1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910817243303321

Autore

Affron Charles

Titolo

Grand opera : the story of the Met / / Charles Affron and Mirella Jona Affron

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Oakland, California : , : University of California Press, , 2014

©2014

ISBN

0-520-95897-7

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (469 p.)

Disciplina

792.509747/1

Soggetti

Electronic books

MUSIC / Genres & Styles / Opera

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Includes index.

Nota di contenuto

Front matter -- Contents -- List of Illustrations -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- 1. A Matter of Boxes, 1883-1884: Bel Canto -- 2. Cultural Capital, 1884-1903: The German Seasons and French Opera -- 3. Opera Wars, 1903-1908: Parsifal, Salome, and the Manhattan Opera Company -- 4. Modernity, 1908-1929: Puccini -- 5. Hard Times, 1929-1940: Wagner -- 6. Strains of War, 1940-1950: The Conductor's Opera -- 7. Stage Business, 1950-1966: Verdi -- 8. In Transit, 1966-1975: American Opera -- 9. Maestro Assoluto, 1975-1990: Twentieth-Century European Opera and the Baroque -- 10. Patronage and Perestroika, 1990-2006: American Opera (Redux) and Slavic Opera -- 11. In the Age of New Media, 2006-2013 -- Notes -- Index of Names, Titles, and Foreign-Language Musical Terms

Sommario/riassunto

The Metropolitan has stood among the grandest of opera companies since its birth in 1883. Tracing the offstage/onstage workings of this famed New York institution, Charles Affron and Mirella Jona Affron tell how the Met became and remains a powerful actor on the global cultural scene. In this first new history of the company in thirty years, each of the chronologically sequenced chapters surveys a composer or a slice of the repertoire and brings to life dominant personalities and memorable performances of the time. From the opening night Faust to the recent controversial production of Wagner's "Ring," Grand Opera is a remarkable account of management and audience response to the



push and pull of tradition and reinvention. Spanning the decades between the Gilded Age and the age of new media, this story of the Met concludes by tipping its hat to the hugely successful "Live in HD" simulcasts and other twenty-first-century innovations. Grand Opera's appeal extends far beyond the large circle of opera enthusiasts. Drawing on unpublished documents from the Metropolitan Opera Archives, reviews, recordings, and much more, this richly detailed book looks at the Met in the broad context of national and international issues and events.