A wide-ranging look at the interplay of opera and political ideas through the centuries
The Politics of Opera takes readers on a fascinating journey into the entwined development of opera and politics, from the Renaissance through the turn of the nineteenth century. What political backdrops have shaped opera? How has opera conveyed the political ideas of its times? Delving into European history and thought and music by such greats as Monteverdi, Lully, Rameau, and Mozart, Mitchell Cohen reveals how politics-through story lines, symbols, harmonies, and musical motifs-has played an operatic role both robust and sotto voce. This is an engrossing book that will interest all who love opera and are intrigued by politics.
Mitchell Cohen is professor of political science at Baruch College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York and coeditor emeritus of Dissent magazine. His books include Zion and State and The Wager of Lucien Goldmann (Princeton).
Title: The Politics of Opera: A History from Monteverdi to Mozart
Author: Cohen, Mitchell
ISBN: 9780691211510
Binding:
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Publication Date: 2020-12-21
Number of Pages: 512
Weight: 0.6202 kg
Shortlisted for the Laura Shannon Prize in Contemporary European Studies, Nanovic Institute, University of Notre Dame
Winner of the 2018 PROSE Award in Music & the Performing Arts, Association of American Publishers
Winner of the 2018 Presidential Excellence Award for Distinguished Scholarship, Baruch College, City University of New York
One of the Evening Standard Best Books of 2017 (chosen by Anne McElvoy)