Awards

• Winner of PROSE (Music/Performing Arts) 2013

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9780226035086

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Reviews

To write the history of opera production, not only must one know the repertory well, but one needs to understand the extraordinary work of the many people involved backstage who make an operatic spectacle function. Few people are as capable of writing such a history as Evan Baker, who has worked as a dramaturge and stage director for decades. Baker understands the changes that have accompanied operatic spectacles in modern times, as nonmusical influences have become an increasingly prominent aspect of the performance. In his new book, From the Score to the Stage, he follows these changes from the seventeenth century to the present. For the history of directing, stagecraft, and lighting in particular, Baker is superb. --Phillip Gossett New York Review of Books

Anyone associated with the production and planning of opera, not to mention also audiences and students of theater and cinema, will want to own From the Score to the Stage , which, for its comprehensive scope and sheer panache, has no competitor. Whether read cover to cover or used as an easy-to-navigate reference on particular topics, it is the indispensable single-source guide to the opera stage. --Rodney Punt The Huffington Post

Engaging and lavishly illustrated. --New York Times Baker covers all the major players and pieces involved in getting an opera onto the stage, from the stage director who creates the artistic concept for the production and guides the singers' interpretation of their roles to the blocking of singers and placement of scenery. . . . Out of these details arise illuminating discussions of individual productions that cast new light on the operas of Wager, Verdi, and others. --Opera America The illustrations are fascinating and occasionally quite humorous. . . . Baker's accompanying text, which is never pedantic, will be enjoyable for both opera scholars and neophytes seeking more background on the genre. As a general overview of Continental opera stage production, this unequaled volume will be an important addition to any opera library. . . . Essential. --Choice Gives fascinating yet profound insights behind the scenes of opera production and staging from the 17th century up to today. --Theaterforschung I took deep enjoyment and enrichment from Evan Baker's rigorous and intensive history of opera production. This important view of what we do every day in the serious work of our companies is often lost in a haze of trifle about diva fits, egos, and other dull social cliches about the arts. I admire how aligned this book is with what is lasting and true about these great works we are so privileged to perform: their lasting ability to be interpreted, reinterpreted, and loved. --Patrick Summers, Artistic Director, Houston Grand Opera There can be few people in the world capable of writing a book such as the present one, which deals with the staging of opera from its beginnings until the present day. Not only must one know the repertory well, but even more one needs to understand from a personal perspective, as well as from a historical one, the extraordinary work of so many persons involved backstage in making an operatic spectacle function. For the history of directing, stagecraft, and lighting in particular, Baker is superb. He understands the profound changes that have accompanied operatic spectacles in modern times as nonmusical influences have been increasingly felt, and treats them sympathetically, although not unreservedly so. For anyone wishing to learn more about how operas function onstage, there is no better place to start than with Evan Baker's book. --Phillip Gossett, author of Divas and Scholars: Performing Italian Opera Evan Baker retells the history of opera from a most unusual angle--not, like earlier histories, from the point of view of the music or the libretto, but rather as the evolving story of how operas have been staged from the form's beginnings to the current vogue of Regieoper. This new history is also the story of how new technologies--for example, the introduction of gaslight and, soon after, of electricity--enabled new ways of creating theatrical illusion. Presenting his considerable learning in a thoroughly readable style, Baker has shaped a book that will appeal to scholars and opera fans alike. --Herbert Lindenberger, author of Situating Opera: Period, Genre, Reception Numerous books dedicated to different opera-related topics are published each year. This work by Evan Baker, however, fills a gap by covering the history of scenic interpretation. How did the very idea of staged productions appear in the first place, and how did it develop; what was the evolution of lyric imagery, stagings, and costumes; in what ways have operas been put on, and how have they been perceived by spectators; what has been the role of great personalities such as Jacques Salome, Alfred Roller, Adolphe Appia, Wieland Wagner, Walter Felsenstein, or Patrice Chereau; and what is the meaning of Regietheater? These are just some of the questions that this absorbingly written and extremely well-illustrated book tries to answer. --Dominique Meyer, Director, Vienna State Opera Baker's clear and engaging prose guides the reader through the captivating subject matter, providing appropriate grounding when dealing with technical matters. Never before has a book offered such a passionate, sweeping, well-documented, and illustrated survey of the history of opera production. --Music and Letters Makes a major contribution--as well as a handsome addition to any coffee table. --Notes From the Score to the Stage is the best study of its kind: scholarly, entertaining, and comprehensive in its grasp of this wonderful subject. . . . The book is a trove of insight for lovers of staged opera, and a mainstay of the library of any serious student of musical theatre as actually practiced. --Wagner Blog Fascinating. . . . To be sure, much of the operatic past is irrevocably lost. But From the Score to the Stage brings so much of it to life that an opera-lover can only be grateful. --Opera News To write the history of opera production, not only must one know the repertory well, but one needs to understand the extraordinary work of the many people involved backstage who make an operatic spectacle function. Few people are as capable of writing such a history as Evan Baker, who has worked as a dramaturge and stage director for decades. Baker understands the changes that have accompanied operatic spectacles in modern times, as nonmusical influences have become an increasingly prominent aspect of the performance. In his new book, From the Score to the Stage, he follows these changes from the seventeenth century to the present. For the history of directing, stagecraft, and lighting in particular, Baker is superb. --New York Review of Books Anyone associated with the production and planning of opera, not to mention also audiences and students of theater and cinema, will want to own From the Score to the Stage, which, for its comprehensive scope and sheer panache, has no competitor. Whether read cover to cover or used as an easy-to-navigate reference on particular topics, it is the indispensable single-source guide to the opera stage. --Rodney Punt Huffington Post

Author Information

Evan Baker is an independent scholar based in Los Angeles. He has worked as both a dramaturge and a stage director and lectures frequently to opera audiences.

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