| The Meyerbeer Libretti: Grand Opă(c)Ra 2 Les Huguenots Contributor(s): Letellier, Robert Ignatius (Author), Arsenty, Richard (Author) |
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ISBN: 1847189652 ISBN-13: 9781847189653 Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing OUR PRICE: $16.78 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: March 2009 |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Music | Genres & Styles - Opera |
| Dewey: 782.12 |
| Physical Information: 0.7" H x 5.7" W x 8" (0.85 lbs) 260 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Giacomo Meyerbeer, one of the most important and influential opera composers of the nineteenth century, enjoyed a fame during his lifetime unrivalled by any of his contemporaries. This eleven volume set provides in one collection all the operatic texts set by Meyerbeer in his career. The texts are offered in the most complete versions ever made available. Each libretto is translated into modern English by Richard Arsenty; and each work is introduced by Robert Letellier. In this comprehensive edition of Meyerbeer's libretti, the original text and its translation are placed on facing pages for ease of use. The sixth volume presents Les Huguenots (1836), Meyerbeer's most popular opera, not only in France, but throughout the world during the 19th and early 20th centuries. By 1936 it had been performed 1126 times at the Paris Opera alone. The stirring scenario set during the French Wars of Religion conjures up a rich and complex Renaissance world and the tragedy of religious conflict, with the whole of society unraveling in hatred, murder and chaos. The only light is spiritual illumination which chooses self-sacrifice and love above hatred and vengeance-even to the point of death. Resolution comes in true enlightenment of mind and heart. George Sand, indeed, called this opera an evangel of love. The plot follows an inexorable course, intensified in terms of broadness, light, time, speed and compression, as leisured life, freedom of mind and action, are funneled into a vortex of constriction: action becomes narrower, darker, faster and inescapable in the realization of a fatal course of tragic events. Eventually the only authentic behaviour left is the freedom to die for the truth. In Les Huguenots Meyerbeer showed himself the master of narrative pacing and symbolic color. He emerges as the historical novelist of dramatic music, using sophisticated orchestral and choral mixtures, strong melody, splendid vocalism, and powerful characterization to unfold both relaxed and vibrant narration. The apprehension of historical detail, the bold confrontation of ideological and religious themes of profound importance to human self-determination and liberty, established Meyerbeer as a great composer of serious opera. The engagement of poet and composer transcended historical limitations to create a masterpiece of Romantic tragedy. For Verdi, Les Huguenots was true theater, and acts 2 and 4 especially, stupendo (magnificent). |
