Opera: The Art of Dying (Convergences: Inventories of the Present)

Richard Strauss in Capriccio and Salieri in Prima la musica e poi la parole (First the music, then the words) created operas to tackle the tension between the importance of words versus music in Opera. Neither one resolved the issue. The authors of this book have no doubt what is more important, the words. The book is brilliantly written about the text, the plot and the story of the operas it mentions. From their perspective, the music is there only to serve the text, and it is minimally mentioned through out the book. I would argue that good Operas, in particular those dealing with death (or fear of death) and/or love, the most recurrent themes in Opera, allows us to comprehend or at least sense through the music what words can not explain. This book brilliantly and with plenty of examples, describes the literary aspects of death in opera. It is informative and easy to follow. The music half of the book is missing... In Opera: The Art Of Dying A Physician And A Literary Theorist Bring Together Scientific And Humanistic Perspectives On The Lessons On Living And Dying That This Extravagant And Seemingly Artificial Art Imparts--jacket. Contrasting The Experience Of Morality In Opera To That In Tragedy, The Hutcheons Find A Mote Apt Analogy In The Medieval Custom Of Contemplatio Mortis - A Dramatized Exercise In Imagining One's Own Death That Prepared One For The Inevitable End And Helped One Enjoy The Life That Remained. From The Perspective Of A Contemporary Audience, They Explore Concepts Of Mortality Embodied In Both The Common And The More Obscure Operatic Repertoire: The Terror Of Death (in Poulene's Dialogues Of The Carmelites); The Longing For Death (in Wagner's Tristan And Isolde); Preparation For The Good Death (in Wagner's Ring Of The Nibelung); And Suicide (in Puccini's Madame Butterfly). In Works By Janacek, Ullmann, Berg, And Britten, Among Others, The Hutcheons Examine How Death Is Made To Feel Logical And Even Right Morally, Psychologically, And Artistically - How, In The Art Of Opera, We Rehearse Death In Order To Give Life Meaning.--jacket. Music And The Murky Death -- The Contemplation Of Death -- Eros And Thanatos : Richard Wagner's Tristan Und Isolde -- All That Is, Ends : Living While Dying In Wagner's Der Ring Des Nibelungen -- Orphic Rituals Of Bereavement -- 'tis A Consummation Devoutly To Be Wish'd : Staging Suicide -- The Undead. Linda Hutcheon, Michael Hutcheon. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Annotation Our modern narratives of science and technology can only go so far in teaching us about the death that we must all finally face. Can an act of the imagination, in the form of opera, take us the rest of the way? Might opera, an art form steeped in death, teach us how to die, as this provocative work suggests? In Opera: The Art of Dying a physician and a literary theorist bring together scientific and humanistic perspectives on the lessons on living and dying that this extravagant and seemingly artificial art imparts. Contrasting the experience of mortality in opera to that in tragedy, the Hutcheons find a more apt analogy in the medieval custom of contemplatio mortis--a dramatized exercise in imagining one's own death that prepared one for the inevitable end and helped one enjoy the life that remained. From the perspective of a contemporary audience, they explore concepts of mortality embodied in both the common and the more obscure operatic repertoire: the terror of death (in Poulenc's Dialogues of the Carmelites); the longing for death (in Wagner's Tristan and Isolde); preparation for the good death (in Wagner's Ring of the Nibelung); and suicide (in Puccini's Madama Butterfly). In works by Janacek, Ullmann, Berg, and Britten, among others, the Hutcheons examine how death is made to feel logical and even right morally, psychologically, and artistically--how, in the art of opera, we rehearse death in order to give life meaning Our modern narratives of science and technology can only go so far in teaching us about the death that we must all finally face. Can an act of the imagination, in the form of opera, take us the rest of the way? Might opera, an art form steeped in death, teach us how to die, as this provocative work suggests? In Opera: The Art of Dying a physician and a literary theorist bring together scientific and humanistic perspectives on the lessons on living and dying that this extravagant and seemingly artificial art imparts. Contrasting the experience of mortality in opera to that in tragedy, the Hutcheons find a more apt analogy in the medieval custom of contemplatio mortis --a dramatized exercise in imagining one's own death that prepared one for the inevitable end and helped one enjoy the life that remained. From the perspective of a contemporary audience, they explore concepts of mortality embodied in both the common and the more obscure operatic repertoire: the terror of death (in Poulenc's Dialogues of the Carmelites ); the longing for death (in Wagner's Tristan and Isolde ); preparation for the good death (in Wagner's Ring of the Nibelung ); and suicide (in Puccini's Madama Butterfly ). In works by Janacek, Ullmann, Berg, and Britten, among others, the Hutcheons examine how death is made to feel logical and even right morally, psychologically, and artistically--how, in the art of opera, we rehearse death in order to give life meaning. Contents ......Page 8 List of Illustrations......Page 10 Introduction: Music and “Murky Death”......Page 14 1. The Contemplation of Death......Page 28 2. Eros and Thanatos: Richard Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde......Page 58 3. “All That Is, Ends”: Living while Dying in Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen......Page 86 4. Orphic Rituals of Bereavement......Page 109 5. “’Tis a Consummation Devoutly to Be Wish’d”: Staging Suicide......Page 136 6. The Undead......Page 159 Coda: “Be Acquainted with Death Betimes . . .”......Page 197 Notes......Page 202 Acknowledgments......Page 246 Index......Page 248