Dissonance in the republic of letters : the querelle des Gluckistes et des Piccinnistes / Mark Darlow.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Darlow, Mark.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Gluck, Christoph Willibald, Ritter von, 1714-1787--Criticism and interpretation.

Gluck, Christoph Willibald.

Piccinni, Niccolò, 1728-1800--Criticism and interpretation.

Piccinni, Niccolò.

Piccinni, Niccolò, 1728-1800.

Gluck, Christoph Willibald, Ritter von, 1714-1787.

Opera--France--Paris--18th century.

Opera.

Music--Social aspects--France--Paris--History--18th century.

Music.

Music--Social aspects.

History.

Criticism and interpretation.

France--Paris.

Physical Description:

229 pages : illustrations ; 26 cm

Place of Publication:

London : Modern Humanities Research Association and Maney Pub., 2013.

Summary:

Eighteenth-century French cultural life was often characterised by quarrels, and the arrival of Viennese composer Christoph Willibald Gluck in Paris in 1774 was no exception, sparking a five-year pamphlet and press controversy which featured a rival Neapolitan composer, Niccolò Piccinni. However, as Darlow shows, the Gluck-Piccinni controversy was about far more than which composer was better suited to lead French operatic reform. A consideration of cultural politics in 1770s Paris shows that a range of issues were at stake: court versus urban taste as the proper judge of music, whether amateurs or specialists should have the right to speak of opera, whether the epic or the tragic mode is more suited for drama reform, and even: why should the public argue about opera at all? Book jacket.

Contents:

Opera reform on the eve of Gluck's arrival

From Iphigénie en Aulide to Orphée : a court-sponsored reform?

Simplicity without primitivism

Talking about opera

Resolution?.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [197]-208) and index.

ISBN:

9781907975547

1907975543

OCLC:

775416341