Understanding Italian Opera

Opera is often regarded as the pinnacle of high art. A "Western" genre with global reach, it is where music and drama come together in unique ways, supported by stellar singers and spectacular scenic effects. Yet it is also patently absurd -- why should anyone break into song on the dramatic stage? -- and shrouded in mystique. In this engaging and entertaining guide, renowned music scholar Tim Carter unravels its many layers to offer a thorough introduction to Italian opera from the seventeenth to the early twentieth centuries. Eschewing the technical musical detail that all too often dominates writing on opera, Carter begins instead where the composers themselves did: with the text. Walking readers through the relationship between music and poetry that lies at the heart of any opera, Carter then offers explorations of five of the most enduring and emblematic Italian operas: Monteverdi's The Coronation of Poppea; Handel's Julius Caesar in Egypt; Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro; Verdi's Rigoletto; and Puccini's La Bohème. Shedding light on the creative collusions and collisions involved in bringing opera to the stage, the various, and varying, demands of the text and music, and the nature of its musical drama, Carter also shows how Italian opera has developed over the course of music history. Complete with synopses, cast lists, and suggested further reading for each work discussed, Understanding Italian Opera is a must-read for anyone with an interest in and love for this glorious art.

Tim Carter is David G. Frey Distinguished Professor of Music at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and a noted scholar of opera and musical theatre. He frequently gives pre-performance lectures and workshops on opera to a wide variety of audiences in both the US and the UK.

Preface
1: What is Opera?
Some definitions In praise of librettists Italian versification Poetic structures and musical consequences Two examples from Mozart An "exotic and irrational entertainment"?
2: Giovanni Francesco Busenello and Claudio Monteverdi, L'incoronazione di Poppea (Venice, 1643)
Monteverdi in Venice The first operas "But here the matter is represented differently" "Speaking" and "singing" Seductive Poppea Seneca's death Ottavia in exile Ecstasies of love
3: Nicola Francesco Haym and George Frideric Handel, Giulio Cesare in Egitto (London, 1724)
Arcadian reforms Adapting Bussani Recitatives and arias Some alternatives "Fly, my heart, to the sweet enchantment" Taming Cleopatra Cesare returns All's well...
4: Lorenzo da Ponte and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Le nozze di Figaro (Vienna, 1786)
... these Italian gentlemen are very civil to your face Translating Beaumarchais Aria forms A duet, a trio, and a sextet Finales Readings and messages
5: Francesco Maria Piave and Giuseppe Verdi, Rigoletto (Venice, 1851)
"Le Roi s'amuse" Cantabiles and cabalettas Duets Arias and monologues A quartet ... a storm ... and a death
6: Giuseppe Giacosa, Luigi Illica, and Giacomo Puccini, La Bohème (Turin, 1896)
Bohemian rhapsodies A publisher, two librettists, and a rival A missing act Verse and music Formless forms? Operatic realisms Mimì dies
7: Afterthoughts