Author: Vincent Seligman
Publisher: Sullivan Press
ISBN: 1443727156
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 420
Book Description
PUCCINI AMONG FRIENDS by VINCENT SELIGMAN. Originally published in 1938. Contents include: INTRODUCTION ..... 1 PART I THE ROAD TO SUCCESS 1858-1904 CHAPTER ONE LH VlLU AND EDGAR 1858-1889 ... 9 CHAPTER TWO MANON LESCAUT 1890-1893 . . - .2,1 CHAPTER THREE LA BonfeMB 1894-1896 . . 3 CHAPTER FOUR LA TOSCA 1897-1900 . . .41 CHAPTER FIVE 4 MADAMA BUTTERFLY 1901-1904 . . .5 PART II OUT OF WORK 1904-1907 CHAPTER ONE RESEARCHES AND REHEARSALS October 1904-April 1906 . 63 CHAPTER TWO D ANNUNZIO, CONCHITA AND OTHERS June igoS-January 1907 79 ix x CONTENTS CHAPTER THREE GODS AND GODDESSES OF SONG An Interlude . . 104 CHAPTER FOUR NEW YORK AND AFTER January 1907 May 1907 . .116 PART III LA FANCIULLA DEL WEST 1907-1910 CHAPTER ONi THE MAKINGS OF A LIBRETTO June --September 1907, MI CHAPTER TWO A LIBRETTO IN THE MAKING October ic 07- eptember U o8 142, CHAPTER THRKli TRAGIC INTERRUPTION October J9o8 juty 1909 . 161 CHAPTER FOUR WORK RESUMED August og-Octobet 1910 . . 184 CHAPTER FIVE THE FIRST NIGHT December xoch, 1910 ., 195 PART IV OUT OF WORK AGAIN 1911-1914 CHAPTER ONE THE SEARCH RENEWED 0anuary xgn-Fefaruaty 1912 205 CHAPTER TWO DEATH OF Giutio RICORDI Jane igu-Fcktaty 1914 zi7 CHAPTER THREE 1 Two LITTLE WOOD BTC., ETC, March i9i4 July 1914 CONTENTS xi PART V WAR-TIME 1914-1918 CHAPTER ONE PAGE LA RONDINE September I9i4-April 1917 - 2 49 CHAPTER TWO IL TRITTICO June I9i7-January 1919, .271 PART VI LAST YEARS 1919-1924 CHAPTER ONE AFTERMATH OF THE WAR March i9i9 July 1920 . . 289 CHAPTER TWO THE BIRTH OF TURANDOT July i92o-August 1921 . 311 CHAPTER THREE TURANDOT LANGUISHES AND RECOVERS September 1921-May 1923 . . - 33 2 CHAPTER FOUR THE LAST ACT 0une i923 November 29th, 1924 . . 349BIBLIOGRAPHY . INDEX 3 6 5. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Puccini at his piano in Milan 1906 . . Frontispiece FACING PAGE That queer capricious fellow, Savoia Tito Ricordi . .25 To the youthful defiler of his blotting-pad . . 3 The beginning of a twenty-year friendship 1904 . 63 Tell Ciccio that 1 love him -Sir Paolo Tosti . . .66 A collaborator manque Gabriele DAnnunzio . . .84 After the premiere of Butterfly in Paris 1906 . . . 101 Your Tenor -Caruso sees himself .... 109 To dearest Sybil, unique and rare creature 1907 . .135 A Friend in Need Lady Tosti . . . . .173 After the Fanciulla del West 1912 . . . .215 A thundering victory Facsimile of Puccinis letter dated November 5th, 1918 . 282 1 believe now that he is my friend Mr. HL V Higgins . 297 After the Trittico at Covent Garden 1920 . . 3 2 His favourite sport - and an allusion to the Covent Garden Programme see p. 9 1922 . . 343 Puccinis last resting-place at Torre del Lago, . .362 Xlll
Puccini Among Friends
Author: Vincent Seligman
Publisher: Read Books Ltd
ISBN: 1473389062
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 364
Book Description
Puccini was an Italian, a musician, highly strung, temperamental, diffident and easily discouraged, changing quickly from exaltation to despair. Nearly all of Puccini's biographers remark on his distaste for writing letters, nevertheless when my mother died nearly two years ago I found amongst her papers more than seven hundred letters from him, all written during the last twenty years of his life. From these I have selected, in whole or in part, some three hundred letters to form the basis of this memoir. In no sense of the word can it be considered a formal biography, but rather a portrait, largely self-drawn, of a very lovable character, and the record of a singularly beautiful friendship.
