Ballet and Opera in the Age of Giselle
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: September 15, 2000
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 328
ISBN-13: 9780691049946
Subjects: Ballet; Opera; c 1800 to c 1900; France; Performing Arts; Music; History; Genres & Styles - Opera; Dance - Classical; Dance - History; Music / Opera; Adam, Adolphe,; Paris; 1803-1856; 19th century; Giselle
First sentence: SEVERAL of the arguments in this book depend on my reading of ballet-pantomime music composed at the Opera during the July Monarchy.
Description: "Marian Smith recaptures a period in French musical theater when ballet and opera were intimately connected. Focusing on the age of Giselle at the Paris Opera (from the 1830s through the 1840s), Smith offers an unprecedented look at the structural and thematic relationship between the two genres. She argues that a deeper understanding of both ballet and opera - and of nineteenth-century theater-going culture in general - may be gained by examining them within the same framework instead of following the usual practice of telling their histories separately. This handsomely illustrated book ultimately provides a new portrait of the Opera during a period long celebrated for its box-office successes in both genres."--Jacket.