The Musical Language of Italian Opera, 1813-1859 / William Rothstein

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Rothstein, William, author.

Series:

Oxford Academic

Oxford scholarship online

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Theory, Analysis, and Composition--Opera.

Theory, Analysis, and Composition.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (601 pages)

Edition:

First Edition

Place of Publication:

New York, NY Oxford University Press 2023

Summary:

Opera comprises words, action, and music, but music is central. This book examines operatic music by five Italian composers-Rossini, Bellini, Mercadante, Donizetti, and Verdi-and one non-Italian, Meyerbeer, during the period from Rossini's first international successes to Italian unification. Detailed analyses of form, rhythm, melody, and harmony reveal concepts of musical structure different from those usually discussed by music theorists, calling into question the notion of a common practice. An eclectic analytical approach is taken, using ideas originating in several centuries, from the sixteenth to the twenty-first. Music is analyzed at the level of the movement, the operatic number, the act, and the opera. Although no single theory accounts for all of the music examined, certain recurring principles define a distinctively Italian practice, one that left its mark on the German repertoire more familiar to music theorists.

Contents:

Contents: Preface - Acknowledgments - Introduction: What Is There to Analyze? - PART I:LA VIA ITALIANA 9 - 1. The Anvil Chorus - 2. Theoretical Contexts I: Nineteenth-Century Theory - 3. Theoretical Contexts II: Schenker and Riemann - 4. Rhythm and Meter - 5. Musical Form - PART II:ROSSINI 185 - 6. Rossini's Mediants - 7. Tonal Coherence in Rossini's Italian Operas - 8. Guillaume Tell - PART III:BETWEEN ROSSINI AND VERDI 289 - 9. Bellini and the New Diatonicism - 10. Meyerbeer and the New Chromaticism - 11. Around 1840: Mercadante and Donizetti - PART IV:VERDI'S SEDICI ANNI 403 - 12. Ernani to Attila (1844-1846) - 13. Rigoletto and Il trovatore (1851-1853) - 14. Les vêpres siciliennes to Un ballo in maschera (1854-1859) - Afterword: Verdi and his Predecessors - Selected Bibliography - Index of Names and Works - General Index

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Format:

Print version: Rothstein, William The Musical Language of Italian Opera, 1813-1859

ISBN:

0-19-760971-6

0-19-760970-8

0-19-760969-4

OCLC:

1348492837