Bellini is the most complete monograph ever published to-date on the life and legacy of the composer from Catania. His achievements, presented in the historical-social context of his time, explore his relationships with educational institutions, the theatrical production system and the literary world, and impresarios, publishers, librettists, and other musicians alike. Each chapter is dedicated to a period of Bellini's life and the cities in which he worked: Catania, Naples, Milan...

Winner of the 2007 Otto Kinkeldey Award from the American Musicological Society and the 2007 Deems Taylor Award from the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers.Divas and Scholars is a dazzling and beguiling account of how opera comes to the stage, filled with Philip Gossett's personal experiences of triumphant—and even failed—performances and suffused with his towering and tonic passion for music. Writing as a fan, a musician, and a scholar, Gossett, the wo...

In this third edition of the classic Verdi, renowned authority Julian Budden offers a comprehensive overview of Verdi the man and the artist, tracing his ascent from humble beginnings to the status of a cultural patriarch of the new Italy, whose cause he had done much to promote, and demonstrating the gradual enlargement over the years of his artistic vision. This concise study is an accessible, insightful, and engaging summation of Verdi scholarship, acquainting the non-specialis...

Claudio Monteverdi is one of the most important figures of 'early' music, a composer whose music speaks powerfully and directly to modern audiences. This book, first published in 2007, provides an authoritative treatment of Monteverdi and his music, complementing Paolo Fabbri's standard biography of the composer. Written by leading specialists in the field, it is aimed at students, performers and music-lovers in general and adds significantly to our understanding of Monteverdi's music, his...

A comprehensive guide that includes Principal Characters in the Opera, Brief Story Synopsis, Story Narrative with Music Examples, and Burton D. Fisher's in depth and insightful Commentary and Analysis.

How did castrati manage to amaze their eighteenth-century audiences by singing the same aria several times in completely different ways? And how could composers of the time write operas in a matter of days? The secret lies in the solfeggio tradition, a music education method that was fundamental to the training of European musicians between 1680 and 1830 — a time during which professional musicians belonged to the working class. As disadvantaged children in orphanages learned the musical c...

A "priceless" study of the life and career of the Renaissance-era Italian who was the first woman to have composed an opera ( Gender & History)."Extraordinary in its breadth, its detail, its insight, and its worth to all participants in early music…. Its contribution is not limited to the musical world, however, as Cusick's remarkable command and analysis of her material…has immense value for scholars engaged in cultural studies, performance studie...

La traviata was Giuseppe Verdi’s eighteenth opera and shows him at the height of his middle-period powers. Adapted from La Dame aux Camélias by Alexandre Dumas fils, it portrays the love between the courtesan Violetta Valéry and the young Alfredo Germont in fashionable Parisian society, with its inevitable tragic outcome. It had its premiere at La Fenice in Venice in 1853 and has gone on to become one of the most performed and greatly loved of all operas.There are articles in the guide abo...

In Italy during the late cinquecento, printed music could be found not only in the homes of the wealthy or the music professional, but also in lay homes, courts, and academies. No longer confined to the salons of the elite, music took on the role of social play and recreation. Paul Schleuse examines these new musical forms through a study of the music books of Italian priest, poet, and composer, Orazio Vecchi. Composed for minor patrons and the wider music-buying public, Vecchi's madrigals...

Basso continuo accompaniment calls upon a complex tapestry of harmonic, rhythmic, compositional, analytical and improvisational skills. The evolving knowledge that underpinned the performance of basso continuo was built up and transmitted from the late 1500s to the second half of the eighteenth century, when changes in instruments together with the assertion of control by composers over their works brought about its demise. By tracing the development of basso continuo over time and across ...

A comprehensive guide that includes Principal Characters in the Opera, Brief Story Synopsis, Story Narrative with Music Examples, and Burton D. Fisher's in depth and insightful Commentary and Analysis.

"A major contribution . . . not only to Puccini studies but also to the study of nineteenth-century Italian opera in general." — Nineteenth-Century Music ReviewIn this groundbreaking survey of the fundamentals, methods, and formulas that were taught at Italian music conservatories during the 19th Century, Nicholas Baragwanath explores the compositional significance of tradition in Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti, Verdi, Boito, and, most importantly, Puccini. T...