18th century
A01=David J. Buch
acting
actor
actress
art
artistic
audience
Author_David J. Buch
ballet
Category=ATD
Category=AVLF
Category=AVLM
composer
critics
dance
dancing
don giovanni
enlightenment
entertainment
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era
fantasy
france
french
genre
german
germany
italian
italy
magic flute
mozart
musical theater
musicals
opera
performance
performer
play
playwright
singing
singspiel
song
stage
supernatural
theatre
theatrical
themes
time period
Product details
- ISBN 9780226078090
- Weight: 1021g
- Dimensions: 18 x 27mm
- Publication Date: 30 Dec 2008
- Publisher: The University of Chicago Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
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Drawing on hundreds of operas, sing-spiels, ballets, and plays with supernatural themes, "Magic Flutes and Enchanted Forests" argues that the tension between fantasy and Enlightenment-era rationality shaped some of the most important works of eighteenth-century musical theater and profoundly influenced how audiences and critics responded to them.David J. Buch reveals that despite - and perhaps even because of - their fundamental irrationality, fantastic and exotic themes acquired extraordinary force and popularity during the period, pervading theatrical works with music in the French, German, and Italian mainstream. Considering prominent compositions by Gluck, Rameau, and Haydn, as well as many seminal contributions by lesser-known artists, Buch locates the origins of these magical elements in such historical sources as ancient mythology, European fairy tales, the Arabian Nights, and the occult. He concludes with a brilliant excavation of the supernatural roots of Mozart's "The Magic Flute" and "Don Giovanni", building a new foundation for our understanding of the magical themes that proliferated in Mozart's wake.
David J. Buch is professor of music at Wayne State University.