Publisher: Read Books Ltd
ISBN: 1473389062
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 364
Book Description
Puccini was an Italian, a musician, highly strung, temperamental, diffident and easily discouraged, changing quickly from exaltation to despair. Nearly all of Puccini's biographers remark on his distaste for writing letters, nevertheless when my mother died nearly two years ago I found amongst her papers more than seven hundred letters from him, all written during the last twenty years of his life. From these I have selected, in whole or in part, some three hundred letters to form the basis of this memoir. In no sense of the word can it be considered a formal biography, but rather a portrait, largely self-drawn, of a very lovable character, and the record of a singularly beautiful friendship.
Puccini Among Friends
Author: Vincent Seligman
Publisher: Sullivan Press
ISBN: 1443727156
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 420
Book Description
PUCCINI AMONG FRIENDS by VINCENT SELIGMAN. Originally published in 1938. Contents include: INTRODUCTION ..... 1 PART I THE ROAD TO SUCCESS 1858-1904 CHAPTER ONE LH VlLU AND EDGAR 1858-1889 ... 9 CHAPTER TWO MANON LESCAUT 1890-1893 . . - .2,1 CHAPTER THREE LA BonfeMB 1894-1896 . . 3 CHAPTER FOUR LA TOSCA 1897-1900 . . .41 CHAPTER FIVE 4 MADAMA BUTTERFLY 1901-1904 . . .5 PART II OUT OF WORK 1904-1907 CHAPTER ONE RESEARCHES AND REHEARSALS October 1904-April 1906 . 63 CHAPTER TWO D ANNUNZIO, CONCHITA AND OTHERS June igoS-January 1907 79 ix x CONTENTS CHAPTER THREE GODS AND GODDESSES OF SONG An Interlude . . 104 CHAPTER FOUR NEW YORK AND AFTER January 1907 May 1907 . .116 PART III LA FANCIULLA DEL WEST 1907-1910 CHAPTER ONi THE MAKINGS OF A LIBRETTO June --September 1907, MI CHAPTER TWO A LIBRETTO IN THE MAKING October ic 07- eptember U o8 142, CHAPTER THRKli TRAGIC INTERRUPTION October J9o8 juty 1909 . 161 CHAPTER FOUR WORK RESUMED August og-Octobet 1910 . . 184 CHAPTER FIVE THE FIRST NIGHT December xoch, 1910 ., 195 PART IV OUT OF WORK AGAIN 1911-1914 CHAPTER ONE THE SEARCH RENEWED 0anuary xgn-Fefaruaty 1912 205 CHAPTER TWO DEATH OF Giutio RICORDI Jane igu-Fcktaty 1914 zi7 CHAPTER THREE 1 Two LITTLE WOOD BTC., ETC, March i9i4 July 1914 CONTENTS xi PART V WAR-TIME 1914-1918 CHAPTER ONE PAGE LA RONDINE September I9i4-April 1917 - 2 49 CHAPTER TWO IL TRITTICO June I9i7-January 1919, .271 PART VI LAST YEARS 1919-1924 CHAPTER ONE AFTERMATH OF THE WAR March i9i9 July 1920 . . 289 CHAPTER TWO THE BIRTH OF TURANDOT July i92o-August 1921 . 311 CHAPTER THREE TURANDOT LANGUISHES AND RECOVERS September 1921-May 1923 . . - 33 2 CHAPTER FOUR THE LAST ACT 0une i923 November 29th, 1924 . . 349BIBLIOGRAPHY . INDEX 3 6 5. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Puccini at his piano in Milan 1906 . . Frontispiece FACING PAGE That queer capricious fellow, Savoia Tito Ricordi . .25 To the youthful defiler of his blotting-pad . . 3 The beginning of a twenty-year friendship 1904 . 63 Tell Ciccio that 1 love him -Sir Paolo Tosti . . .66 A collaborator manque Gabriele DAnnunzio . . .84 After the premiere of Butterfly in Paris 1906 . . . 101 Your Tenor -Caruso sees himself .... 109 To dearest Sybil, unique and rare creature 1907 . .135 A Friend in Need Lady Tosti . . . . .173 After the Fanciulla del West 1912 . . . .215 A thundering victory Facsimile of Puccinis letter dated November 5th, 1918 . 282 1 believe now that he is my friend Mr. HL V Higgins . 297 After the Trittico at Covent Garden 1920 . . 3 2 His favourite sport - and an allusion to the Covent Garden Programme see p. 9 1922 . . 343 Puccinis last resting-place at Torre del Lago, . .362 Xlll
Publisher: Sullivan Press
ISBN: 1443727156
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 420
Book Description
