1 option
Inventing the opera house : theater architecture in Renaissance and Baroque Italy / Eugene J. Johnson, Williams College ; photographs by Ralph Lieberman.
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Johnson, Eugene J., 1937- author.
- Lieberman, Ralph, author.
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Theater architecture--Italy--History.
- Theater architecture.
- Architecture, Renaissance--Italy.
- Architecture, Renaissance.
- Architecture, Baroque--Italy.
- Architecture, Baroque.
- Physical Description:
- 1 online resource (xviii, 330 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).
- Place of Publication:
- Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2017.
- Summary:
- In this book, Eugene J. Johnson traces the invention of the opera house, a building type of world wide importance. Italy laid the foundation theater buildings in the West, in architectural spaces invented for the commedia dell'arte in the sixteenth century, and theaters built to present the new art form of opera in the seventeenth. Rulers lavished enormous funds on these structures. Often they were among the most expensive artistic undertakings of a given prince. They were part of an upsurge of theatrical invention in the performing arts. At the same time, the productions that took place within the opera house could threaten the social order, to the point where rulers would raze them. Johnson reconstructs the history of the opera house by bringing together evidence from a variety of disciplines, including music, art, theatre, and politics. Writing in an engaging manner, he sets the history of the opera house within its broader early modern social context.
- Contents:
- Ferrara and Mantua, 1486-1519
- Rome 1480's-1520
- Early theaters in Venice and the Veneto
- Sixteenth century Florence, with excursions to Venice, Lyon and Siena
- Early permanent theaters and the commedia dell'arte
- Theaters in the ancient manner and Andrea Palladio
- Drama-tourney theaters
- Ferrara, Parma, and theaters of Giovanni Battista Aleotti
- Seventeenth century theaters in Venice: the invention of the opera house
- Seventeenth century theaters for comedy and opera
- Teatro di Tordinona in Rome, Queen Christina of Sweden, and Carlo Fontana.
- Notes:
- Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 29 May 2018).
- Includes bibliographical references.
- ISBN:
- 1-108-38623-7
- 1-108-37766-1
- 1-108-38983-X
The Penn Libraries is committed to describing library materials using current, accurate, and responsible language. If you discover outdated or inaccurate language, please fill out this feedback form to report it and suggest alternative language.