Opera 19th century

The article concerns the issue of operas by Puccini in the context of nineteenth-century (romantic and later) concepts and theoretical approaches to the pathos considered as an aesthetic concept. In the first part of the article aforementioned concepts were reconstructed, on the basis of reflection, among others, of Aubin-Louis Millin de Grandmaison, Peter Lichtenthal, and George Harris, including the characteristics of pathos emerging from these theoretical descriptions. In the second part three selected scenes from Tosca and Madama Butterfly were analyzed to investigate the musical means by which composer realizes the features of musical pathos.

Born in Paris to a family of Spanish singers, Maria Malibran Garcia (1808-1836) became an icon in the European nineteenth century opera scene. She spent most of her short and dazzling life among opera houses across various Italian states.
Malibran suffered an unhappy childhood during which she rigorously trained under the merciless guidance of her father. With an extraordinary voice, an “electric” body, an engaging and innovative acting and a turbulent romantic life, she was capable of inducing frenzied enthusiasm among the public. These characteristics made her the very essence and epitome of the diva, one hundred years before the modern celebrity and stars of show business in the arts.
At the age of 28, after a brilliant and erratic life, she died tragically after falling from a horse. More than other notorious singers of the 1830s, Malibran represented a new romantic icon—a talented female artist whose life was generous, gifted and unlucky. The entanglement of her personal life and artistic career resulted in a strong passionate attitude and in states of desperation and unhappiness.
Through the analysis of several documents of the period, this work retraces the origin of the figure of the modern diva. Both attractive and dangerous, Malibran embodied this character and was thus loved for her ability interact with the audience on an emotional level. Her rise in fame and stardom occurred precisely in the 1830s, the period in which musical theatre was intimately tied to a European and distinctly Italian bourgeois social culture.

Edition based on a complete copy of the original first printing of Władysław Żeleński’s "Goplana" orchestral score (Wien 1897, Musikaliendruckerei von Josef Eberle & Co.), held at the Biblioteka Materiałów Orkiestrowych PWM S.A. in Warsaw, and on the handwritten additions to the score supplemented by the composer in the years 1897–1898, whose unique copies have survived in the collections of the Národní Divadlo v Praze (Knihovna notových materiálů).

A fascinating conundrum-Les contes d'Hoffmann: with its troubled genesis & editorial confusion, Offenbach's final opera seems unique, yet it developed out ideas from the composer's lesser-known late period Jacques Offenbach's output is so large (close to 100 stage works) that we tend to be familiar with only a small number of his operas. So, a work like his grand opera Les contes d'Hoffmann seems to appear out of nothing, and to bear little resemblance to other key works such as Orphée aux enfers or La belle Hélène. It does not help that matters are confused by the editorial difficulties, performing material being difficult to obtain, manuscripts being dispersed and the fact that a number of Offenbach's works exist in significantly different versions.

This study examines the phenomenon of 'Orientalism' during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, focussing on its ramifications in musical terms. It discusses the aesthetic/philosophical, political/geographic, literary and historical forces at work during the period, and shows these factors to have influenced musicians and other creative artists in their choice of 'Oriental' subject matter. Considerable attention has been devoted to establishing the role and meaning of the 'Oriental' vogue within the context of the times. 'Oriental' inspiration is argued ultimately to have led to novel developments in the art of orchestration, a thesis which is established through reference to many large-scale orchestral and operatic works.

The European view of the 'Orient' is demonstrated as being largely an idealization – but an extremely fruitful one. Had not composers perceived the 'Orient' to be some kind of Paradise, their imaginations would never have risen to such extraordinary heights. Part of this process of idealization was a reaction against the imaginative restrictions felt to have been imposed on artists by the rise of the 'super-civilized' modern industrial society. In spite of material 'progress', a gnawing sense of spiritual loss throughout Western societies fostered a feeling of nostalgia for a departed 'Golden Age', and a desire to be 'elsewhere' than Western Europe – physically or imaginatively.

