National Traditions in Nineteenth-Century Opera, Volume I: Italy, France, England and the Americas

566 Pages·2010·76.835 MB·English

by  Steven Huebner (ed.)

National Traditions in Nineteenth-Century Opera,
Volume I
The Ashgate Library of Essays in Opera Studies
Series Editor: Roberta Montemorra Marvin
Titles in the Series:
Studies in Seventeenth-Century Opera
BethL. Glixon
Opera Remade, 1700-1750
Charles Dill
Essays on Opera, 1750-1800
John A. Rice
National Traditions in Nineteenth-Century Opera,
Volume I
Italy, France, England and the Americas
Steven Huebner
National Traditions in Nineteenth-Century Opera,
Volume II
Central and Eastern Europe
Michael C. Tusa
Opera after 1900
Margaret Notley
National Traditions in
Nineteenth-Century Opera,
Volume I
Italy, France, England and the Americas
Edited by
Steven Huebner
McGill University, Canada
O Routledge
Taylor & Francis Group
LONDON AND NEW YORK
First published 2010 by Ashgate Publishing
Published 2016 by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon 0X14 4RN
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
Copyright © Steven Huebner 2010. For copyright of individual articles please refer to the
Acknowledgements.
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Wherever possible, these reprints are made from a copy of the original printing, but these can themselves
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some variability may inevitably remain.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
National traditions in nineteenth-century opera.
Volume 1, Italy, France, England and the Americas. - (The
Ashgate library of essays in opera studies)
1. Opera-Italy-19th century. 2. Opera-France-19th
century. 3. Opera-England-19th century. 4. Opera-
America-19th century.
I. Series II. Huebner, Steven.
782.1'09034-dc22
Library of Congress Control Number: 2010925879
ISBN 9780754628996 (hbk)
Contents
A cknowl edgem ents vii
Series Preface ix
Introduction xi
PARTI CONTEXTS
1 Fabrizio Della Seta (1998), ‘Some Difficulties in the Historiography of Italian
Opera’, Cambridge Opera Journal, 10, pp. 3-13. 3
2 Cormac Newark (2002), ‘Metaphors for Meyerbeer’, Journal of the Royal
Musical Association, 127, pp. 23^13. 15
3 Gary Tomlinson (1986), ‘Italian Romanticism and Italian Opera: An Essay
in Their Affinities’, 19th-Century Music, 10, pp. 43-60. 37
4 Andreas Giger (2007), ‘ Verismo: Origin, Corruption and Redemption of an
Operatic Term’, Journal of the American Musicological Society, 60,
pp. 271-315. 55
5 Alessandro Roccatagliati (1996), ‘Felice Romani, Librettist by Trade’,
Cambridge Opera Journal, 8, pp. 113^15. Trans, by Karen Henson. 101
6 Gabriella Dideriksen and Matthew Ringel (1995), ‘Frederick Gye and
“The Dreadful Business of Opera Management’”, 19th-Century Music, 19,
pp. 3-30. 135
7 Steven Huebner (1989), ‘Opera Audiences in Paris 1830-1870’, Music &
Letters, 70, pp. 206-25. 163
8 Roberta Montemorra Marvin (2003), ‘Verdian Opera Burlesqued: A Glimpse
into Mid-Victorian Theatrical Culture’, Cambridge Opera Journal, 15,
pp. 33-66 and publisher’s errata pp. 209-11. 183
PART II COMPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
9 Philip Gossett (1992), ‘History and Works That Have No History: Reviving
Rossini’s Neapolitan Operas’, in Katherine Bergeron and Philip V. Bohlman
(eds), Disciplining Music: Musicology and its Canons, Chicago: University
of Chicago Press, pp. 95-115. 221
10 Harold S. Powers (1987), ‘La solita forma and “The Uses of Convention’”,
Acta Musicologica, 59, pp. 65-90. 243
11 Roger Parker and Allan W. Atlas (1992), ‘A Key for Chfl Tonal Areas in
