Alan Riding - Opera: The Definitive Illustrated Story

opera

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THE DEFINITI VE ILL USTRA TE D STORY ALAN RIDING & LESLIE DUNTO N-DOWNER

Senior Editors Senior Art Editor US Senior Editor US Executiv e Editor Senior Picture Researcher Managing Editor Senior Mana ging Ar t Editor Jac ket Designer Jack et Design Deve lopment Manager Art Director Associate Publishing Director Publishing Director Design Director Media Archive Production Editor Senior Production Controller Victoria Heyworth-Dunne, Scarlett OHara Helen Spencer Megan Douglass Lori Cates Hand Myriam Megharbi Gareth Jo nes Lee Griths Surabhi W adhwa Sophia MTT Karen Self Liz Wheeler Jonathan Metcalf Phil Ormero d Romaine We rblow Gillian Reid Rachel Ng Senior Editor Pr oject Ar t Editor Editor Senior Managing Editor Mana ging Ar t Editor Senior DTP Designers DTP Designer Senior Ja ckets Coordinator Pre-Production Mana ger Production Manager DK India Editorial Head DK India Design Head Tina Jindal Meenal Goel Shambhavi Thatte Rohan Sinha Sudakshina Basu Harish Aggar wal, Vishal Bhatia , Jagtar Singh Jaypal Chauhan Priya nka Sharma Saddi Balwant Singh Pank aj Sharma Glenda Fernandes Malavika T a lukder SECOND EDITION DK INDIA This American Edition, 2022 First American Edition, 2006 Publi shed in the United States by DK Pu blishing 1450 Broadwa y, Suite 801, New Y or k, NY 10018 Tex t copyright 2006 Alan Riding and Leslie Dunton-Downer Te xt copyright additional material 2022 Alan Riding Copyright 2006, 2022 Dorling Kindersley Limited DK, a Division of Pe nguin Random House LLC 22 23 24 25 26 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 001325057Aug/2022 All rights reserv ed. Without limiting the rights under the cop yright rese rved above, no part of this publication may be r epro duced, stored in or intr oduced into a r etriev al system, or transmitted, in an y form, or by an y means (electro nic, m echanical, photocopying, record ing, o r otherwise), without the prior written permission of the copyright owner . Publi shed in Great Britain b y Dorling Kindersley Limited A catalog recor d for t his book is av ailable fr om the Libr ary of Congr ess. ISBN: 978-0-7440-5631-0 DK books are a vailabl e at special discounts when purchased in bulk for sales pro motions, premiums, fund-r aising, or educational use. For details, contact: DK Pu blishing Special Marke ts, 1450 Broadwa y, Suite 801, New Y or k, NY 10018 SpecialSales@dk. com Printe d and bound in China www.dk.com This book was made with For est Stewar dship Council certied paperone small step in DK s commitment to a sustainable future. For mor e inform ation go to www. dk. com/our-green-pledge Project Editor Project Art Editor DTP Designer Production Controller Managing Editor Mana ging Ar t Editor Publisher Art D irector Picture Researcher Editorial Assistant US Editor Indexer Sam Atkinson Victoria Clark Lar agh K edwell Melanie Dowland Debr a W olter Karen Self Jonathan Metcalf Bryn Wa lls Sarah Smi thies Oussama Zahr Anne Plume Hilary Bird FIRST EDITION Project Editor Project Designer Designers Editorial Assistance Jennifer Close Dawn T er rey Sharon Cluett , Claire Mo ore, Shar on Rudd Jane Baldock, Aaron Br own, Rob W alk er STUDIO CAC TUS L TD Preface INTRODUCING OPERA What is opera? Librettos & librettists Staging opera Opera houses & festiv als Idols of opera MONTEVERDI TO MOZART . 16001800 Claudio Monteverdi Jean -Baptiste Lully Henry Purcell Antonio Viva ldi Jean- Philippe Rameau George Frideric Handel Christoph Willibald Gluck Wol fgang Amadeus Mozar t

