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The Cambridge Companion to Seventeenth-Century Opera is a much-needed introduction to one of the most defining areas of Western music history - the birth of opera and its developments during the first century of its existence. From opera's Italian foundations to its growth through Europe and the Americas, the volume charts the changing landscape - on stage and beyond - which shaped the way opera was produced and received. With a range from opera's sixteenth-century antecedents to the threshold of the eighteenth century, this path breaking book is broad enough to function as a comprehensive introduction, yet sufficiently detailed to offer valuable insights into most of early opera's many facets; it guides the reader towards authoritative written and musical sources appropriate for further study. It will be of interest to a wide audience, including undergraduate and graduate students in universities and equivalent institutions, and amateur and professional musicians.

The Cambridge Companion to Seventeenth-Century Opera

Preface and acknowledgments; List of abbreviations; Part I. The Italian Foundations: 1. Opera is born: the wedding of music and drama in late Renaissance Florence Barbara Russano-Hanning; 2. '...e poi le parole': towards a history of the libretto Tim Carter; 3. Opera as spectacle, opera as drama Margaret Murata; Part II. Society, Institutions and Production: 4. Opera for a paying public (Italy c. 1637-c. 1700) Beth L. Glixon; 5. 'Una bella voce, un bel trillo, d un bel passaggio': opera singers in seventeenth-century Italy Colleen Reardon; 6. Opera, gender and voice Christine Jeanneret; 7. Dance and ballet Rebecca Harris-Warrick; 8. Staging opera in the seventeenth century Roger Savage; Part III. National Traditions (Outside Italy): 9. Opera in France c. 1640-c. 1710 Laura Naudeix; 10. Song and declamation in French opera Jacqueline Weber; 11. Opera in England Amanda Eubanks Winkler; 12. The development of opera in German Michael Maul; 13. Opera in Spain and the Spanish dominions in Italy and the Americas Louise K. Stein; Bibliography; Index.