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The operatic culture of late eighteenth-century Naples represents the fullest expression of a matrix of creators, practitioners, theorists, patrons, and entrepreneurs linking aristocratic, public and religious spheres of contemporary society. The considerable resonance of 'Neapolitan' opera in Europe was verified early in the eighteenth century not only through voluminous reports offered by locals and visitors in gazettes, newspapers, correspondence or diaries, but also, and more importantly, through the rich and tangible artistic patrimony produced for local audiences and then exported to the Italian peninsula and abroad. Naples was not simply a city of entertainment, but rather a cultural epicenter and paradigm producing highly innovative and successful genres of stage drama reflecting every facet of contemporary society. Anthony R. DelDonna provides a rich study of operatic culture from 1775-1800. The book demonstrates how contemporary stage traditions, stimulated by the Enlightenment, engaged with and responded to the changing social, political, and artistic contexts of the late eighteenth century in Naples. It focuses on select yet representative compositions from different genres of opera that illuminate the diverse contemporary cultural forces shaping these works and underlining the continued innovation and European recognition of operatic culture in Naples. It also defines how the cultural milieu of Naples - aristocratic and sacred, private and public - exercises a profound yet idiosyncratic influence on the repertory studied, the creation of which could not have occurred elsewhere on the Continent.

\"In Russia at the turn of the twentieth century, printed literature and performances - from celebrity narratives and opera fandom to revolutionary acts and political speeches - frequently articulated extreme emotional states and passionate belief. A uniquely intense approach to public life and private expression - the 'melodramatic imagination' - is at the center of this study. Previously, scholars have only indirectly addressed the everyday appropriation of melodramatic aesthetics in Russia, choosing to concentrate on canonical texts and producers of mass culture. Collective fantasies and affects are daunting objects of study, difficult to render, and almost impossible to prove empirically. Music and art historians, with some notable exceptions, have been reluctant to discuss reception for similar reasons. By analyzing the artifacts and practices of a commercialized opera culture, author Anna Fishzon provides a solution to these challenges. Her focus on celebrity and fandom as features of the melodramatic imagination helps illuminate Russian modernity and provides the groundwork for comparative studies of fin-de-siلecle European popular and high culture, selfhood, authenticity, and political theater\" -- back cover.

With her superb coloratura soprano, passion for the world of opera, and down-to-earth personality, Beverly Sills made high art accessible to millions from the time of her meteoric rise to stardom in 1966 until her death in 2007. An unlikely pop culture phenomenon, Sills was equally at ease on talk shows, on the stage, and in the role of arts advocate and administrator. Merging archival research with her own love of Sills's music, Nancy Guy examines the singer-actress's artistry alongside the ineffable aspects of performance that earned Sills a passionate fandom. Guy mines the memories of colleagues, critics, and aficionados to recover something of the spell Sills wove for people on both sides of the footlights during the hot moments of onstage performance. At the same time, she analyzes essential questions raised by Sills's art and celebrity. How did Sills challenge the divide between elite and mass culture and build a fan base that crossed generations and socio-economic lines? Above all, how did Sills capture the unnameable magic that joins the members of an audience to a performer--and to one-another? Intimate and revealing, The Magic of Beverly Sills explores the alchemy of art, magnetism, community, and emotion that produced an American icon.

