Opera Acts - Singers and Performance in the Late Nineteenth Century

Karen Henson explores a wealth of new historical material about singers and opera performance in the late nineteenth century.

List of contents

Introduction: on not singing and singing physiognomically; 1. Verdi, Victor Maurel, and the operatic interpreter; 2. Real mezzo: Célestine Galli-Marié as Carmen; 3. Photographic diva: Massenet, Sibyl Sanderson, and the soprano as spectacle; 4. Jean de Reszke, the 'problem' of the tenor, and early international Wagner performance; Supporting cast.

About the author

Karen Henson is Associate Professor at the Frost School of Music, University of Miami. Her research focuses on nineteenth-century opera, singers and opera performance, and opera and technology. She trained at the University of Oxford and in Paris, and her work has been supported by fellowships and awards from The British Academy, the Stanford Humanities Center, and the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University. She has been a regular guest speaker for the Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera, and the BBC.

Summary

Karen Henson uses four detailed case studies to explore a wealth of new historical material about singers in the late nineteenth century and to challenge the idea that this was a period of decline for the opera singer.

Product details

• Authors: Karen Henson, Karen (City University of New York) Henson, Karen (University of Miami) Henson, Henson Karen
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press ELT
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 28.02.2019
• EAN: 9781108723343
• ISBN: 978-1-108-72334-3
• No. of pages: 280
• Series: Cambridge Studies in Opera
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Music > General, dictionaries; Music, MUSIC / Genres & Styles / Opera, Opera, 19th century, c 1800 to c 1899, Romantic Music (C 1830 To C 1900)