Laughter Between Two Revolutions
Laughter Between Two Revolutions

Author: Francesco Izzo (Musicologist)

Publisher: Boydell & Brewer

Published: 2013

Total Pages: 320

ISBN-13: 1580462936

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Tells the forgotten story of post-Rossinian opera buffa, with attention to masterpieces by Donizetti and fascinating comic works by Luigi Ricci, the young Verdi, and other composers. This study represents the first substantial assessment of Italian comic operas composed during the central years of the Risorgimento -- the period during which upheavals, revolutions, and wars ultimately led to the liberation andunification of Italy. Music historians often view the period as one during which serious Romantic opera flourished in Italy while opera buffa inexorably declined. Laughter between Two Revolutions revises this widespread notion by viewing well-known comic masterpieces -- such as Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore (1832) and Don Pasquale (1843) -- as part of a still-thriving tradition. Also examined are opere buffe by LuigiRicci, Lauro Rossi, Verdi (Un giorno di regno), and others, many of which circulated widely at the time. Francesco Izzo's pathbreaking study argues that in the "realm of seriousness" of mid-nineteenth-century Italy, comedywas not an anachronistic intruder, but a significant and vital cultural presence. This important volume offers new insights into opera history and theories of comedy in the arts. It will be of interest to opera lovers everywhere and to students in music, philosophy, comparative literature, and Italian cultural studies. Francesco Izzo is senior lecturer in music at the University of Southampton.

Death and the Doctor
Death and the Doctor

Author:

Publisher: Bucknell University Press

Published: 1997

Total Pages: 220

ISBN-13: 9780838753699

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"This book presents three versions of the Godfather/Death motif in English translations as well as the original Spanish. A desperate man makes a pact with Death in order to alleviate pain or sorrow or poverty. Death then makes him a doctor and endows him with the ability to predict life or death, and thus he feathers his nest and his fortune turns. In the end, however, Death demands its pound of flesh, and the day of reckoning arrives." "The three authors of these Death-and-the-Doctor tales are three of nineteenth-century Spain's most well-known short-story writers. Fernan Caballero [Cecilia Bohl de Faber] (1796-1877) first published "Juan Holgado y la muerte [Juan Holgado and Death]" in 1850. It stands out for its humor, relating Fernan Caballero's hapless paterfamilias attempt to escape his numerous children in order to feast on a rabbit, only to have Death, in the shape of an old woman, snatch it from his hands." "Antonio de Trueba (1819-89) first published "Tragaldabas [Glutton]" in 1867. The main characteristic of Trueba's piece is its satire and scathing portrayal, as well as condemnation, of the medical profession." ""Death's Friend" is much more ambitious than Fernan Caballero's and Trueba's tales, and in length approaches a short novel. It is essentially a love story: Gil Gil and Elena, ill-starred lovers, are reunited through divine intervention as both Elena and Death petition God on Gil Gil's behalf." "Taken together, these three Death-and-the-Doctor tales fill a void in the Godfather/Death motif of Western European literature and highlight the universality of Spain's folk tradition."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Opera Companies and Houses of the United States
Opera Companies and Houses of the United States

Author: Karyl Lynn Zietz

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2024-10-15

Total Pages: 353

ISBN-13: 147661203X

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This is a state-by-state guide to more than 90 opera houses and companies in the United States. Inaugural performances, a history of opera in the city, an ordinary season's repertory, and performers and directors are highlighted.

Effects of Opera Music from Brain to Body
Effects of Opera Music from Brain to Body

Author: Lorenzo Lorusso

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2023-11-07

Total Pages: 131

ISBN-13: 3031347692

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This book explores the connection between melodrama and medicine from multiple perspectives. Neuroscientists study the relationship between opera and brain functioning in the light of new findings in the fields of neurophysiology, neuroimaging, cognitive science and neuro-musicology; clinicians investigate the therapeutic potential of music, especially in the field of treatment and rehabilitation of individuals with neurodegenerative diseases; medical historians analyse the representation of diseases and those who cure diseases within operas; occupational doctors report descriptions of diseases that affect workers in the opera world and particularly focus on psychiatric and psychological alterations. Opera, with its instrumental and vocal accompaniment, is considered the most complete form of theatrical performance. However, little is known about the mechanisms of brain activity under the influence of melodrama on singers, musicians, and listeners. The use of neuroimaging techniques has enabled a better understanding of the neuronal mechanisms and circuits involved during an opera performance. Over the past 20 years, melodrama has increasingly been used as a therapeutic approach in various neurological and neuropsychiatric pathologies, such as depression, cognitive impairment, and even coma. The book also discusses the ways in which melodrama affects professionals involved in music and interventions to reduce or alleviate occupational diseases, leading to improved health and higher life satisfaction. The ultimate goal is to improve therapeutic interventions in neurological diseases and professional disorders, relying on solid neuroscientific data. This book will be of great interest to neurologists, neurobiologists, psychiatrists, occupational doctors and therapists in music.

Great Nations Still Enchained
Great Nations Still Enchained

Author: Dr Roy Douglas

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-04-15

Total Pages: 238

ISBN-13: 1135085315

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The grandeur of the great imperial powers of the nineteenth century - Britain, France, Germany, Russia, Austria-Hungary and even the burgeoning United States, was constantly subverted by the cartoonists of the day. As Roy Douglas reveals, cartoons are often more accurate guides to popular feelings than the newspapers in which they appeared. In this, his third look at history through the eyes of the cartoonist, Roy Douglas provides a clear historical narrative which explains the subtle meaning below the surface of the cartoons. Taken from the period leading to the First World War, these cartoons are as fresh - and often as shocking - as the day they were drawn.