Galileo And The Invention Of Opera

Intended for scholars in the fields of philosophy, history of science and music, this book examines the legacy of the historical coincidence of the emergence of science and opera in the early modern period. But instead of regarding them as finished products or examining their genesis, or `common ground', or `parallel' ideas, opera and science are explored by a phenomenology of the formulations of consciousness (Gurwitsch) as compossible tasks to be accomplished in common (Schutz) which share an ideal possibility or `essence' (Husserl). Although the ideas of Galileo and Monteverdi form the parameters of the domain of phenomenological clarification, the scope of discussion extends from Classical ideas of science and music down to the beginning of the nineteenth century, but always with reference to the experience of sharing the sociality of a common world from which they are drawn (Plessner) and to which those ideas have given shape, meaning and even substance. At the same time, this approach provides a non-historicist alternative to understanding the arts and science of the modern period by critically clarifying the idea of whether their compossibility can rest on any other formulation of consciousness.

Curation as a concept and a catchword in modern parlance has, over recent decades, become deeply ingrained in modern culture. The purpose of this study is to explore the curatorial forces at work within the modern opera house and to examine the functionaries and processes that guide them. In turn, comparisons are made with the workings of the traditional art museum, where artworks are studied, preserved, restored, displayed and contextualised – processes which are also present in the opera house. Curatorial roles in each institution are identified and described, and the role of the celebrity art curator is compared with that of the modern stage director, who has acquired previously undreamt-of licence to interrogate operatic works, overlaying them with new concepts and levels of meaning in order to reinvent and redefine the operatic repertoire for contemporary needs. A point of coalescence between the opera house and the art museum is identified, with the transformation, towards the end of the nineteenth century, of the opera house into the operatic museum. Curatorial practices in the opera house are examined, and further communalities and synergies in the way that ‘works’ are defined in each institution are explored. This study also considers the so-called ‘birth’ of opera around the start of the seventeenth century, with reference to the near-contemporary rise of the modern art museum, outlining operatic practice and performance history over the last 400 years in order to identify the curatorial practices that have historically been employed in the maintenance and development of the repertoire. This examination of the forces of curation within the modern opera house will highlight aspects of authenticity, authorial intent, preservation, restoration and historically informed performance practice.

This book contemplates the relationship between opera and anthropology. It rests on the following central arguments: on the one hand, opera is quite a new and “exotic” topic for anthropologists, while, on the other, anthropology is still perceived as an unusual approach to opera. Both initial arguments are indicative of the current situation of the relationship between anthropological discipline and opera research. The book introduces the work of anthropologists and ethnographers whose personal and professional affinity for opera has been explicated in their academic and biographical accounts. Anthropological, ethnological, ethnographic, and semiotic accounts of opera by Claude Lévi-Strauss, Michel Leiris, William O. Beeman, Denis Laborde, Paul Atkinson, and Philippe-Joseph Salazar establish that opera can be a pertinent object of anthropological interest, ethnographic investigation, cultural analysis, and historical reflection. By touching on opera not merely as a musical, aesthetic, or artistic category, but as a social, cultural, historical, and transnational phenomenon that, over the last four centuries, has significantly influenced and reflected the identity of Western culture and society, this monograph suggests that opera and anthropology no longer need be alien to one another.

Opera's Second Death is a passionate exploration of opera - the genre, its masterpieces, and the nature of death. Using a dazzling array of tools, Slavoj Zizek and coauthor Mladen Dolar explore the strange compulsions that overpower characters in Mozart and Wagner, as well as our own desires to die and to go to the opera.

A collection of essays exploring the relations between music and the scientific culture of Galileo's time. It takes a broad historical approach towards understanding such topics as the role of music in Galileo's experiments and in the scientific revolution