C.W. von Gluck, Orfeo / compiled by Patricia Howard.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Howard, Patricia.

Series:

Cambridge opera handbooks

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Gluck, Christoph Willibald, Ritter von, 1714-1787. Orfeo ed Euridice.

Gluck, Christoph Willibald.

Physical Description:

ix, 143 pages : illustrations, music ; 22 cm.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 1981.

Summary:

This book explains how and why Gluck's historically important and best-loved opera Orfeo came into existence, and shows why it has retained its popularity. The work is placed in its context of Gluck's 'reform of opera.' an artistic movement involving actors, dancers, designers, writers and philosophers, as well as musicians and librettists. Patrieia Howard and her fellow contributors describe how the opera has been reinterpreted during the two hundred years between its first performance and the present day. Differing twentieth-century views based on practical experience of the work are put forward by the conductors John Eliot Gardiner and Sir Charles Mackerras, the singer Kevin Smith and the English National Opera music consultant Tom Hammond.

Contents:

1 The Orpheus myth in operatic history / compiled by Eve Barsham 1

2 The libretto / Patricia Howard 10

The grand coincidence of the reform 10

Calzabigi and Metastasio 17

Calzabigi and Gluck 22

3 Synopsis / Patricia Howard 27

4 'The most moving act in all opera' / Patricia Howard 40

5 The initial impact 53

First performance: documentary / Hans Heimler 53

First performance: speculation / Patricia Howard 56

The diffusion through Europe / Eve Barsham 60

Orpheus in England / Eve Barsham 62

6 From Orfeo to Orphee / Patricia Howard 67

From revolutionary to conservative 67

Gluck at the Academie Royale 69

A comparison of the scores 74

7 The opera in the nineteenth century 84

Berlioz and Gluck / Eve Barsham 84

After Berlioz / Patricia Howard 97

8 The opera in the twentieth century 99

Berlioz: the best of both worlds / Sir Charles Mackerras 99

Orphee et Euridice: Gluck's final solution / Tom Hammond 105

A note on the aria di bravura 'L'espoir renait dans mon ame' / Tom Hammond 109

Hands off Orfeo! / John Eliot Gardiner 112

Gluck and the Wagner family / Patricia Howard 119

The Orfeo show / Kevin Smith 121

9 Table of numbers / Eve Barsham 127.

Notes:

Bibliography: pages 135-136.

Discography: pages 137-139.

Includes index.

ISBN:

0521228271

0521296641

OCLC:

7838886