Unsettling Opera: Staging Mozart, Verdi, Wagner, and Zemlinsky

by David J. Levin

What happens when operas that are comfortably ensconced in the canon are thoroughly rethought and radically recast on stage? What does a staging do to our understanding of an opera, and of opera generally? While a stage production can disrupt a work that was thought to be established, David J. Levin here argues that the genre of opera is itself unsettled, and that the performance of operas, at its best, clarifies this condition by bringing opera’s restlessness and volatility to life.

Unsettling Opera explores a variety of fields, considering questions of operatic textuality, dramaturgical practice, and performance theory. Levin opens with a brief history of opera production, opera studies, and dramatic composition, and goes on to consider in detail various productions of the works of Wagner, Mozart, Verdi, and Alexander Zemlinsky. Ultimately, the book seeks to initiate a dialogue between scholars of music, literature, and performance by addressing questions raised in each field in a manner that influences them all.

274 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[Yuval · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book elegantly and precisely puts into language so many of the ephemeral dilemmas involved in staging opera. Clearly the work of someone who has practical experience as well as academic ability, this book poses an excellent argument for radical but thoughtful productions in ways I find hard to refute. Then again, that argument perfectly represents the point of view I had before I picked up the book, so maybe I'm not the best judge of that. But Levin's goal of creating a language for appraising of mise en scene is a necessary one, and one he meets beautifully.

Although the book is entertainingly written, it is definitely an academic work, which makes it difficult for me to recommend to friends and colleagues. So I can't help but harbor a hope that Levin now writes the ideas of this book in a more accessible way, aimed less at academia and more for opera audiences--the ones I think need his insight most of all.

[Jenna · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very scholarly and highly theoretical look at current staging opera praxis. I cheer his defense of allowing recording to also serve as a means to encounter opera, particular since this is how so many experience it now, with the Metropolitan Opera's Live in HD, etc. However, it is an academic work and those that do not have at least a passing familiarity with translation theory, for instance, might find it a bit hard to get into at least at first, though I think Levin makes an excellent effort to explain his use of theory, before diving in.