A Season of Opera : : From Orpheus to Ariadne / / M. Owen Lee.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter University of Toronto Press eBook-Package Backlist 2000-2013
• VerfasserIn: Lee, M. Owen,
• Place / Publishing House: Toronto : : University of Toronto Press, , [2016]; ©2000
• Year of Publication: 2016
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (254 p.)

Father Owen Lee is internationally known for his intermission commentaries featured during the Saturday afternoon broadcasts from the Metropolitan Opera House in New York. A Season of Opera: From Orpheus to Ariadne gathers together for the first time Father Lee's best broadcast and cassette commentaries, public lectures, and articles on twenty-three works for the musical stage. The essays range from the pioneering Orpheus of Monteverdi to the forward-looking Ariadne of Richard Strauss. Included are Father Lee's famous discussions of Mozart's Magic Flute and Beethoven's Fidelio, Verdi's La Traviata and Falstaff, Wagner's Tristan und Isolde, and Poulenc's Dialogues of the Carmelites. The concluding chapter, originally published as the lead article in The Opera Quarterly's special issue on the end of the twentieth century, is a thought-provoking forecast of opera's future. Recommendations for further reading, CD recordings, and videos are also included.Opera Canada has applauded Father Lee's 'extraordinary ability to engage, challenge, and enlighten a vast and diverse audience' and called his learning-worn-lightly commentaries 'a unique mix of spiritual empathy, classical scholarship, and psychological insight.' Opera lovers, or anyone interested in psychology and mythology, humanities and comparative literature, or the art of the essay will welcome this book.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Preface -- 1. The Birth of Opera from the Spirit of Orpheus -- 2. Du Musst dein Leben Ändern: Orfeo ed Euridice -- 3. The Opera of All Operas: Don Giovanni -- 4. The Music of Intuitive Angels: The Magic Flute -- 5. Music to Set the Spirit Free: Fidelio -- 6. Show Business Sense: L'Elisir d'Amore -- 7. Oh, Sweet Music of Donizetti! Lucia di Lammermoor -- 8. Elemental, Furious, Wholly True: Il Trovatore -- 9. The Requisite Miracle: La Traviata -- 10. The Whole Checkered Play of Life: La Forza del Destino -- 11. Melt Egypt into Nile: Aida -- 12. A Figure as Old as Comedy: Falstaff -- 13. The Exasperated Eagle and the Stoic Saint: Les Troyens -- 14. The Sins of Wagner's Youth: Rienzi -- 15. Long Day's Journey into Night: Tristan and Isolde -- 16. The Making of a Musical Legend: Palestrina -- 17. The Moon Is Like the Moon: Salome -- 18. Genius and Morbidezza: Manon Lescaut -- 19. Mists, Sails, Sounds, and Impressions: Pelléas et Mélisande -- 20. It Is Your Turn to Speak: Dialogues des Carmélites -- 21. An Opera Made of Songs: Porgy and Bess -- 22. The Music Wrote Itself: Oklahoma! -- 23. Hurry Up Please its Time -- Further Reading -- Recordings and Videos -- Index