Expansion by the European powers and colonization of lands considered in the nineteenth century to be 'Oriental' stimulated an increasing interest in such regions. This interest in turn provided creative artists with a new type of aesthetic 'raw material' ripe for exploitation. The European imagination became intoxicated with the unusual and strangely attractive nature of the 'Orient'. A new 'geographic' perspective entered music as composers attempted to render in orchestral terms sounds suggesting travel by land or sea, 'bizarre' and 'remote' atmospheric qualities, and especially the instruments, dances and all kinds of natural environmental elements associated with the particular 'local colour' of an 'Oriental' region and its inhabitants. Composers increasingly began to treat the orchestra as a giant experimental 'paint box' in their efforts to conjure up the atmosphere of the 'East'. An unprecedented focus on music filled with 'colour and light' was engendered by the contemporary interest in the 'Orient', and it led to the creation of new types of orchestral figuration and timbres. Such descriptive orchestral writing was eminently suited to, and promoted the development of, 'programmatic' music.

Nineteenth-century Orientalism is shown to have been a more important and vital influence in the development of European creative and imaginative endeavour than has previously been appreciated. The art of orchestration affords a particularly fine technical manifestation of the phenomenon.

Little, Jonathan D. (1994) Sources of Nineteenth-Century Musical Orientalism, or, From "Oriental" Inspiration to Exotic Orchestration: The Extra-Musical Stimuli behind Composers' Attempts to Achieve "Exotic" Programmatic Effects in Orchestral Music, ca. 1840-1920. [565pp. (170,000 words, in 2 parts bound as one), illus., tbls., mus. exx., works lst., discog., bibliog.]. [Doctoral thesis, Monash University, manuscript.]

Includes ca.100 pages of full score orchestral and operatic musical examples not included in the 2 published volumes arising from this thesis.

EXACTLY AS DESCRIBED in "DOCTORAL DISSERTATIONS IN MUSICOLOGY", 2nd Cumulative Edition (1996), with corrections and updates [ROMANTIC PERIOD]:

Little, Jonathan David. Sources of Nineteenth-Century Musical Orientalism, or, From "Oriental" Inspiration to Exotic Orchestration: The Extra-Musical Stimuli behind Composers' Attempts to Achieve "Exotic" Programmatic Effects in Orchestral Music, ca. 1840-1920. Ph.D., Music, Monash University, 1995. 560 p. illus., tbls., mus. exs., works lst., discog., bibliog. DDM Code: 61orLitJ; DA no.: RILM no.: 95:4810dd; UM no.:

Monash University Library Call No. 9923116601751; MICROFICHE 2475/3048; MA; THS-MF; L777; OS; YOS-THS

* Classified “outstanding” in Examination Assessment
* Awarded a Monash University Postgraduate Publication Award (1994-95) to prepare this research for publication in article/book form (as 2 vols.).

[OF THE (then) UNPUBLISHED DISSERTATION, also separately described (unsolicited) as:]
“outstanding” - Professor Werner Sollors, Henry B. and Anne M. Cabot Professor of English and of African American Studies, Harvard University, and Global Professor of Literature at New York University Abu Dhabi, in "Neither Black nor White Yet Both: Thematic Explorations of Interracial Literature", New York: Oxford University Press (see Acknowledgements page).

OVERALL MULTI-VOLUME PROJECT DESCRIPTION:
https://www.powerpresskits.com/Users/5816/PDFs/937a692c-55e5.pdf

SEE FURTHER THE TWO PUBLISHED VOLUMES ARISING FROM THIS RESEARCH (which cover most of its contents):
https://mellenpress.com/author/jonathan-david-little/7329/

VOL. 1. DESCRIBED:
https://www.academia.edu/38435892/The_Influence_of_European_Literary_and_Artistic_Representations_of_the_Orient_on_Western_Orchestral_Compositions_ca.1840-1920_From_Oriental_Inspiration_to_Exotic_Orchestration._New_York_EMP_2010._OPENING_PAGES_with_INTRODUCTION_ONLY_to_p.14_for_review_
To obtain:
https://www.amazon.com/Influence-Representations-Orchestral-Compositions-1840-1920/dp/0773414266

VOL. 2. DESCRIBED:
https://www.academia.edu/38441300/Literary_Sources_of_Nineteenth_Century_Musical_Orientalism_The_Hypnotic_Spell_of_the_Exotic_on_Music_of_the_Romantic_Period._New_York_EMP_2011._OPENING_PAGES_with_INTRODUCTION_ONLY_to_p.4_for_review_
To obtain:
https://www.amazon.com/Literary-Sources-Nineteenth-Century-Musical-Orientalism/dp/077341553X/ref=sr_1_9?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1551183902&sr=1-9

REVIEWS OF THE [LATER] TWO PUBLISHED VOLUMES:
VOL. 1. https://www.jstor.org/stable/24330441?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents
VOL. 2. https://www.jstor.org/stable/24330442?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

