Overview

New in paperback! This book comes at a time when opera-lovers, singers, directors, and critics alike are taking a new look at the dramatic soprano heroines created by Giuseppe Verdi and Giacomo Puccini, endeavoring to delve beyond inherited scholarly interpretation and gain a richer understanding of these compelling female characters. Artistically limited by the bel canto musical tradition popular at the time, Verdi launched a new style dramma per musica which also demanded a new soprano archetype. This book illustrates the musical evolution of the Verdi and Puccini soprano while illuminating the dramatic scope and power of these great heroines. Avoiding critical reductionism, Verdi and Puccini Heroines provides an unprecedented and probing discussion of how these great soprano roles were conceived and executed. Accordingly, the authors take a three-dimensional look at these heroines, examining seven operas: Il Trovatore, La Forza del Destino, Aida, La Bohème, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, and Turandot. The chapters, which are fully self-contained analyses, contain translations, illustrative musical examples, supplementary notes, and references to each opera's literary sources. The musical analysis, while thorough, is descriptive and accessible to all levels of readers.

Full Product Details

9780810846937

Table of Contents

Reviews

Well researched...offers new perspectives on these significant female characters and insight into the dramatic intent of Verdi and Puccini. Journal Of Singing

Well researched...offers new perspectives on these significant female characters and insight into the dramatic intent of Verdi and Puccini. * Journal of Singing * Well researched...offers new perspectives on these significant female characters and insight into the dramatic intent of Verdi and Puccini. Journal of Singing

Author Information

Geoffrey Edwards is an award-winning author and stage director. Ryan Edwards, a leading baritone with the Metropolitan Opera, has received international acclaim as a singing actor.

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