Opera in Theory and Practice, Image and Myth by Bianconi, Lorenzo and Giorgio Pestelli - 2003

Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003. Hardcover. VG/VG (Ex-library with stamps and labels on spine, inside front and rear covers, ffep and block.). Black cloth boards with gilt spine lettering; burgundy dj, color illustrated, mylar cover; xiv, 456 pp; 44 unnumbered pages of plates. "This sixth volume in the series centers on the sociological and critical aspects of opera in Italy, considering the art in the context of an Italian literary and cultural canon rarely revealed in English and American studies. In its six chapters, contributors survey critics' changing attitudes toward opera over several centuries, trace the evolution of formal conventions among librettists, explore the historical relationships between opera and Italian literature, and examine opera's place in Italian popular and national culture. In perhaps the volume's most striking contribution, German scholar Carl Dahlhaus offers his most important statement on the dramaturgy of opera."--Jacket.
Contents: Poetics and polemics / Renato Di Benedetto -- The dramaturgy of Italian opera / Carl Dalhaus -- Metrical and formal organization / Paolo Fabbri -- Opera and Italian literature / Marzio Pieri -- The dissemination and popularization of opera / Roberto Leydi -- Opera in Italian national culture / Giovanni Morelli.