A NOTE ON THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THIS DOCTORAL THESIS AND THE TWO SUBSEQUENT VOLUMES DERIVED FROM ITS MATERIAL, AS PUBLISHED BY EDWIN MELLEN PRESS [EMP]:

MOST (but not all) material in this extensive dissertation has found its way into the TWO Edwin Mellen books described above, though the order is slightly rearranged, and the text is also made slightly more concise in the books, and less quotation is used. What does not appear in the books (for copyright and complexity / expense reasons) are most of the 100 or so pages of full score musical examples (mainly orchestral / operatic), which help musically illustrate all the arguments. So, in order to read the thesis as originally written, you probably need to apply for a copy of the microfiche of it which was made by Monash University Library in Australia [SEE DETAILS IN THE DOWNLOAD] - or, failing that, buy or borrow from a library the two EMP books that cover most of its contents. As far as I am aware, it is only more recently that EMP are also making digital versions of their books available (for sale), so to date (early 2019) I do not think these books are (at least legitimately) yet issued in digital format, and even if/when they are, they may not be able to include all the integral illustrations and the musical examples that are featured in the two books. (The second volume, "Literary Sources ...", is even more profusely illustrated than the first, "The Influence of ...".)

MONASH UNIVERSITY LIBRARY CALL NUMBER:
9923116601751; MICROFICHE2475/3048; MA; THS-MF; L777;OS; YOS-THS

N.B.: Edwin Mellen Press was the only publishing house able and willing to publish all this material without the substantial cuts required by most other publishing houses (for no other reason, ultimately, than in order to fit their standard "formats" - but which would have greatly damaged the integrity of the whole). Mellen Press were, in this instance, also willing to include many more illustrations than other presses, which has also proved of great assistance within the resulting publications.

KEYWORDS: musical orientalism, orchestration, literary orientalism, programme music, illustrative music, 19th-century cultural history, "Jonathan David Little"

A privileged position in discourse on 19th-century opera is occupied by narration concerning the emancipation of national styles. In order to work out a fresh approach in the scientific study of this subject, it seems crucial that we should abandon the ethnocentric perspective. This was one of the main postulates of Jean-Marie Pradier's utopian project of ethnoscenology. Importantly, Pradier also stressed the physical aspect of all stage practice. In the times of Rossini, Verdi, Gounod, and Moniuszko, the physicality of the spectacle was associated not only with singing but also with choreography. The links between 19th-century opera and its broadly conceived dance component are the subject of a highly inspiring essay by Maribeth Clark, whose arguments, theses and conclusions we also present here in detail. Stanisław Moniuszko's operatic style is commonly associated with Polish dance rhythms. Still, salon dance should also be considered, apart from national dances, as one of the keys to the composer's entire oeuvre. In a study of his stage works from both the Vilnius and the Warsaw periods, the dance idiom will not be limited to the presence of dance rhythms in the protagonists' arias or to the ballet sections. Dance qualities can be discerned in Moniuszko's music on a much deeper, fundamental level of the construction of operatic narration. Dance is frequently a hidden mechanism that serves as an axis of development for the presented events or as an element that organizes the dramaturgy of entire scenes and instrumental passages. This paper is an attempt to take a fresh look at the role of the dance idiom in Moniuszko's operatic narrations, an initial reconnaissance, in which I point to the sources of the composer's inspirations and illustrate my theses with specific examples.

Born in Paris to a family of Spanish singers, Maria Malibran Garcia (1808-1836) became an icon in the European nineteenth century opera scene. She spent most of her short and dazzling life among opera houses across various Italian states.
Malibran suffered an unhappy childhood during which she rigorously trained under the merciless guidance of her father. With an extraordinary voice, an “electric” body, an engaging and innovative acting and a turbulent romantic life, she was capable of inducing frenzied enthusiasm among the public. These characteristics made her the very essence and epitome of the diva, one hundred years before the modern celebrity and stars of show business in the arts.
At the age of 28, after a brilliant and erratic life, she died tragically after falling from a horse. More than other notorious singers of the 1830s, Malibran represented a new romantic icon—a talented female artist whose life was generous, gifted and unlucky. The entanglement of her personal life and artistic career resulted in a strong passionate attitude and in states of desperation and unhappiness.
Through the analysis of several documents of the period, this work retraces the origin of the figure of the modern diva. Both attractive and dangerous, Malibran embodied this character and was thus loved for her ability interact with the audience on an emotional level. Her rise in fame and stardom occurred precisely in the 1830s, the period in which musical theatre was intimately tied to a European and distinctly Italian bourgeois social culture.