ITA LIAN OPERA (c. 18001925) Gioachino Ro ssini Vincenzo Bellini Gaetano Donizetti Giuse ppe V erdi Pietro Mascagni Rugg ero Leoncava llo Umberto Giordano Giacomo Puccini GERMANIC OPERA (c. 18001950) Ludwig van Beetho ven Carl Maria v on W eber Ric hard W agner J ohann Strauss the Y oung er Franz Lehr Richard Strauss FRENCH OPERA (c. 17901900) Luigi Cheru bini Giacomo Meyerbeer Hector Berlioz Charles-Franois Gounod Jacque s Oenbach Georges Bizet Jules Ma ssenet Claude Debussy RUSSIAN OPERA (c. 18301960) Mikhail Ivano vich Glinka Modest Pe trovich Mussorg sky Pyotr Ilyich Tc haikovs ky Nikolay Rimsky -Korsako v Igor Fyo dorovich St ravinsky Sergey Prokoev Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostako vich CZECH OPERA (c. 18601940) Bedich Smetana Antonn Dvok Leo Ja nek MODERN OPERA (c. 900 ) Ethel Mary Smyth Scott Jo plin Arnold Schoenberg Alban Berg Kurt W e ill Bla Bartk George Gershwin F rancis P oulenc Benjamin Britten Leonard Bernstein Gyrgy Ligeti Philip Glass John Ad ams Tan Dun Thomas Ads Unsuk Chin Mark-Anthony Tu rnage George Benjamin Charles Wu orinen Kaija Sa ariaho Ter ence Blanchard Other key operas Index Acknowledgments

Preface

ven pas sionate musi c fans may be forgiven fo r considering opera over -t he-top. Aft er all, how bette r to describ e an art form that au nts convoluted plots , incompreh ensible lyr ics, stormy orchest ration, hy perboli c act ing, exo tic sta ging, and temperament al sing ers? Another word mi ght be o peratic. And yet, ope ra contin ually ad ds new conv ert s to its legions of worshipf ul foll owers. It may rs t touch the un suspec tin g soul through a di vas ch arisma on telev ision, a haunt ing chorus on the radio , or the thri ll of a l ive per for mance. Wh atever the im petus may be, pe ople have a way of rememberin g the moment when opera bega n to change the ir lives . An invitatio n We both came to ope ra along die rent paths. Bu t it has since led us to see th e worldan d ourselve swith fresh eyes. I t has take n us on imag inary journeys and has accompani ed us on our tra vels. And now, through thi s book, we hop e to share th e many plea sure s that opera ha s ao rded us. Opera is, of course , an emotio nal, even intimate e xperience. Its dramatic e ssence ca nnot be over looked : stor y , lyrics, a nd music come together to express p owerf ul fee lings . The word s themselves may be sung in any number of langua ges those we addres s here are in Ita lian, G erman, Fr ench, Russ ian, Cz ech, Hunga rian, an d Englishbut the music it self require s no trans lation. It may be t empting to th ink of ope ra as an art icial, ev en contriv ed form of ar t. Barely four cent uries old, it was born in th e Europe an land that pro vided it s na me and many of its greates t compo sers: Italy . Ye t, in real ity , singing of love, betray al, sueri ng, or joy is older than rec orded hi stor y , insepara ble from hum an pas sion its elf. Thus, what op eras earlies t creator s did wa s to give ag e-old emotio nal truths a new lyrical an d dramatic form. Success ive generatio ns of compose rs and lib rett ists have captu red the operatic sentimen ts o f their own tim es. And a s op era grew in popularit y , spawning th eaters de signed around its needs, i t also became an in ternationa l art form. Singer s, comp osers, poe ts, and designer s criss- crossed Europe, and soon they carried opera to th e New Worl d and beyond. A thrilling adve nture No single book could cover every surv iving opera : they nu mber in the thousan ds. Inst ead, we have chosen those of endu ring populari ty , as w ell as those that pla yed a cru cial role in opera s evolutio n. Thus, whi le highl ighting 2 opera s and their composers , the book al so aims to tel l the st ory of opera it self . This is a stor y of how the ar t f orm appea red and cha nged over the cent uries. B ut it is also a st ory of compose rs who were worshipp ed lik e gods and others who died in mi sery ; of ope ras banned as subversi ve and others that bec ame patriot ic banners ; of arias , duets , and choruse s that be came popul ar hits ; of elect rify ing singers and da zzl ing st agecraf t; of opera hous es burned to the ground an d lovingly re built; an d, not leas t, of the devoted audiences who make ope ra what it is. As au thors, we, too, hav e been on a vo yage. We both bega n with our own fa vorite oper as, co mposers , and musica l periods . But in selec tin g works for deta iled ex aminati on, our rese arch led us to disc over new ope ratic trea sur es, and to admire the extrao rdinar y variety and contin uity of opera thr ough the ag es. Opera is a ri chly rewar ding world an d it can be ent ered through my riad door s. We trust t hat this bo ok will serv e as a welcome compani on to anyone ex ploring this unique realm . T housands o f fans b rave th e damp w eather as t he great Ital ian ten or Lucia no Pava rott i celebrates 30 years in ope ra with a fre e conc ert in Hyde Pa rk, L ondon, in July 1 C rowds arriv e f or La tra viata at the old Metro polita n Ope ra in New Y or k in 1 1, ve year s be fore it wa s r eplaced b y t oday s larg er Metropoli tan O pera a t Lincoln Ce nter. Preface