The Walter Scott Operas
The Walter Scott Operas

Author: Jerome Mitchell

Publisher:

Published: 1977

Total Pages: 440

ISBN-13:

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The Walter Scott Operas is a study of the approximately 50 operas that are based on the works of Sir Walter Scott, who, except for Shakespeare, inspired more operas than any other writer. Professor Mitchell's scholarly method is literary-historical (rather than "critical") and unabashedly antiquarian. He shows what happened to a Scott novel when it was turned into an opera and how that opera compared and contrasted with others based on the same novel -- all this leading to a fresh slant on Scott's characters and the structure of his novels. The Scott operas are all products of the nineteenth century, and indeed span the century from Rossini's La Donna del Lago (1819) to several done in the 1890s. The operas vary in style from typical early nineteenth-century romantic opera and opera comique to the Wagner-influenced works of the latter part of the century. Each discussion of an opera begins with a brief account of its performance history, but the major part of the discussion is concerned with what "happened" to the novel (poem, novella, or historical work) when it was transformed into an opera. What did the librettist do to the original story -- how did he reshape it -- to make it something the operatic composer could felicitously handle? The concluding chapter brings together for final discussion the elements in Scott's works that are conducive to good opera -- the pictorial element; the theme of "opposing fanaticism," often brought vividly to life in one or more major scenes of drama; the well-drawn characters, from both high and low life; the theatrical direct discourse, including soliloquies. In addition, the concluding chapter tries to determine what influence the Scott operas have had on others now in the standard repertoire. Many parallels can be observed because of the use of certain operatic conventions that are part of the common stock of virtually all librettists and composers. Other parallels, however, are directly traceable to the Scott operas. - Jacket flap.

The Afterlives of Walter Scott
The Afterlives of Walter Scott

Author: Ann Rigney

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2012-03-08

Total Pages: 348

ISBN-13: 0191636428

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Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832) was once a household name, but is now largely forgotten. This book explores how Scott's work became an all-pervasive point of reference for cultural memory and collective identity in the nineteenth century, and why it no longer has this role. Ann Rigney breaks new ground in memory studies and the study of literary reception by examining the dynamics of cultural memory and the 'social life' of literary texts across several generations and multiple media. She pays attention to the remediation of the Waverley novels as they travelled into painting, the theatre, and material culture, as well as to the role of 'Scott' as a memory site in the public sphere for a century after his death. Using a wide range of examples and supported by many illustrations, Rigney demonstrates how remembering Scott's work helped shape national and transnational identities up to World War I, and contributed to the emergence of the idea of an English-speaking world encompassing Scotland, the British Empire, and the United States. Scott's work forged a potent alliance between memory, literature, and identity that was eminently suited to modernization. His legacy continues in the widespread belief that engaging with the past is a condition for transcending it.

More Scott Operas
More Scott Operas

Author: Jerome Mitchell

Publisher:

Published: 1996

Total Pages: 364

ISBN-13:

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More Scott Operas examines some thirty operas based on the novels and poems of Sir Walter Scott that have come to light since publication of the author's widely reviewed earlier book, The Walter Scott Operas (1977), which discussed fifty Scott operas. There are chapters on an operatic setting of a Scott poem by a little known English composer who knew Wagner; on three operatic renditions of another poem, The Lord of the Isles; on Carl Loewe's opera Emmy, based on Kenilworth, and on an opera by a twentieth century Argentine composer based on the same novel; on a forgotten Italian Fair Maid of Perth opera that would rival Bizet's; and on two chamber operas by a composer-librettist who is alive and well and at home in Charleston, South Carolina. The book concludes with an intriguing account of Scott's night at the San Carlo Opera. Mitchell's approach is again that of a literary-historian than of a music critic or musicologist. He shows what happened to Scott's original poem or novel when it is changed into an opera and how that opera compares with others based on the same poem or novel. This approach leads to a fresh slant on Scott's characters and on the structure of his works, and it leads ultimately to our greater awareness and appreciation of Scott's art and of his impact on European culture.