Polish nineteenth-century operas are generally underestimated. The examination of these operatic works requires of us today to take into consideration the criteria that differs from the point of view we inherited from the era of triumphant Wagnerism. An examination of composers’ comments proves that most of them were, in fact, professed anti-Wagnerians. It concerns Stanisław Duniecki (1839–1870), Władysław Żeleński (1837–1921), and Zygmunt Noskowski (1846–1909). They were diligent readers of anti-wagnerian writings by Otto Gumprecht, Paul Lindau, Ferdinand Praeger, Max Nordau, and first and foremost by Eduard Hanslick.

Edition based on a complete copy of the original first printing of Władysław Żeleński’s "Goplana" orchestral score (Wien 1897, Musikaliendruckerei von Josef Eberle & Co.), held at the Biblioteka Materiałów Orkiestrowych PWM S.A. in Warsaw, and on the handwritten additions to the score supplemented by the composer in the years 1897–1898, whose unique copies have survived in the collections of the Národní Divadlo v Praze (Knihovna notových materiálů).

On the 5ht issue (January-April 2020) of 'Neos Moussikos Ellenomnemon' one can discover the life and carrer or the famous Greek flutist of the 19th century, former student at the Athens Conservatoire and first flute of the Vienna Philharmonic,  Eurysthenes Ghisas (1864-1902); learn how the Italian opera troupes were woking during 19th century Greece and read about the young pianist (and future composer)  Manolis Kalomoiris (1883-1962); discover the unknown correspondance between Eva Palmer-Sikelianos and the Athens Conservatoire, on the occasion of the Delphic Festival as well as two unpublished texts by the famous Greek composer Yanni Christou (1926-1970) concerning the musical life of Greece of the '60s - a tribute to the anniversary of the 50 years of his death.

Through the analysis of some of the most relevant German singing treatises of the mid-19th century, this paper aims for a better understanding of vocal performance practice, with regards to dramatic works in German language between the late 18th century and the first half of the 19th century. Mozart’s and von Winter’s Singspiele, Weber’s and Wagner’s operas, as well as coeval German translations of French works (Iphigenia in Tauris by Gluck, Joseph in Aegypten by Méhul) belong to this repertoire. Several musical extracts thereof are included in the above-mentioned manuals – written by renowned German singing teachers – in order to clarify how and where appoggiaturas, legatos, portamenti, articulation and dynamics have to be performed. Performance instructions from different treatises can even lead to opposite perspectives: the most interesting example of this phenomenon is Die grosse italienische Gesangschule (1848) by Heinrich Ferdinand Mannstein, whose ‘Italianate’ style of singing – for instance, with frequent portamenti – is keenly criticised by Franz Hauser’s Gesanglehre für Lehrende und Lernende (1866). Further suggestions about the addition of marcati, crescendo and decrescendo, anticipazioni della nota and other nuances, as explained by Julius Hey (1832-1909) in the Deutscher Gesangs-Unterricht (1884), reveal how far singers need to broaden their palette of expressive means when performing Mozart, Weber or Wagner nowadays; furthermore, the ‘national’ characters of singing evoked in the titles of some treatises («italienische Gesangschule», «Deutscher Gesangs-Unterricht») raise the question whether a correspondence between specific performance practices and national styles can be traced.

Die Inszenierung der Opéra-comique im 19. Jahrhundert, in: Le Rayonnement de l’opéra-comique en Europe au XIXe siècle. Actes du colloque international de musicologie, Prague 1999, hrsg. von Milan Pospíšil, Arnold Jacobshagen, Francis Claudon und Martá Ottlová, Prag (KLP) 2003, 517 S.

Von Hécube zu Ecuba: Der Trojanische Krieg in der französischen und italienischen Oper der napoleonischen Epoche, in: Europäische Mythen von Liebe, Leidenschaft, Untergang und Tod im (Musik-) Theater: Der Trojanische Krieg. Vorträge und Gespräche des Salzburger Symposiums 2000, hrsg. von Peter Csobádi, Gernot Gruber, Jürgen Kühnel, Ulrich Müller, Oswald Panagl und Viktor Spechtler, Salzburg 2002, S. 463–475