This article examines how specific habitus (i.e., past cultural practices, individuals' political interests and religious beliefs) affects propensity towards omnivorous tastes in music, either in voraciousness or eclecticism. The authors develop and test hypotheses on the music preferences of an Italian opera audience. They show that religiosity and political interest influence omnivorous taste patterns in cultural consumption. Voracious omnivores have stronger political convictions than eclectic omnivores, who are characterized by a religiosity that might result in greater tolerance of diversity. This partially contradicts the results of previous studies associating political commitment with freedom to cross boundaries and religion with traditional boundaries limiting selfex-pression. This study refines the \"univore/omnivore\" thesis, focusing on practices that foster the development of an omnivore aesthetic disposition by the upper social classes. Unveiling the distinctive traits of voracious and eclectic performing arts audiences may enable marketing managers to differentiate their loyalty-building policies according to attendees' characteristics. Cette étude est consacrée à la façon dont certains habitus (c'est-à-dire les pratiques culturelles du passé, les intérêts politiques et les croyances religieuses des individus, etc.) influent sur la propension à développer des goûts musicaux omnivores, et ce, en fonction de deux paramètres : la voracité et l'éclectisme. Les auteurs formulent et testent des hypothèses sur les préférences musicales d'un public italien d'opéra. Ils montrent que la religiosité et les convictions politiques ont une influence sur les goûts omnivores dans la consommation culturelle. Les omnivores voraces ont des convictions politiques plus fortes que les omnivores éclectiques, qui se caractérisent par une religiosité pouvant résulter en une plus grande tolérance de la diversité. Ceci entre partiellement en contradiction avec des études antérieures établissant des liens entre l'engagement politique et la tendance à franchir les limites ainsi qu'entre la religion et les limites traditionnelles restreignant l'expression de soi. Cette étude raffine la thèse « univore/omnivore », en se concentrant sur les pratiques qui favorisent le développement de dispositions esthétiques omnivores au sein des classes sociales supérieures. Dégager les caractéristiques propres des publics voraces et éclectiques des arts de la scène pourrait permettre aux directeurs du marketing d'adapter leurs politiques de fidélisation en fonction des particularités des auditoires. En este artículo se examina cómo los habitus (i. e., prácticas culturales pasadas, intereses políticos y religiosos individuales) específicos influyen sobre la propensión a gustos omnívoros en la música, sea en forma de voracidad o de eclecticismo. En él se desarrolla y se ponen a prueba algunas hipótesis sobre las preferencias musicales de un público italiano de ópera, y se muestra que la religiosidad y el interés político inciden sobre los patrones de gustos omnívoros en el consumo cultural. Los omnívoros voraces tienen convicciones políticas más fuertes que los omnívoros eclécticos, quienes se caracterizan por una religiosidad qu podría llevar a una mayor tolerancia de la diversidad. Esto se encuentra en contradicción parcial con estudios previos que asociaban el compromiso político con la libertad de cruzar barreras, y la religión con barreras tradicionales que limitan la autoex- presión. Este estudio refina la tesis \"unívoro/omnívoro\", enfocándose en las prácticas que fomentan el desarrollo de una disposi estética omnívora por parte de las altas clases de la sociedad. Al poner de manifiesto las varias características de públicos de artes escénicas podría ayudar a los directores de mercadotecnia a diferenciar sus políticas de fidelización en función de las características de sus clientes.

The study of consciousness has developed considerably over the past ten years, with an emphasis on seeking to explain subjective experience. Our understanding of key questions relating to the performing arts, in theory and practice, benefits from the insights of consciousness studies. Theatre, Opera and Consciousness discusses selected concerns of theatre history from a consciousness studies perspective, develops a new perspective on ethical implications of theatre practice, reassesses the concept of the guru, and offers a new approach to the actor's cool-down. The book expands the framework from theatre to opera, and presents a new consideration of the spiritual aspects of singing in opera, conducting for opera, and the opera experience for singers and spectators alike.

This 1981 episode of Elliot Norton Reviews is a discussion with opera commentator Boris Goldovsky.

New York by 1850 was the leading U.S. city in population, trade, industry, and culture. Its many public musical offerings took place in the evenings, requiring women to have escorts for safety and respectability, and limiting their attendance opportunities. Beginning in 1847 with the New York Philharmonic's opening of daytime rehearsals to women, matinee performances gradually proliferated, extending women's access to opera, concert, and musical theater and transforming audiences from male to mainly female by century's end. The process increased women's access to public spaces for music, changed theaters from male clubs to women-friendly venues, and furthered the education of women as amateur musicians and of those newly empowered to become professionals. Freedom to attend musical events became part of the growing consumer culture, which also brought women out of the home. These profound changes took place in the context of the first American women's movement, 1848–1920. While of far less significance than the vote or control of their own resources, matinees brought women out of domestic confinement to freer access to the public life of the city. That in turn encouraged women to imagine, and some to achieve, public lives.

\"On 29 December 1929 a company of some twenty Peking opera actors, musicians, and artistic advisors left Shanghai for the United States. Head of the troupe was China's foremost actor of Peking opera, Mei Lanfang, who was already an international sensation. The tour, to at least five major U.S. cities, would be a brilliant success. With a tremendous demand for tickets, the engagement in New York was extended from two to five weeks, during which Peking opera played to capacity houses.\" (Comparative Drama) This profile of \"Mei Lanfang's 1930 tour to the United States provides an opportunity for examining the motivations of both presenters and receivers, and in this instance demonstrates that the Chinese and Americans entered into a discourse with each side having its expectations fulfilled.\"