The Rival Sirens

The Rival Sirens
Author: Suzanne Aspden
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 309
Release: 2013-04-18
Genre: Music
ISBN: 1107067766

The tale of the onstage fight between prima donnas Francesca Cuzzoni and Faustina Bordoni is notorious, appearing in music histories to this day, but it is a fiction. Starting from this misunderstanding, The Rival Sirens suggests that the rivalry fostered between the singers in 1720s London was in large part a social construction, one conditioned by local theatrical context and audience expectations, and heightened by manipulations of plot and music. This book offers readings of operas by Handel and Bononcini as performance events, inflected by the audience's perceptions of singer persona and contemporary theatrical and cultural contexts. Through examining the case of these two women, Suzanne Aspden demonstrates that the personae of star performers, as well as their voices, were of crucial importance in determining the shape of an opera during the early part of the eighteenth century.

Cymon

Cymon
Author: Michael Arne
Publisher:
Total Pages: 98
Release: 1767
Genre: Operas
ISBN:

Observations on the Florid Song (1723)

Observations on the Florid Song (1723)
Author: Pier Francesco Tosi
Publisher: Gregory Blankenbehler
Total Pages: 119
Release: 2009-09-29
Genre: Art
ISBN: 0557122937

Opinioni de' cantori antichi, e moderni o sieno osservazioni sopra il canto figurato (1723) -- Extended Edition. As the first full-length treatise ever to be published on singing, Tosi revealed to the world the secret method that accounted for the unworldly vocal abilities of the famous castrati. Living in a Europe alight with the virtuosic Baroque operas of Handel, Scarlatti and Porpora, Tosi revealed that it was extensive training in the old Italian school of singing that cultivated the beautiful tone and expression of their voices, as well as the infamous mezza di voce, trills and runs. What's more, Tosi revealed that the method worked equally well for any voice type, male or female, provided that its principles and techniques were adhered to with exactness and consistency. Written by one of the most famous singers and voice teachers of the early 18th century, Tosi's Opinioni has remained an indispensable text on the bel canto singing method, as well as Baroque stylistic techniques.

Handel's Operas, 1704-1726

Handel's Operas, 1704-1726
Author: Winton Dean
Publisher: Boydell Press
Total Pages: 771
Release: 2009
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9781843835257

The first volume of this monumental study of Handel's operatic works, covering the first seventeen operas.