Awards

• Winner of American Musicological Society Philip Brett Award 2010
• Winner of American Musicological Society Philip Brett Award 2010.

Overview

This book explores the fascinating life of the most documented musician of the seventeenth century. Born in 1626 into a bourgeois family in Pistoia, Italy, Atto Melani was castrated to preserve his singing voice and soon rose to both artistic and social prominence. His extant letters not only depict the musical activities of several European centers, they reveal the real-life context of music and the musician: how a singer related to patrons and colleagues, what he thought about his profession, and the role music played in his life. Whether Atto was singing, spying, having sex, composing, or even rejecting his art, his life illustrates how music-making was always also a negotiation for power. Providing a rare glimpse of the social and political contexts of seventeenth-century music, Roger Freitas sheds light on the mechanisms that generated meaning for music, clarifying what music at this time actually was.

Full Product Details

Author:   Roger Freitas (Dr, University of Rochester, New York)
Publisher:   Cambridge University Press
Imprint:   Cambridge University Press
Volume:   19
Dimensions:   Width: 17.80cm , Height: 2.30cm , Length: 25.40cm
Weight:   0.780kg
ISBN:  

9781107696105

ISBN 10:   1107696100
Pages:   452
Publication Date:   01 May 2014
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand  
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.

Table of Contents

Introduction; 1. Creating a castrato; 2. The politics of patronage: 1638–53; 3. In pursuit of prestige: 1653–5; 4. The sexuality of the castrato; 5. Disgrace and transformation: 1656–71; 6. Atto Melani and the cantata; 7. Completing the portrait: 1671–1714; Appendices: A. The letters of Atto Melani; B. Letters addressed to or concerning Atto Melani; C. Satires: Sopra Atto Melani musico and Al Signor Atto Melani; D. Excerpt from the Receuil des défenses of Nicolas Fouquet; E. Biographical sketch from Tommaso Trenta's Memorie; F. The cantata texts of Atto Melani, with analyses and translations; G. The Wills: For Italy; For France; H. The cabinet in the 'Salotto dell'Abbate Melani', from the inventory of 1782.

Reviews

'The book includes a survey of Atto's cantatas, polished, efficient exemplars of a fashionable new Italian genre, but in the end far less important to their creator than the wordly advancement their performances brought with it. Richly documented, this whole extraordinary chronicle of the eunuch as self-made man is one of the most absorbing studies in its field to have appeared in recent years.' The Times Literary Supplement

'The book includes a survey of Atto's cantatas, polished, efficient exemplars of a fashionable new Italian genre, but in the end far less important to their creator than the wordly advancement their performances brought with it. Richly documented, this whole extraordinary chronicle of the eunuch as self-made man is one of the most absorbing studies in its field to have appeared in recent years.' Times Literary Supplement

Author Information

Roger Freitas is Associate Professor in the Department of Musicology, Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester.

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