Opera Acts Singers and Performance in the Late Nineteenth Century [Hardcover]

Karen Henson explores a wealth of new historical material about singers and opera performance in the late nineteenth century.Karen Henson's book uses four detailed case studies to explore a wealth of new historical material about singers and performance in the late nineteenth century and to challenge the idea that this was a period of decline for the opera singer.Karen Henson's book uses four detailed case studies to explore a wealth of new historical material about singers and performance in the late nineteenth century and to challenge the idea that this was a period of decline for the opera singer.Opera Acts explores a wealth of new historical material about singers in the late nineteenth century and challenges the idea that this was a period of decline for the opera singer. In detailed case studies of four figures - the late Verdi baritone Victor Maurel; Bizet's first Carmen, C?lestine Galli-Mari?; Massenet's muse of the 1880s and '90s, Sibyl Sanderson; and the early Wagner star Jean de Reszke - Karen Henson argues that singers in the late nineteenth century continued to be important, but in ways that were not conventionally vocal . Instead they enjoyed a freedom and creativity based on their ability to express text, act and communicate physically, and exploit the era's media. By these and other means, singers played a crucial role in the creation of opera up to the end of the nineteenth century.Introduction: on not singing and singing physiognomically; 1. Verdi, Victor Maurel, and the operatic interpreter; 2. Real mezzo: C?lestine Galli-Mari? as Carmen; 3. Photographic diva: Massenet, Sibyl Sanderson, and the soprano as spectacle; 4. Jean de Reszke, the 'problem' of the tenor, and early international Wagner performance; Supporting cast. Karen Henson lovingly summons the voices of four singers of the fin de si?cle, chronicling the moment when the opera star was no longer defined by beautiful singing alone. Spiraling out from Paris to aesthetics and performance pl3$