The operas of Leonardo Vinci, Napoletano / Kurt Markstrom.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Markstrom, Kurt Sven, 1954-

Series:

Opera series (Pendragon Press) ; no. 2.

Opera series ; no. 2

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Vinci, Leonardo, -1730. Operas.

Vinci, Leonardo.

Opera--Italy--18th century.

Opera.

Italy.

Physical Description:

xx, 394 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Hillsdale, N.Y. : Pendragon Press, [2007]

Summary:

The Neapolitan composer Leonardo Vinci represented to posterity by two jovial caricatures and a grisly 19th-century portrait, produced a string of successful operas during a brief career of little more than a decade. He died mysteriously amid rumors of poison, and was hailed by connoisseurs of the later 18th century as one of the originators of the modern Classical style. According to Charles Burney, Vinci seems to have been the first opera composer who, without degrading his art, rendered it the friend, though not the slave to poetry, by simplifying and polishing melody and calling the audience's attention to the voice part by liberating it from fugue, complication, and labored contrivance. Further, Burney maintained that Vinci's strong commitment to poetry caused him to forge a new musical style, making him one of the most innovative and influential composers of the 18th century. It was with the ultimate poet of the dramma per musica, Pietro Metastasio, that Vinci produced his greatest worksDidone abbandonata, Siroe re di Persia, Catone in Utica, Semiramide riconosciuta, Alessandro nell'Indie, and Artaserse. After the composer's death in 1730, his mantle was taken up by his disciple Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, whose music carried the Vinci style to all corners of the world. In this comprehensive and seminal study of one the early geniuses of opera, Kurt Markstrom describes in careful and loving detail, the qualities in Vinci's work that reflected the monumental stylistic changes occurring in the early 1700s in Italy. This important volume should take its place on the shelves of all scholars and amateurs of opera.

Contents:

The early years

Vinci and the Commedia per musica

Transfer to the heroic theatre

Stampiglia's heroic comedies

The first collaborations with Metastasio

Gothick histories, political allegories and assorted scandals

Stampiglia, Metastasio and the Roman republic

The wedding at Parma

The triple collaboration with Metastasio

Death and posthumous fame.

Notes:

Originally presented as the author's dissertation (doctoral)--University of Toronto, 1993.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 349-374) and indexes.

ISBN:

1576471101

9781576471104

1576470946

9781576470947

OCLC:

71812800