Opera in Perspective

Opera was not invented by the Italians in 1600, argues John D. Drummond, but is rather Western Europe's version of an activity that began on a tribal dancing ground. In a thought-provoking, original, and lively view of Western European music-drama, Drummond sees opera as an art form in its own right, an integration of music and drama rather than a function of music or the stage.Drummond's concern in this book is to place opera within the wider context of music-drama and to trace its changing forms within Western European cultural value-systems. Citing the elements of religion, play, and art as basic to all music-drama, he finds the origins of opera in primitive uses of mime and ritual. Drummond follows the operatic tradition from Greek tragedy through the music-drama of Rome, the Middle Ages, and the Renaissance to the first "operas" of the seventeenth century. He surveys the work of most of the major operatic composers and, in each stylistic period, selects exemplary works for detailed analysis: Monteverdi's Orfeo, Handel's Rodelinda, Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro, Verdi's Rigolleto, Wagner's…