Editorial Preface

Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents v
3. Editorial Preface vii
4. Introduction xii
5. 1. The Nature of Opera: Entry for The New Grove Dictionary of Opera 1
6. 2. Mozart’s Comedies and the Sense of an Ending 20
7. 3. Mozart’s Figaro: A Question of Class? 25
8. 4. Don Giovanni as an Idea 31
9. 5. Passion and Cynicism: Remarks on Così fan tutte 43
10. 6. Rather Red than Black: Verdi, Don Carlos and the Passion for Freedom 49
11. 7. Tristan and Time 57
12. 8. The Elusiveness of Pessimism: Responding to the Ring 62
13. 9. Wagner and the Transcendence of Politics 70
14. 10. L’Envers des destinées: Remarks on Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande 90
15. 11. Manifest Artifice: The Ingenuity of Puccini 99
16. 12. Comments on Opera and Ideas: From Mozart to Strauss by Paul Robinson 107
17. 13. The Marriage and the Flute: Tippett and Mozart 113
18. 14. Janácek’s Modernism: Doing Less with More in Music and Philosophy 118
19. 15. Authenticity and Re-creation: Musicology, Performance and Production 121
20. 16. Naïve and Sentimental Opera Lovers 131
21. Acknowledgments 144
22. Index of Names and Works 146