Nineteenth-century opera and the scientific imagination / edited by David Trippett, Benjamin Walton.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Trippett, David, 1980- editor.

Walton, Benjamin, 1972- editor.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Opera--19th century.

Opera.

Music and science--History--19th century.

Music and science.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xv, 381 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Other Title:

19th-century opera and the scientific imagination

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2019.

Summary:

Scientific thinking has long been linked to music theory and instrument making, yet the profound and often surprising intersections between the sciences and opera during the long nineteenth century are here explored for the first time. These touch on a wide variety of topics, including vocal physiology, theories of listening and sensory communication, technologies of theatrical machinery and discourses of biological degeneration. Taken together, the chapters reveal an intertwined cultural history that extends from backstage hydraulics to drawing-room hypnotism, and from laryngoscopy to theatrical aeronautics. Situated at the intersection of opera studies and the history of science, the book therefore offers a novel and illuminating set of case studies, of a kind that will appeal to historians of both science and opera, and of European culture more generally from the French Revolution to the end of the Victorian period.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 09 Aug 2019).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781108660532

1108660533

9781316275863

1316275868

9781316996997

1316996999