Sign-In
Cart
Opera: The Art of Dying
Hardcover
Series: Convergences: Inventories of the Present, Book 29
Currently unavailable to order
Please enter your email and a message will be sent to you when this product becomes available on our website.
ISBN13: 9780674335615
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Published: Feb 5 2004
Pages: 239
Weight: 1.17
Height: 0.63 Width: 6.14 Depth: 9.21
Language: English
Our modern narratives of science and technology can only go so far in teaching us about the death that we must all finally face. Can an act of the imagination, in the form of opera, take us the rest of the way? Might opera, an art form steeped in death, teach us how to die, as this provocative work suggests? In Opera: The Art of Dying a physician and a literary theorist bring together scientific and humanistic perspectives on the lessons on living and dying that this extravagant and seemingly artificial art imparts.
Contrasting the experience of mortality in opera to that in tragedy, the Hutcheons find a more apt analogy in the medieval custom of contemplatio mortis--a dramatized exercise in imagining one's own death that prepared one for the inevitable end and helped one enjoy the life that remained. From the perspective of a contemporary audience, they explore concepts of mortality embodied in both the common and the more obscure operatic repertoire: the terror of death (in Poulenc's Dialogues of the Carmelites); the longing for death (in Wagner's Tristan and Isolde); preparation for the good death (in Wagner's Ring of the Nibelung); and suicide (in Puccini's Madama Butterfly). In works by Janacek, Ullmann, Berg, and Britten, among others, the Hutcheons examine how death is made to feel logical and even right morally, psychologically, and artistically--how, in the art of opera, we rehearse death in order to give life meaning.
1 different editions
Also available
Also in
Opera
Puccini Without Excuses: A Refreshing Reassessment of the World's Most Popular Composer
Berger, William
Paperback
Verdi With a Vengeance: An Energetic Guide to the Life and Complete Works of the King of Opera
Berger, William
Paperback
A Modern Guide to Old World Singing: Concepts of the Swedish-Italian and Italian Singing Schools
Jones, David L.
Paperback
A Night at the Opera: An Irreverent Guide to the Plots, the Singers, the Composers, the Recordings
Forman, Denis
Paperback
Science and the Romantic Vision in Early Nineteenth-Century Opera
Mark a. Pottinger, Mark A.
Hardcover
Great Singers on Great Singing: A Famous Opera Star Interviews 40 Famous Opera Singers on the Technique of Singing
Hines, Jerome
Paperback
Wagner Without Fear: Learning to Love--And Even Enjoy--Opera's Most Demanding Genius
Berger, William
Paperback
The Toughest Show on Earth: The Toughest Show on Earth: My Rise and Reign at the Metropolitan Opera
Volpe, Joseph
Michener, Charles
Paperback
Music of the Night: Religious Influences and Spiritual Resonances in Operetta and Musical Theatre
Bradley, Ian
Paperback
Italian Opera Singing at the Time of Verismo: The Invention of the Modern Voice
Gentili, Barbara
Hardcover
Complete Plays of Gilbert and Sullivan (Revised)
Gilbert, William Schwenck
Sullivan, Arthur Seymour
Paperback
Succeeding Puccini: The Operatic Career of Italo Montemezzi, 1875-1952
Mellace, Raffaele
Chandler, David
Hardcover
Ticket to the Opera: Discovering and Exploring 100 Famous Works, History, Lore, and Singers, with Recommended Recordings
Goulding, Phil G.
Paperback
The Dance and Opera Stage Manager's Toolkit: Protocols, Practical Considerations, and Templates
Kay, Michele
Studham, Susan Fenty
Paperback
The Wound That Will Never Heal: An Allegorical Interpretation of Richard Wagner's the Ring of the Nibelung
Heise, Paul Brian
Paperback
Richard Wagner, Rudolf Steiner & Allegories of the Ring: From the Mundane to the Esoteric
Hastings, George
Paperback
Music and Architecture in Harmony: Opera Houses and Concert Halls of Europe 1672-2022
Aujero Small, Thomas
Webb, Michael
Hardcover
Mad Scenes and Exit Arias: The Death of the New York City Opera and the Future of Opera in America
Waleson, Heidi
Paperback
Opera for Everyone: The Industry's Experiments with American Opera in the Digital Age
Steigerwald Ille, Megan
Paperback
The Complete Plays of Gilbert and Sullivan
Sullivan, Arthur
Gilbert, W. S. (William Schwenck)
Paperback
Center Stage: Operatic Culture and Nation Building in Nineteenth-Century Central Europe
Ther, Philipp
Paperback
Pequeña pequeñita CHILDREN SONG CYCLE FOR VOICE AND PIANO: Canciones infantiles de Jaime Leon
Caicedo, Patricia
Paperback
IL TROVATORE (The Troubadour): An Opera in Four Acts; Vocal Score
Verdi, Giuseppe
Cammarano, S.
Paperback