PUCCINI AMONG FRIENDS by VINCENT SELIGMAN. Originally published in 1938. Contents include: INTRODUCTION ..... 1 PART I THE ROAD TO SUCCESS 1858-1904 CHAPTER ONE LH VlLU AND EDGAR 1858-1889 ... 9 CHAPTER TWO MANON LESCAUT 1890-1893 . . - .2,1 CHAPTER THREE LA BonfeMB 1894-1896 . . 3 CHAPTER FOUR LA TOSCA 1897-1900 . . .41 CHAPTER FIVE 4 MADAMA BUTTERFLY 1901-1904 . . .5 PART II OUT OF WORK 1904-1907 CHAPTER ONE RESEARCHES AND REHEARSALS October 1904-April 1906 . 63 CHAPTER TWO D ANNUNZIO, CONCHITA AND OTHERS June igoS-January 1907 79 ix x CONTENTS CHAPTER THREE GODS AND GODDESSES OF SONG An Interlude . . 104 CHAPTER FOUR NEW YORK AND AFTER January 1907 May 1907 . .116 PART III LA FANCIULLA DEL WEST 1907-1910 CHAPTER ONi THE MAKINGS OF A LIBRETTO June --September 1907, MI CHAPTER TWO A LIBRETTO IN THE MAKING October ic 07- eptember U o8 142, CHAPTER THRKli TRAGIC INTERRUPTION October J9o8 juty 1909 . 161 CHAPTER FOUR WORK RESUMED August og-Octobet 1910 . . 184 CHAPTER FIVE THE FIRST NIGHT December xoch, 1910 ., 195 PART IV OUT OF WORK AGAIN 1911-1914 CHAPTER ONE THE SEARCH RENEWED 0anuary xgn-Fefaruaty 1912 205 CHAPTER TWO DEATH OF Giutio RICORDI Jane igu-Fcktaty 1914 zi7 CHAPTER THREE 1 Two LITTLE WOOD BTC., ETC, March i9i4 July 1914 CONTENTS xi PART V WAR-TIME 1914-1918 CHAPTER ONE PAGE LA RONDINE September I9i4-April 1917 - 2 49 CHAPTER TWO IL TRITTICO June I9i7-January 1919, .271 PART VI LAST YEARS 1919-1924 CHAPTER ONE AFTERMATH OF THE WAR March i9i9 July 1920 . . 289 CHAPTER TWO THE BIRTH OF TURANDOT July i92o-August 1921 . 311 CHAPTER THREE TURANDOT LANGUISHES AND RECOVERS September 1921-May 1923 . . - 33 2 CHAPTER FOUR THE LAST ACT 0une i923 November 29th, 1924 . . 349BIBLIOGRAPHY . INDEX 3 6 5. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Puccini at his piano in Milan 1906 . . Frontispiece FACING PAGE That queer capricious fellow, Savoia Tito Ricordi . .25 To the youthful defiler of his blotting-pad . . 3 The beginning of a twenty-year friendship 1904 . 63 Tell Ciccio that 1 love him -Sir Paolo Tosti . . .66 A collaborator manque Gabriele DAnnunzio . . .84 After the premiere of Butterfly in Paris 1906 . . . 101 Your Tenor -Caruso sees himself .... 109 To dearest Sybil, unique and rare creature 1907 . .135 A Friend in Need Lady Tosti . . . . .173 After the Fanciulla del West 1912 . . . .215 A thundering victory Facsimile of Puccinis letter dated November 5th, 1918 . 282 1 believe now that he is my friend Mr. HL V Higgins . 297 After the Trittico at Covent Garden 1920 . . 3 2 His favourite sport - and an allusion to the Covent Garden Programme see p. 9 1922 . . 343 Puccinis last resting-place at Torre del Lago, . .362 Xlll
Puccini
Author: Mary Jane Phillips-Matz
Publisher: UPNE
ISBN: 9781555535308
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 404
Book Description
This masterful biography provides the most authentic and revealing portrait to date of this major operatic composer
Publisher: UPNE
ISBN: 9781555535308
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 404
Book Description
This masterful biography provides the most authentic and revealing portrait to date of this major operatic composer
Puccini
Author: Julian Budden
Publisher:
ISBN: 0195179749
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 538
Book Description
Julian Budden, one of the world's foremost scholars of Italian opera, here offers music lovers a major biography of Giacomo Puccini--a volume in the esteemed Master Musicians series. Blending astute musical analysis with a colorful account of Puccini's life, Budden providess an illuminating look at some of the most popular operas in the repertoire, including Manon Lescaut, La Boheme, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, and Turandot. Budden also paints an intriguing portrait of Puccini the man--talented but modest, a man who had friends from every walk of life: shopkeepers, priests, wealthy landowners, fellow artists.
