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Author Esse, Melina, author.

Title Singing Sappho : improvisation and authority in nineteenth-century Italian opera / Melina Esse.

Publication Info. Chicago : The University of Chicago Press, 2021.
©2021

Copies

Location Call No. OPAC Message Status
 Axe 2nd Floor Stacks  782.1094509 Es73s 2021    ---  Available
1 copy being processed for Axe Acquisitions Order.
Description 199 pages : illustrations, music ; 24 cm.
text txt rdacontent
unmediated n rdamedia
volume nc rdacarrier
Series Opera lab : explorations in history, technology, and performance
Opera lab.
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index.
Contents Introduction -- History's muse : the spectacle of poetic improvisation -- Corinna's crown : improvisation and authority in Rossini's Il viaggio a Reims -- Divinely inspired : incantation and the making of melody in Bellini's Norma -- Saffo's lyre : improvising operatic authorship -- A Sapphic Orpheus : Pauline Viardot and the sexual politics of opera collaboration.
Summary "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"-- Provided by publisher.
Subject Opera -- Italy -- 19th century.
Sappho -- Influence.
Opera -- Greek influences.
Vocal improvisation (Music) -- Italy -- Philosophy -- History -- 19th century.
Women singers -- Italy.
Women singers -- France.
Sappho. (OCoLC)fst00016361
Influence (Literary, artistic, etc.) (OCoLC)fst00972484
Opera. (OCoLC)fst01046145
Opera -- Greek influences. (OCoLC)fst01765315
Women singers. (OCoLC)fst01178528
France. (OCoLC)fst01204289
Italy. (OCoLC)fst01204565
Chronological Term 1800-1899
Genre/Form History. (OCoLC)fst01411628
ISBN 9780226741772 hardcover
022674177X hardcover
9780226741802 electronic book

 
    
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