Dreaming with Open Eyes (eBook)

Opera, Aesthetics, and Perception in Arcadian Rome

Ayana O. Smith (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2019
328 Seiten
University of California Press (Verlag)
978-0-520-97040-3 (ISBN)

Infos

Dreaming with Open Eyes examines visual symbolism in late seventeenth-century Italian opera, contextualizing the genre amid the broad ocularcentric debates emerging at the crossroads of the early modern period and the Enlightenment. Ayana O. Smith reevaluates significant aspects of the Arcadian reform aesthetic and establishes a historically informed method of opera criticism for modern scholars and interpreters. Unfolding in a narrative fashion, the text explores facets of the philosophical and literary background and concludes with close readings of text and music, using visual symbolism to create readings of gender and character in two operas: Alessandro Scarlattis La Statira (Rome, 1690), and Carlo Francesco Pollarolos La forza della virt (Venice, 1693). Smith's interdisciplinary approach enhances our modern perception of this rich and underexplored repertory, and will appeal to students and scholars not only of opera, but also of literature, philosophy, and visual and intellectual cultures.

Inhalt

List of Figures
List of Musical Examples
Acknowledgments

Introduction

part one. the image of truth
1. Founding Arcadia: The Aesthetics of Verisimilitude and Buon Gusto
2. Performing L’Endimione: A History and Reappraisal of Guidi’s Favola
pastorale
3. Reading the Classics: Intellectual and Cultural Resonances in Gravina’s
Discorso sopra l’Endimione

part two. the truth of representation
4. Reconciling Icon, Mythos, and Tupos: The Role of Images in L’Endimione
5. Believing in Opera: Visual Modes in Alessandro Scarlatti’s La Statira
6. Deceiving the Eye: Mirror, Statue, and Stone in Carlo Francesco
Pollarolo’s La forza della virtù
Epilogue: Constructing Gender and Politics; Queen Christina’s Image

Notes
Bibliography
Index

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 5.3.2019
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Kunst / Musik / Theater ► Musik ► Klassik / Oper / Musical
• Schlagworte: 1690 • 17th century • Aesthetic • alessandro scarlatti • arcadian reform • carlo francesco pollarolo • Character • Crossroads • debates • early modern period • Enlightenment • Gender • Genre • Interpreters • Italian • Italy • la forza della virtu • la statira • literary background • modern scholars • ocularcentric • Opera • opera criticism • philosophical background • Rome • text and music • visual symbolism
• ISBN-10: 0-520-97040-3 / 0520970403
• ISBN-13: 978-0-520-97040-3 / 9780520970403