Publisher:
ISBN: 0195179749
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 538
Book Description
Julian Budden, one of the world's foremost scholars of Italian opera, here offers music lovers a major biography of Giacomo Puccini--a volume in the esteemed Master Musicians series. Blending astute musical analysis with a colorful account of Puccini's life, Budden providess an illuminating look at some of the most popular operas in the repertoire, including Manon Lescaut, La Boheme, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, and Turandot. Budden also paints an intriguing portrait of Puccini the man--talented but modest, a man who had friends from every walk of life: shopkeepers, priests, wealthy landowners, fellow artists.
Play Puccini
Author: Giacomo Puccini
Publisher: Ricordi - Bmg Ricordi
ISBN: 9780634046209
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 40
Book Description
(Instrumental Play-Along). Who needs a singer? With Play Puccini flutists can bathe themselves in luxurious Italian melody! These ten opera arias are among the composer's most famous and distinctive achievements, here transcribed for intermediate level solo flute and piano. The book includes a biography of Puccini, notes about the plot of each opera, and the dramatic context of the selected aria. The companion CD features excellent performances, as well as piano accompaniments for practice. Includes arias from: La Boheme , La Fanciulla Del West , Gianni Schicchi , Madama Butterfly , Manon Lescaut , Suor Angelica , Tosca and Turandot .
Publisher: Ricordi - Bmg Ricordi
ISBN: 9780634046209
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 40
Book Description
(Instrumental Play-Along). Who needs a singer? With Play Puccini flutists can bathe themselves in luxurious Italian melody! These ten opera arias are among the composer's most famous and distinctive achievements, here transcribed for intermediate level solo flute and piano. The book includes a biography of Puccini, notes about the plot of each opera, and the dramatic context of the selected aria. The companion CD features excellent performances, as well as piano accompaniments for practice. Includes arias from: La Boheme , La Fanciulla Del West , Gianni Schicchi , Madama Butterfly , Manon Lescaut , Suor Angelica , Tosca and Turandot .
Puccini Without Excuses
Author: William Berger
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307542904
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 482
Book Description
Puccini is the most beloved composer of opera in the world: one quarter of all opera performances in the U.S. are of his operas, his music pervades movie soundtracks, and his plots have infiltrated our popular culture. But, although Puccini’s art still captivates audiences and the popularity of such works as Tosca, La Bohéme, and Madama Butterfly has never waned, he has long been a victim of critical snobbery and cultural marginalization. In this witty and informative guide for beginners and fans alike, William Berger sets the record straight, reclaiming Puccini as a serious artist. Combining his trademark irreverent humor with passionate enthusiasm, Berger strikes just the right balance of introductory information and thought-provoking analysis. He includes a biography, discussions of each opera, a glossary, fun facts and anecdotes, and above all keen insight into Puccini’s enduring power. For anyone who loves Puccini and for anyone who just wonders what all the fuss is about, Puccini Without Excuses is funny, challenging, and always a pleasure to read. INCLUDES: • Why Puccini’s art and its message of hope is crucial to our world today • How Anglo audiences often miss the mythic significance of his operas • The use of his music as shorthand in films, from A Room with a View to Fatal Attraction • A scene-by scene analysis of each opera • A guide to the wealth of available recordings, books, and videos
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307542904
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 482
Book Description
