Dance and drama in French baroque opera : a history / Rebecca Harris-Warrick.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Harris-Warrick, Rebecca, author.

Series:

Cambridge studies in opera

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Lully, Jean-Baptiste, 1632-1687. Operas.

Lully, Jean-Baptiste.

Operas (Lully, Jean-Baptiste).

Dance in opera--History--17th century.

Dance in opera.

Dance in opera--History--18th century.

Opera--Dramaturgy.

Opera.

Opera--France--17th century.

Opera--France--18th century.

History.

France.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

xx, 484 pages ; 26 cm.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, United Kingdom : Cambridge University Press, 2016.

Summary:

Since its inception, French opera has embraced dance, yet all too often operatic dancing is treated as mere decoration. This book exposes the multiple and meaningful roles that dance has played, starting from Jean-Baptiste Lully's first opera in 1672. It counters prevailing notions in operatic historiography that dance was parenthetical and presents compelling evidence that the divertissement is essential to understanding the work. The book considers the operas of Lully and the 46-year period between the death of Lully and the arrival of Rameau, when influences from the commedia dell'arte and other theatres began to inflect French operatic practices. It explores the intersections of musical, textual, choreographic and staging practices at a complex institution - the Academie Royale de Musique - which upheld as a fundamental aesthetic principle the integration of dance into opera.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781107137899

1107137896

OCLC:

946968074