Overview
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