Puccini is the most beloved composer of opera in the world: one quarter of all opera performances in the U.S. are of his operas, his music pervades movie soundtracks, and his plots have infiltrated our popular culture. But, although Puccini’s art still captivates audiences and the popularity of such works as Tosca, La Bohéme, and Madama Butterfly has never waned, he has long been a victim of critical snobbery and cultural marginalization. In this witty and informative guide for beginners and fans alike, William Berger sets the record straight, reclaiming Puccini as a serious artist. Combining his trademark irreverent humor with passionate enthusiasm, Berger strikes just the right balance of introductory information and thought-provoking analysis. He includes a biography, discussions of each opera, a glossary, fun facts and anecdotes, and above all keen insight into Puccini’s enduring power. For anyone who loves Puccini and for anyone who just wonders what all the fuss is about, Puccini Without Excuses is funny, challenging, and always a pleasure to read. INCLUDES: • Why Puccini’s art and its message of hope is crucial to our world today • How Anglo audiences often miss the mythic significance of his operas • The use of his music as shorthand in films, from A Room with a View to Fatal Attraction • A scene-by scene analysis of each opera • A guide to the wealth of available recordings, books, and videos
Puccini
Author: Julian Budden
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0195346254
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages :
Book Description
Julian Budden, one of the world's foremost scholars of Italian opera and author of a monumental three-volume study of Verdi's works, now offers music lovers a major new biography of one of the giants of Italian opera, Giacomo Puccini. Blending astute musical analysis with a colorful account of Puccini's life, here is an illuminating look at some of the most popular operas in the repertoire, including Manon Lescaut, La Boheme, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, and Turandot. Budden provides an illuminating look at the process of putting an opera together, the cut-and-slash of nineteenth-century Italian opera--the struggle to find the right performers for the debut of La Boheme, Puccini's anxiety about completing Turandot (he in fact died of cancer before he did so), his animosity toward his rival Leoncavallo (whom he called Leonasino or "lion-ass"). Budden provides an informative analysis of the operas themselves, examining the music act by act. He highlights, among other things, the influence of Wagner on Puccini--alone among his Italian contemporaries, Puccini followed Wagner's example in bringing the motif into the forefront of his narrative, sometimes voicing the singer's unexpressed thoughts, sometimes sending out a signal to the audience of which the character is unaware. And Budden also paints an intriguing portrait of Puccini the man--talented but modest, a man who had friends from every walk of life: shopkeepers, priests, wealthy landowners, fellow artists. Affable, well mannered, gifted with a broad sense of fun, he rarely failed to charm all who met him. A new volume in the esteemed Master Musicians series, Puccini offers a masterful portrait of this beloved Italian composer.
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0195346254
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages :
Book Description
Julian Budden, one of the world's foremost scholars of Italian opera and author of a monumental three-volume study of Verdi's works, now offers music lovers a major new biography of one of the giants of Italian opera, Giacomo Puccini. Blending astute musical analysis with a colorful account of Puccini's life, here is an illuminating look at some of the most popular operas in the repertoire, including Manon Lescaut, La Boheme, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, and Turandot. Budden provides an illuminating look at the process of putting an opera together, the cut-and-slash of nineteenth-century Italian opera--the struggle to find the right performers for the debut of La Boheme, Puccini's anxiety about completing Turandot (he in fact died of cancer before he did so), his animosity toward his rival Leoncavallo (whom he called Leonasino or "lion-ass"). Budden provides an informative analysis of the operas themselves, examining the music act by act. He highlights, among other things, the influence of Wagner on Puccini--alone among his Italian contemporaries, Puccini followed Wagner's example in bringing the motif into the forefront of his narrative, sometimes voicing the singer's unexpressed thoughts, sometimes sending out a signal to the audience of which the character is unaware. And Budden also paints an intriguing portrait of Puccini the man--talented but modest, a man who had friends from every walk of life: shopkeepers, priests, wealthy landowners, fellow artists. Affable, well mannered, gifted with a broad sense of fun, he rarely failed to charm all who met him. A new volume in the esteemed Master Musicians series, Puccini offers a masterful portrait of this beloved Italian composer.
