Opera: Passion, Power, Politics

by Kate Bailey, Kasper Holton (Introduction)

Opera is traditionally regarded as an elitist art form, far removed from reality with its fantastical plots and melodramatic divas. This lush new book shows that beneath all the opulent sets and sumptuous costumes, opera—like all the arts—draws on essential human emotions, creating an experience that can be endlessly reinvented to reflect changes in society. Through the lens of seven opera premieres in seven cities across the past 400 years, the authors look at snapshots in time where politics, art, and social history intersected, providing an immersive account of the society from which these pieces and performances evolved. Noted opera designers, performers, conductors, singers, and directors come together with musicologists and historians to discuss the following

• Venice, Monteverdi’s L’Incoronazione di Poppea (1642)
• London, Handel’s Rinaldo (1711)
• Vienna, Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro (1786)
• Milan, Verdi’s Nabucco (1842)
• Paris, Wagner’s Tannhäuser (1861)
• Dresden, Strauss’ Salome (1905)
• St Petersburg, Shostakovitch’s Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District (1934)

This book will fascinate seasoned opera goers and history buffs alike.

Genres: Music

160 pages, Hardcover

Published October 24, 2017

Reviews

[Ola · Rating 4 out of 5]

The V&A has the most wonderful high-end exhibitions, and their catalogues are great. A bit polished of course (it's opera after all, and it should be lavish), and maybe slightly too much on context and too little on the actual music for my taste – but that's also to be expected, I guess.

The concept is as follows: seven world cities associated with opera (Venice, London, Vienna, Milan, Paris, Dresden and St. Petersburg) and seven premieres in these cities, by Monteverdi, Handel, Mozart, Verdi, Wagner, Strauss and Schostakovich.

The selection of operas and cities are fine, although I find it odd to choose Paris for Wagner (and not for instance Meyerbeer – or even more boldly Debussy – in Paris and a special note for Bayreuth and Wagner). I of course would have liked to see something newer as well (Adams, Benjamin, Stockhausen and Saariaho are whiffed over in the exhibition, but are not mentioned in the catalogue).

But over-all, both the catalogue and the exhibition are great.