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Nicholas Tarling's Orientalism and the Operatic World places opera in the context of its steady globalization over the last two centuries, offering key insights into such notable operas as George Frederic Handel's Berenice, Giuseppe Verdi's Aida, Giacomo Puccini's MadamaButterfly, Pietro Mascagni's Iris, and others. Orientalism and the Operatic World argues that any close study of the history of Western opera, in the end, fails to support notion propounded by literary scholar Edward Said that the Westerners inevitably stereotyped, dehumanized, and ultimately sought only to dominate the East through art. Instead, Tarling argues that opera is a humanizing art, one that emphasizes what humanity has in common by epic depictions of passion through the vehicle of song.
List of contents
Overture
Part One: Recitatives
Chapter 1: Globalising and Glocalising Opera
Chapter 2: The Genre
Chapter 3: Orientalisms
Part Two: Arias
Chapter 4: Bible-based operas
Chapter 5: Crusaders, Arabs and Turks
Chapter 6: Egypt
Chapter 7: India and Ceylon
Chapter 8: China.
Chapter 9: Japan
Chapter 10: Russia
Finale
About the Author
About the author
Nicholas Tarling is former professor of history at the University of Auckland, where he taught for nearly thirty years. A specialist in the history of Southeast Asia, he has published extensively on the region's history and culture. As a music aficionado, he has programmed broadcasts on opera for Radio New Zealand, reviews regularly for Opera magazine, prepares and conducts pre-concert talks, and writes concert program notes.He is the author of Choral Masterpieces: Major and Minor (2014).
