Opera in the Novel from Balzac to Proust

Cambridge Studies in Opera

by Cormac Newark

The turning point of Madame Bovary, which Flaubert memorably set at the opera, is only the most famous example of a surprisingly long tradition, one common to a range of French literary styles and sub-genres. In the first book-length study of that tradition to appear in English, Cormac Newark examines representations of operatic performance from Balzac's La Comédie humaine to Proust's À la recherche du temps perdu, by way of (among others) Dumas père's Le Comte de Monte-Cristo and Leroux's Le Fantôme de l'Opéra. Attentive to textual and musical detail alike in the works, the study also delves deep into their reception contexts. The result is a compelling cultural-historical account: of changing ways of making sense of operatic experience from the 1820s to the 1920s, and of a perennial writerly fascination with the recording of that experience.

298 pages, Hardcover

First published February 28, 2011

Reviews

[HT · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an well-researched look at opera-going in French novels and how evenings at the opera (or remembrances of those evenings) was an integral part of upper class French society in the 19th century. If you are interested in how classical music was once a part of European society, this is an excellent research.