Author: Paul Schofield
Publisher: Hal Leonard Corporation
ISBN: 9781574671612
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 328
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Book Description
Traditionally, Wagnerian scholarship has always treated the Ring and Parsifal as two separate works. The Redeemer Reborn: Parsifal as the Fifth Opera of Wagner's Ring shows how Parsifal is in fact actually the fifth opera of the Ring. Schofield explains in detail how these five musical dramas portray a single, unbroken story which begins at the start of Das Rheingold when Wotan breaks a branch from the World Ash-tree and Alberich steals the gold of the Rhine, thus separating Spear and Grail, and ends with the reunion of the Spear and Grail in the temple of Monsalvat at the end of Parsifal. Schofield explains how and why the four main characters of the Ring are reborn in the opera Parsifal, needing to complete in Parsifal the spiritual journey begun in the Ring. He also shows how the redemption that is not attained in the process of the Ring is finally realized in the events of Parsifal.
Author: David McKay Powell
Publisher: LSU Press
ISBN: 0807177792
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 211
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Book Description
Throughout her fiction, Willa Cather mentioned forty-seven operas. References to opera appear in all but three of her twelve novels and in roughly half of her short stories. Despite a dearth of musical education, Cather produced astute writing about the genre beginning in her earliest criticism and continuing throughout her career. She counted opera stars among her close friends, and according to Edith Lewis, her companion throughout adulthood, the two women frequently visited the theater, even in the early days, when purchasing tickets to attend performances proved a financial sacrifice. Melding cultural history with thoughtful readings of her works and discussions of opera’s complex place in turn-of-the-century America, David McKay Powell’s Cather and Opera offers the first book-length study of what drew the writer so powerfully and repeatedly to the art form. With close attention to Cather’s fiction and criticism, Powell posits that at the heart of both her work and the operatic corpus dwells an innate tension between high artistic ideals and popular acceptance, often figured as a clash between compositional integrity and raw, personal emotion. Considering her connection to opera in both historical and intertextual terms, Cather and Opera investigates what operatic references mean in Cather’s writing, along with what the opera represented to her throughout her life.
Author: Will Romano
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1617136816
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 310
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Book Description
The first half of the 1970s was an especially fertile period for British progressive rock, laying claim to classics such as Tarkus, Selling England by the Pound, Larks' Tongues in Aspic, The Dark Side of the Moon, and Thick as a Brick. Collectively these and other works represent the best British progressive rock had to offer. Yet, it's Yes's 1972 three-track masterpiece, Close to the Edge, that presents a snapshot of an adventurous rock band at the peak of its powers, daring to push itself musically, both as individuals and as a unit. In this absorbing chronicle, which draws upon dozens of original and archived interviews and features rare photographs and an extensive discography, acclaimed music journalist Will Romano examines why Close to the Edge is the ultimate prog rock album. Yes had previously penned epic tracks for The Yes Album and Fragile, but nothing on the magnitude of the musical gems appearing on Close to the Edge. It's something of a small miracle – perhaps even magic – that the virtuoso quintet crafted such a cohesive and compelling album during an often-hectic recording process that very nearly relegated this monumental work to the dustbin of history. So potent was the power of Close to the Edge that even before its release it had forever shifted the personal dynamics of the group and the course of progressive rock. Rarely had Yes, or any rock outfit for that matter, been simultaneously so expansive and concise, spiritual and savage, profound and nebulous.
Author: Bruce Zuckerman
Publisher:
ISBN: 0198022557
Category : Bible
Languages : en
Pages : 310
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Book Description
This study of the Book of Job argues that it was intended as a parody of the stereotypical, righteous sufferer, portrayed as patient and silent. This example is used to demonstrate how texts become separated from the intentions of their authors, and can evolve quite different meanings for readers.
Author: Timothy V. Dugan
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 1476628351
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 431
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Book Description
Ajax, the archetypal Greek warrior, has over the years been trivialized as a peripheral character in the classics through Hollywood representations, and by the use of his name on household cleaning products. Examining a broad range of sources--from film, art and literature to advertising and sports--this study of the "Bulwark of the Achaeans" and his mythological image redefines his presence in Western culture, revealing him as the predominant voice in The Iliad and in myriad works across the classical canon.
Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 646
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Book Description
Author: John W. Barker
Publisher: University Rochester Press
ISBN: 1580464106
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 372
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Book Description
The first account of how Wagner's last years and his death in Venice have been mythologized in novels and other works of the creative imagination. The vast literature about Richard Wagner and his works includes a surprising number of fictional works, including novels, plays, satires, and an opera. Many of these deal with his last years and his death in Venice in 1883 -- andeven a fabricated eleventh-hour romance. These fictional treatments -- many presented here in English for the first time -- reveal a striking evolution in the way that Wagner's character and reputation have been viewed over more than a century. They offer insights into changing contexts in Western intellectual and cultural history. And they make clear how much Wagner's associations with Venice have become part of the accumulated mythology of "thefloating city." John Barker's Wagner and Venice Fictionalized: Variations on a Theme will be of interest to all lovers of opera, Venice, and European culture generally. John W. Barker is Emeritus Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, specializing in medieval (including Venetian) history. He is also a passionate music lover and record collector, and an active music critic and journalist.
Author: Michael Saffle
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135839530
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 478
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Book Description
Richard Wagner: A Research and Information Guide is an annotated bibliography concerning both the nature of primary sources related to the composer and the scope and significance of the secondary sources which deal with him, his compositions, and his influence as a composer and performer.
Author: Jayde Brooks
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
ISBN: 1250036739
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 366
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Book Description
Eden Reid is not interested in prophesy. The problem is that a doozy of a prophesy is bearing down on her. Such is the case when you're a twenty-four-year-old from Brooklyn, New York who is about to discover she is an ancient god. A truly powerful one. And with power comes problems. A truly formidable demon is gunning for her; a zombie-like pandemic is spreading across the country, creating creatures who are hungry for flesh, fast on their feet and clever; and there is the mysterious, handsome stranger with powers of his own who claims to have been her lover from a time and a life that Eden cannot remember. He promises to help awaken her powers for the upcoming war. A war where there is only one prize: survival...in Daughter of Gods and Shadows from debut author Jayde Brooks.
Author: Scott L. Balthazar
Publisher: Scarecrow Press
ISBN: 0810879433
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 564
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Book Description
Opera has been around ever since the late 16th century, and it is still going strong in the sense that operas are performed around the world at present, and known by infinitely more persons than just those who attend performances. On the other hand, it has enjoyed periods in the past when more operas were produced to greater acclaim. Those periods inevitably have pride of place in this Historical Dictionary of Opera, as do exceptional singers, and others who combine to fashion the opera, whether or not they appear on stage. But this volume looks even further afield, considering the cities which were and still are opera centers, literary works which were turned into librettos, and types of pieces and genres. While some of the former can be found on the web or in other sources, most of the latter cannot and it is impossible to have the whole picture without them. Indeed, this book has an amazingly broad scope. The dictionary section, with about 340 entries, covers the topics mentioned above but obviously focuses most on composers, not just the likes of Mozart, Verdi and Wagner, but others who are scarcely remembered but made notable contributions. Of course, there are the divas, but others singers as well, and some of the most familiar operas, Don Giovanni, Tosca and more. Technical terms also abound, and reference to different genres, from antimasque to zarzuela. Since opera has been around so long, the chronology is rather lengthy, since it has a lot of ground to cover, and the introduction sets the scene for the rest. This book should not be an end but rather a beginning, so it has a substantial bibliography for readers seeking more specific or specialized works. It is an excellent access point for readers interested in opera.
