13 Ergebnisse.

Maria Callas was, perhaps, the greatest opera singer of the 20th century. Hers was a life lived on the world stage, and her fame extended to the public consciousness of many parts of the world. Even after her mysterious death in 1977, her singing and acting continue to thrill new generations of opera fans thanks to her many recordings and her fascinating life. This new biography of Callas tells her story from difficult beginnings as the daught...

Italian playwright Carlo Gozzi (1720-1806) is best known for his plays that have famously been adapted into opera librettos. Puccini's final opera, Turandot , was based on a play by Gozzi. Prokofiev's The Love of Three Oranges is also based on a Gozzi play. Gozzi was the most successful playwright in 18th century Venice. This is the first full biography in English of this major figure in the history of world theatre.

This book examines Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen cycle from a wide array of modern perspectives. Divided into six parts, this anthology first offers a foundation for the Ring, with a chronology and an introduction, along with a look at Wagner as an enterprising marketer. Part Two explores different interpretations of the Ring, with reference to politics, romanticism and international inspirations. Part Three studies the complex relationship...

This is a new biography of the German composer Richard Wagner, 100 years after his birth, re-examining his life in light of new documents and new sensibilities. Since World War II Wagner has often been wrongly associated with the name of Adolf Hitler because Hitler liked Wagner's music and used it in Nazi propaganda. But Wagner died in 1883--fifty years before Hitler's regime. It is time to have a fresh look at Wagner's life in terms of new re...

Composer Richard Wagner (1813-1883) likely suffered from a manic-depressive disorder but in his time very little was known about mental illness, and suicide was not a topic for general discussion. Wagner was often plagued by extreme mood swings, he used his operas, especially the librettos, to express himself and his difficulties. This investigation of the suicidal themes in Wagner's life and operas--Die Fliegender Hollander, Tannhauser, Lohen...

Thirty-three playwrights, from Robert Anderson to Paul Zindel, discuss their views on their own work and contemporary drama, and offer projections about theatre for the 21st century. They proceed from the premise that recent drama is a reaction to the modernism of Theatre of the Absurd.

Puccini the Thinker' traces Puccini's development as an opera composer and thinker. The subject is the composer's ideas as they appear in his operas. The book, written for the operagoer and the admirer of Puccini's operas in addition to the musicologist, has chapters on all of Puccini's operas and divides them into three general categories: myth and vision, God, religion, and the Roman Catholic Church, and economics, politics, and society. Wit...

Connecting money and art, this collection of essays studies the treatment of money in various forms of literature. It begins with chapters analysing money in terms of language and culture, and then turns to money in history, showing how money has been influenced by, and has changed, history.

In its revised third edition, this volume argues that an appreciation of opera is based on an understanding of several key aspects: history, language, theatrical production, the power of the conductor, vocal tradition and standard repertory. The author discusses how opera has changed in the last three decades and how it is now more easily enjoyed than ever before.

The life and career of the Nobel Prize winning dramatist Luigi Pirandello is the subject of this important new reference companion. Designed to improve the general understanding of this major literary figure, the book focuses not only on Six Characters in Search of an Author, Pirandello's most famous work, but also on other plays, novels, short stories, and even translations of his poems. In addition to essays by some of the best-known Pirande...

It is common, particularly in the plays of the 20th and 21st century, to see a playwright delving into psychological issues raised by his own mental struggles or those of people he loves. Luigi Pirandello, tormented by the schizophrenia of his wife and other family members, repeatedly explored the problems caused by different visions of reality. Nol Cowards self-obsessed characters reflect his own narcissism. Alcoholism is a recurrent theme in...

Looks at the individual operas, including "Der Fliegende Hollander", "Tannhauser", "Lohengrin", "Tristan und Isolde", "Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg", and "Parsifal". This work reveals the connections between Wagnerian opera and other arts, including dance, filmmaking, and written fiction.

Introduces the uninitiated to the mysteries of opera and helps more experienced buffs expand their understanding and deepen their appreciation of the art form.