Puccini’, 19th-Century Music, 15, pp. 229-34. 269
12 Carolyn Abbate (1981), ‘ Tristan in the Composition of Pelleas\ 19th-Century
Music, 5, pp. 117—41. 275
vi National Traditions in Nineteenth-Century Opera, Volume I
PART III CRITICISM
13 Sarah Hibberd (2004), “‘Dormez done, mes chers amours”: Herold’s
La Somnambule (1827) and Dream Phenomena on the Parisian Lyric Stage’,
Cambridge Opera Journal, 16, pp. 107-32. 303
14 Arthur Groos (1995), “‘TB Sheets”: Love and Disease in La traviata',
Cambridge Opera Journal, 7, pp. 233-60. 329
15 Ralph Hexter (2002), ‘Masked Balls’, Cambridge Opera Journal, 14,
pp. 93-108. 357
16 Heather Hadlock (1994), ‘Return of the Repressed: The Prima Donna from
Hoffmann’s Tales to Offenbach’s Contes', Cambridge Opera Journal, 6,
pp. 221^3. 373
17 Suzanne Robinson (2008), ‘Smyth the Anarchist: Fin-de-siecle Radicalism in
The Wreckers', Cambridge Opera Journal, 20, pp. 149-79. 397
PART IV PERFORMANCE
18 Philip Gossett (1996), ‘Knowing the Score: Italian Opera as Work and Play’,
in D.C. Greetham and W. Speed Hill (eds), Text: Transactions of the Society
for Textual Scholarship, 8, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, pp. 1-24. 431
19 David Lawton (2001), ‘Ornamenting Verdi’s Arias: The Continuity of a
Tradition’, in Alison Latham and Roger Parker (eds), Verdi in Performance,
Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 49-78. 455
20 Susan B. Rutherford (2007), “‘La cantante delle passioni”: Giuditta Pasta and the
Idea of Operatic Performance’, Cambridge Opera Journal, 19, pp. 107-38. 485
21 Roger Parker (1998), ‘The Sea and the Stars and the Wastes of the Desert’,
University of Toronto Quarterly, 67, pp. 750-60. 517
Name Index 529
Acknowledgements
The editor and publishers wish to thank the following for permission to use copyright
material.
Cambridge University Press for the essays: Fabrizio Della Seta (1998), ‘Some Difficulties
in the Historiography of Italian Opera’, Cambridge Opera Journal, 10, pp. 3-13. Copyright
© 1998 Cambridge University Press; Alessandro Roccatagliati (1996), ‘Felice Romani,
Librettist by Trade’, Cambridge Opera Journal, 8, pp. 113^15. Trans, by Karen Henson;
Roberta Montemorra Marvin (2003), ‘Verdian Opera Burlesqued: A Glimpse into Mid-
Victorian Theatrical Culture’, Cambridge Opera Journal, 15, pp. 33-66 and publisher’s
errata pp. 209-11. Copyright © 2003 Cambridge University Press; Sarah Hibberd (2004),
“‘Dormez done, mes chers amours”: Herold’s La Somnambule (1827) and Dream Phenomena
on the Parisian Lyric Stage’, Cambridge Opera Journal, 16, pp. 107-32. Copyright © 2004
Cambridge University Press; Arthur Groos (1995), “‘TB Sheets”: Love and Disease in La
traviata', Cambridge Opera Journal, 7, pp. 233-60; Ralph Hexter (2002), ‘Masked Balls’,
Cambridge Opera Journal, 14, pp. 93-108. Copyright © 2002 Cambridge University Press;
Heather Hadlock (1994), ‘Return of the Repressed: The Prima Donna from Hoffmann’s Tales
to Offenbach’s Contes', Cambridge Opera Journal, 6, pp. 221^13; Suzanne Robinson (2008),
‘ Smyth the Anarchist: Fin-de-siecle Radicalism in The Wreckers', Cambridge Opera Journal,
20, pp. 149-79; Susan B. Rutherford (2007), “‘La cantante delle passioni”: Giuditta Pasta and
the Idea of Operatic Performance’, Cambridge Opera Journal, 19, pp. 107-38. Copyright ©
2007 Cambridge University Press.
Indiana University Press for the essay: Philip Gossett (1995), ‘Knowing the Score: Italian
Opera as Work and Play’, in D.C. Greetham and W. Speed Hill (eds), Text: Transactions of the
Society for Textual Scholarship, 8, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, pp. 1-24.
