A Song Of Love And Death: The Meaning Of Opera
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: No dust jacket
Pages: Good
Condition remarks: Condition as shown in image
Opera has always been an art form of breathtaking extremes — of soaring passion, devastating tragedy, and the ineffable beauty of the human voice — and Peter Conrad's A Song of Love and Death: The Meaning of Opera stands as one of the most authoritative and illuminating guides through this magnificent world. Conrad traces the history of opera from its Baroque origins through the towering works of Mozart, Wagner, Verdi, and Puccini to the provocations of the twentieth century, arguing that this art form is, above all else, a sustained meditation on the most primal of human experiences: love and its inevitable companion, death. With forensic intellectual precision, the author uncovers the philosophical and literary underpinnings of the operatic canon, revealing how composers and librettists have used the stage to give voice to desires and fears too vast for ordinary language. Conrad writes with the authority of a scholar and the passion of a true devotee, presenting opera not as a rarefied entertainment for the elite but as a visceral, timeless drama that speaks to the very core of human existence. His prose is richly allusive, drawing on art history, mythology, and literary theory to construct a critical framework that is both intellectually rigorous and deeply pleasurable to read. First published in 1987 by Chatto & Windus in the UK and Simon & Schuster in the US, the book remains an essential text for anyone seeking to understand why opera, centuries after its invention, continues to hold audiences in its thrall — and why its central obsessions refuse to be silenced.
Author: Peter Conrad
Format: Paperback
Genre: Music
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: No dust jacket
Pages: Good
Condition remarks: Condition as shown in image
Opera has always been an art form of breathtaking extremes — of soaring passion, devastating tragedy, and the ineffable beauty of the human voice — and Peter Conrad's A Song of Love and Death: The Meaning of Opera stands as one of the most authoritative and illuminating guides through this magnificent world. Conrad traces the history of opera from its Baroque origins through the towering works of Mozart, Wagner, Verdi, and Puccini to the provocations of the twentieth century, arguing that this art form is, above all else, a sustained meditation on the most primal of human experiences: love and its inevitable companion, death. With forensic intellectual precision, the author uncovers the philosophical and literary underpinnings of the operatic canon, revealing how composers and librettists have used the stage to give voice to desires and fears too vast for ordinary language. Conrad writes with the authority of a scholar and the passion of a true devotee, presenting opera not as a rarefied entertainment for the elite but as a visceral, timeless drama that speaks to the very core of human existence. His prose is richly allusive, drawing on art history, mythology, and literary theory to construct a critical framework that is both intellectually rigorous and deeply pleasurable to read. First published in 1987 by Chatto & Windus in the UK and Simon & Schuster in the US, the book remains an essential text for anyone seeking to understand why opera, centuries after its invention, continues to hold audiences in its thrall — and why its central obsessions refuse to be silenced.