
• | ISBN-10: 1108723349
• | ISBN-13: 9781108723343