The strange career of Porgy and Bess : race, culture, and America's most famous opera / Ellen Noonan.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Noonan, Ellen, 1966-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Music and race.

Race in opera.

African Americans in popular culture--20th century.

African Americans in popular culture.

Charleston (S.C.)--Race relations.

Charleston (S.C.).

Gershwin, George, 1898-1937. Porgy and Bess.

Gershwin, George.

Heyward, DuBose, 1885-1940. Porgy and Bess.

Heyward, DuBose.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (440 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Chapel Hill : University of North Carolina Press, 2012.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Created by George Gershwin and DuBose Heyward and sung by generations of black performers, Porgy and Bess has been both embraced and reviled since its debut in 1935. In this comprehensive account, Ellen Noonan examines the opera's long history of invention and reinvention as a barometer of twentieth-century American expectations about race, culture, and the struggle for equality. In its surprising endurance lies a myriad of local, national, and international stories.For black performers and commentators, Porgy and Bess was a nexus for debates about cultural representation and

Contents:

A romance of Negro life : Porgy, 1925

Interlude : Charleston, 1680-1900

A chocolate-covered lithograph strip : Porgy, 1927

Interlude : Charleston, 1920 -1940

Gershwin's idea of what a Negro opera should be : Porgy and Bess, 1935

Neither the measure of America nor that of the Negro : Porgy and Bess, 1952-1956

Interlude : Charleston, 1940-1960

Forget any version you may have seen before : Porgy and Bess, 1959-2012

Epilogue : Charleston, 1970-2005.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

979-88-9313-181-9

979-88-908788-6-1

1-4696-0025-0

0-8078-3733-4

OCLC:

819070474