Oxford University Press for the essay: Steven Huebner (1989), ‘Opera Audiences in Paris
1830-1870’, Music & Letters, 70, pp. 206-25.
Stuart Powers for the essay: Harold S. Powers (1987), ‘La solita forma and “The Uses of
Convention’”, Acta Musicologica, 59, pp. 65-90. Copyright © Harold S. Powers.
Taylor & Francis Ltd for the essay: Cormac Newark (2002), ‘Metaphors for Meyerbeer’,
Journal of the Royal Musical Association, 127, pp. 23^13. Copyright © Royal Musical
Association (http://www.informaworld.com).
The University of California Press for the essays: Gary Tomlinson (1986), ‘Italian Romanticism
and Italian Opera: An Essay in Their Affinities’, 19thCentury Music, 10, pp. 43-60. Copyright
© by the Regents of the University of California; Andreas Giger (2007), ‘ Verismo: Origin,
Corruption and Redemption of an Operatic Term’, Journal of the American Musicological
viii National Traditions in Nineteenth-Century Opera, Volume I
Society, 60, pp. 271-315. Copyright © 2007 by the American Musicological Society. All
rights reserved; Gabriella Dideriksen and Matthew Ringel (1995), ‘Frederick Gye and “The
Dreadful Business of Opera Management’”, 19th-Century Music, 19, pp. 3-30. Copyright ©
by the Regents of the University of California; Roger Parker and Allan W. Atlas (1992), ‘A
Key for Chil Tonal Areas in Puccini’, 19th-Century Music, 15, pp. 229-34; Carolyn Abbate
(1981), ‘ Tristan in the Composition of Pelleas\ 19th-Century Music, 5, pp. 117^11.
University of Chicago Press for the essay: Philip Gossett (1992), ‘History and Works That
Have No History: Reviving Rossini’s Neapolitan Operas’, in Katherine Bergeron and Philip
V. Bohlman (eds), Disciplining Music: Musicology and its Canons, Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, pp. 95-115.
University of Toronto Press for the essay: Roger Parker (1998), ‘The Sea and the Stars and the
Wastes of the Desert’, University of Toronto Quarterly, 67, pp. 750-60.
Every effort has been made to trace all the copyright holders, but if any have been inadvertently
overlooked the publishers will be pleased to make the necessary arrangement at the first
opportunity.
Series Preface
The Ashgate Library of Essays in Opera Studies draws together articles and essays from a
disparate group of scholarly journals and collected volumes, some now difficult to locate. This
reprint series comprises an authoritative set of six volumes: one devoted to the seventeenth
century, two to the eighteenth century, two to the nineteenth century, and one to the twentieth/
twenty-first centuries. Each volume has been edited by a recognized authority in the area and
offers a selection of the most important and influential English-language scholarship in opera
studies.
Each volume editor provides a substantial, detailed introduction surveying the current state
of the field, giving an overview of important issues and new discoveries, and explaining the
significance of the texts in the collection. There is also a select bibliography of the sources
cited in each introduction. Because of the nature of the scholarship and the operatic repertory
for different times and places, volumes are organized in differing ways designed to serve
readers’ needs and to embrace various topics and approaches as appropriate to the repertory
of diverse eras.
Recent years have witnessed an acute awareness of the nature of scholarship about opera;
those who have reflected on the issues surrounding the genre’s study have changed the course
of scholarship in significant ways. The new perspectives on opera scholarship that writers
(from various disciplines) have contributed bring together the best of both musical and non­
musical criticism. The rich and varied selection of approaches represented in the collection
- addressing sources, works, audiences, performers, creators, culture, and theory - deal
with operatic works as historical and contemporary entities with aesthetic, theoretical, and
ideological complexities.
No particular method or approach is favoured or excluded in these volumes; the series
thus provides researchers, scholars, and graduate students throughout the world with fairly
comprehensive coverage of currently important topics and approaches. Presented in a compact,
easy-to-access format, this series is especially useful for scholars new to the area as well as
for experienced scholars who may have overlooked an important essay published in a journal
with limited circulation.
ROBERTA MONTEMORRA MARVIN
Series Editor