Opera in the British Isles, 1875-1918
Opera in the British Isles, 1875-1918

Author: Paul Rodmell

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-05-13

Total Pages: 427

ISBN-13: 1317085442

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While the musical culture of the British Isles in the 'long nineteenth century' has been reclaimed from obscurity by musicologists in the last thirty years, appraisal of operatic culture in the latter part of this period has remained largely elusive. Paul Rodmell argues that there were far more opportunities for composers, performers and audiences than one might expect, an assertion demonstrated by the fact that over one hundred serious operas by British composers were premiered between 1875 and 1918. Rodmell examines the nature of operatic culture in the British Isles during this period, looking at the way in which opera was produced and 'consumed' by companies and audiences, the repertory performed, social attitudes to opera, the dominance of London's West End and the activities of touring companies in the provinces, and the position of British composers within this realm of activity. In doing so, he uncovers the undoubted challenges faced by opera in Britain in this period, and delves further into why it was especially difficult to make a breakthrough in this particular genre when other fields of compositional endeavour were enjoying a period of sustained growth. Whilst contemporaneous composers and commentators and later advocates of British music may have felt that the country's operatic life did not measure up to their aspirations or ambitions, there was still a great deal of activity and, even if this was not necessarily that which was always desired, it had a significant and lasting impact on musical culture in Britain.

Opera and the Novel
Opera and the Novel

Author: Michael Halliwell

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2021-08-04

Total Pages: 522

ISBN-13: 9004485228

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Opera and the Novel: The Case of Henry James offers the first full-length study of the theory and practice of the adaptation of fiction into opera: the transference of a work from one medium to another – metaphrasis – is its point of departure. Starting with a survey of the current thinking regarding the nexus between words and music with specific reference to operatic adaptation of existing literary works, it traces the four-hundred-year history of opera, demonstrating that the novel has become increasingly attractive to librettists and composers as an operatic source. As the resources of modern music theatre have increased in sophistication, so too have the possibilities for an expanded engagement with complex fictional works. The intricate relationship between fictional and musical narrative is examined: the proposition that the orchestra assumes much of the function of the narrator in fiction is explored. The second section is a detailed examination of eight operatic works based on Henry James’s fiction. It is opera’s unique capability to present the intense emotional and psychological situations central to James’s fiction as well as the ability to engage with his synthesis of melodrama and psychological ambiguity which makes James’s work peculiarly amenable to operatic adaptation. Composers who have used James as a source include Douglas Moore, Benjamin Britten, Thomas Pasatieri, Donald Hollier, Thea Musgrave, Philip Hagemann and Dominick Argento. The operas discussed represent a contemporary critical and often self-conscious engagement with the art form itself as well as illustrating current adaptive strategies, and suggest ways in which new operatic paths may be forged. This volume is of relevance to students and scholars of English literature and opera as well as readers who take an interest in intermedial research and the question of adaptation in general.

Operatic Migrations
Operatic Migrations

Author: DowningA. Thomas

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-07-05

Total Pages: 264

ISBN-13: 1351555693

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This volume takes an interdisciplinary approach to studying a wide range of subjects associated with the creation, performance and reception of 'opera' in varying social and historical contexts from the eighteenth to the twentieth centuries. Each essay addresses migrations between genres, cultures, literary and musical works, modes of expression, media of presentation and aesthetics. Although the directions the contributions take are diverse, they converge in significant ways, particularly with the rebuttal of the notion of the singular nature of the operatic work. The volume strongly asserts that works are meaningfully transformed by the manifold circumstances of their creation and reception, and that these circumstances have an impact on the life of those works in their many transformations and on a given audience's experience of them. Topics covered include transformations of literary sources and their migration into the operatic genre; works that move across geographical and social boundaries into different cultural contexts; movements between media and/or genre as well as alterations through interpretation and performance of the composer's creation; the translation of spoken theatre to lyric theatre; the theoretical issues contingent on the rendering of 'speech' into 'song'; and the transforming effects of aesthetic considerations as they bear on opera. Crossing over disciplinary boundaries between music, literary studies, history, cultural studies and art history, the volume enriches our knowledge and understanding of the operatic experience and the works. The book will therefore appeal to those working in the field of music, literary and cultural studies, and to those with a particular interest in opera and musical theatre.