Monstrous Opera : Rameau and the Tragic Tradition / Charles Dill.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Dill, Charles, author.

Series:

Princeton studies in opera.

Princeton Studies in Opera ; 26

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Tragedy in music.

Opera--France--18th century.

Opera.

Rameau, Jean-Philippe, 1683-1764. Operas.

Genre:

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (220 p.)

Edition:

Course Book

Place of Publication:

Princeton, NJ : Princeton University Press, [2014]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

One of the foremost composers of the French Baroque operatic tradition, Rameau is often cited for his struggle to steer lyric tragedy away from its strict Lullian form, inspired by spoken tragedy, and toward a more expressive musical style. In this fresh exploration of Rameau's compositional aesthetic, Charles Dill depicts a much more complicated figure: one obsessed with tradition, music theory, his own creative instincts, and the public's expectations of his music. Dill examines the ways Rameau mediated among these often competing values and how he interacted with his critics and with the public. The result is a sophisticated rethinking of Rameau as a musical innovator.In his compositions, Rameau tried to highlight music's potential for dramatic meanings. But his listeners, who understood lyric tragedy to be a poetic rather than musical genre, were generally frustrated by these attempts. In fact, some described Rameau's music as monstrous--using an image of deformity to represent the failure of reason and communication. Dill shows how Rameau answered his critics with rational, theoretical arguments about the role of music in lyric tragedy. At the same time, however, the composer sought to placate his audiences by substantially revising his musical texts in later performances, sometimes abandoning his most creative ideas.Monstrous Opera illuminates the complexity of Rameau's vision, revealing not only the tensions within the music but also the conflicting desires that drove the man--himself caricatured by his contemporaries as a monster.Originally published in 1998.The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Preface

Abbreviations

Chapter 1. Monstrous Opera

Chapter 2. Different Tragedies

Chapter 3. Rameau's Twins

Chapter 4. Rameau Mise-en-Scène

Chapter 5. In the Mirror

Notes

Sources Cited

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [183]-193) and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 08. Jul 2019)

ISBN:

9780691633336

0691633339

9780691604145

0691604142

9781400864812

140086481X

OCLC:

884012786