Singing Sappho - Improvisation and Authority in Nineteenth-Century Italian Opera

"From the theatrical stage to the literary salon, the figure of Sappho--the ancient poet and inspiring icon of feminine creativity--played a major role in the intertwining histories of improvisation, text, and performance throughout the nineteenth century. Exploring the connections between operatic and poetic improvisation in Italy and beyond, Singing Sappho combines earwitness accounts of famous female improviser-virtuosi with erudite analysis of musical and literary practices. Esse demonstrates that performance played a much larger role in conceptions of musical authorship than previously recognized, arguing that discourses of spontaneity--specifically those surrounding the improvvisatrice, or female poetic improviser--were paradoxically used to carve out a new authority for opera composers just as improvisation itself was falling into decline"--

About the author

Melina Esse is associate professor of musicology at the Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester.

Product details

• Authors: Melina Esse
• Publisher: University Of Chicago Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 31.01.2021
• EAN: 9780226741772
• ISBN: 978-0-226-74177-2
• No. of pages: 224
• Series: Opera Lab: Explorations in His; Opera Lab: Explorations in History, Technology, and Performa; Opera Lab: Explorations in History, Technology, and Performance
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Music > General, dictionaries; MUSIC / Genres & Styles / Opera, Opera