A New Chronology of Venetian Opera and Related Genres, 1660-1760 [Hardcover]

From 1637 to the middle of the eighteenth century, Venice was the world center for operatic activity. No exact chronology of the Venetian stage during this period has previously existed in any language. This reference work, the culmination of two decades of research throughout Europe, provides a secure ordering of 800 operas and 650 related works from the period 1660 to 1760. Derived from thousands of manuscript news-sheets and other unpublished materials, theChronologyprovides a wealth of new information on about 1500 works. Each entry in this production-based survey provides not only perfunctory reference information but also a synopsis of the text, eyewitness accounts, and pointers to surviving musical scores. What emerges, in addition to secure dates, is a profusion of new information about events, personalities, patronage, and the response of opera to changing political and social dynamics. Appendixes and supplements provide basic information in Venetian history for music, drama, and theater scholars who are not specialists in Italian studies. It is a surprising fact that there has been no all-embracing chronology of the Venetian stage, indubitably the princess of all stages, since Wiel's study of 1897. In its wide-ranging remit,A New Chronologytakes in most of what is currently known to be available in primary and secondary sources. It also adds a good deal of information not available previously. The difficulties in establishing a chronology of Venetian opera have plagued scholars for centuries. . . . InA New Chronology of Venetian Opera and Related Genres, 1660-1760, Eleanor Selfridge-Field, using sources not fully exploited before, has resolved nearly all the problems. . . . This is a major accomplishment, and will make the book an important reference tool. What a wonderful resource for lovers ofLa Serenissima. These books give one a terrific sense of the place and its vibrant cutlure. One wants to travel back in time to be a pl#p