Puccini and The Girl
Author: Annie Janeiro Randall
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226703894
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 259
Book Description
Set in the American West during the California Gold Rush, La fanciulla del West marked a significant departure from Giacomo Puccini's previous and best- known works. Puccini and the Girl is the first book to explore this important but often misunderstood opera that became the earliest work by a major European composer to receive an American premiere when it opened at New York's Metropolitan Opera House in 1910. Adapted from American playwright David Belasco's Broadway production, The Girl of the Golden West, Fanciulla was Puccini's most consciously modern work, and its Met debut received mixed reviews. Annie J. Randall and Rosalind Gray Davis base their account of its creation on previously unknown letters from Puccini to his main librettist, Carlo Zangarini. They mine musical materials, newspaper accounts, and rare photographs and illustrations to tell the full story of this controversial opera. Puccini and the Girl considers the production and reception of Puccini's "cowboy" opera in the light of contemporary criticism, providing both fascinating insight into its history and a look to the future as its centenary approaches. “Engrossing. . . . An eminently readable, ideally direct and information-packed book.”—William Fregosi, Opera Today
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226703894
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 259
Book Description
Set in the American West during the California Gold Rush, La fanciulla del West marked a significant departure from Giacomo Puccini's previous and best- known works. Puccini and the Girl is the first book to explore this important but often misunderstood opera that became the earliest work by a major European composer to receive an American premiere when it opened at New York's Metropolitan Opera House in 1910. Adapted from American playwright David Belasco's Broadway production, The Girl of the Golden West, Fanciulla was Puccini's most consciously modern work, and its Met debut received mixed reviews. Annie J. Randall and Rosalind Gray Davis base their account of its creation on previously unknown letters from Puccini to his main librettist, Carlo Zangarini. They mine musical materials, newspaper accounts, and rare photographs and illustrations to tell the full story of this controversial opera. Puccini and the Girl considers the production and reception of Puccini's "cowboy" opera in the light of contemporary criticism, providing both fascinating insight into its history and a look to the future as its centenary approaches. “Engrossing. . . . An eminently readable, ideally direct and information-packed book.”—William Fregosi, Opera Today
Puccini
Author: Michele Girardi
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 9780226297576
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 558
Book Description
Puccini's operas are among the most popular and widely performed in the world, yet few books have examined his body of work from an analytical perspective. This volume remedies that lack in lively prose accessible to scholars and opera enthusiasts alike.
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 9780226297576
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 558
Book Description
Puccini's operas are among the most popular and widely performed in the world, yet few books have examined his body of work from an analytical perspective. This volume remedies that lack in lively prose accessible to scholars and opera enthusiasts alike.
Puccini’s La fanciulla del West and American Musical Identity
Author: Kathryn Fenton
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351594877
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 301
Book Description
On 10 December 1910, Giacomo Puccini’s seventh opera, La fanciulla del West, had its premiere before a sold-out audience at New York City’s Metropolitan Opera House. The performance was the Metropolitan Opera Company’s first world premiere by any composer. By all accounts, the premiere was an unambiguous success and the event itself recognized as a major moment in New York cultural history. The initial public opinion matched Puccini’s own evaluation of his opera. He called it "the best he had ever written" and expected it to become as popular as La Bohème. Yet the music reviews tell a different story. Marked by ambivalence, the reviews expose the New York City critics’ struggle to reconcile the opera they expected to see with the one they actually saw, and the opera itself became embroiled in controversy over the essence of musical Americanness and the nativist perception that a uniquely American national opera tradition continued to elude both American- and foreign-born opera composers. This book seeks to account for the differences between Puccini’s own assessments of the opera and those of its first audience. Offering transcriptions of the central reviews and of letters unavailable elsewhere, the book provides a historically informed understanding of La fanciulla del West and the reception of this European work as it intersected with both opera production and consumption in the United States and with the process of American musical identity formation during the very period that Americans actively sought to eradicate European cultural influences. As such, it offers a window into the development of nativism and "cosmopolitan nationalism" in New York City’s musical life during the first decade of the twentieth century.
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351594877
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 301
Book Description
On 10 December 1910, Giacomo Puccini’s seventh opera, La fanciulla del West, had its premiere before a sold-out audience at New York City’s Metropolitan Opera House. The performance was the Metropolitan Opera Company’s first world premiere by any composer. By all accounts, the premiere was an unambiguous success and the event itself recognized as a major moment in New York cultural history. The initial public opinion matched Puccini’s own evaluation of his opera. He called it "the best he had ever written" and expected it to become as popular as La Bohème. Yet the music reviews tell a different story. Marked by ambivalence, the reviews expose the New York City critics’ struggle to reconcile the opera they expected to see with the one they actually saw, and the opera itself became embroiled in controversy over the essence of musical Americanness and the nativist perception that a uniquely American national opera tradition continued to elude both American- and foreign-born opera composers. This book seeks to account for the differences between Puccini’s own assessments of the opera and those of its first audience. Offering transcriptions of the central reviews and of letters unavailable elsewhere, the book provides a historically informed understanding of La fanciulla del West and the reception of this European work as it intersected with both opera production and consumption in the United States and with the process of American musical identity formation during the very period that Americans actively sought to eradicate European cultural influences. As such, it offers a window into the development of nativism and "cosmopolitan nationalism" in New York City’s musical life during the first decade of the twentieth century.