Opera Acts (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781107004269)

Opera Acts explores a wealth of new historical material about singers in the late nineteenth century and challenges the idea that this was a period of decline for the opera singer. In detailed case studies of four figures - the late Verdi baritone Victor Maurel; Bizet's first Carmen, Célestine Galli-Marié; Massenet's muse of the 1880s and '90s, Sibyl Sanderson; and the early Wagner star Jean de Reszke - Karen Henson argues that singers in the late nineteenth century continued to be important, but in ways that were not conventionally "vocal". Instead they enjoyed a freedom and creativity based on their ability to express text, act and communicate physically, and exploit the era's media. By these and other means, singers played a crucial role in the creation of opera up to the end of the nineteenth century.

Author: Karen Henson
ISBN-10: 1107004268
ISBN-13: 9781107004269
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Language: English
Published: 01/15/2015
Pages: 282
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.60lbs
Size: 9.80h x 6.70w x 0.80d

Review Citation(s):
Choice 06/01/2016