The Puccini problem
Subtitle: opera, nationalism and modernity
By: Alexandra Wilson.
Series: Cambridge studies in opera
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2007
Place of publication: Cambridge, UK; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 321
ISBN-13: 9780521856881
Description: The first detailed investigation of the reception and cultural contexts of Puccini's music, this book offers a fresh view of this historically important but frequently overlooked composer. Wilson's study explores the ways in which Puccini's music and persona were held up as both the antidote to and the embodiment of the decadence widely felt to be afflicting late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century Italy, a nation which although politically unified remained culturally divided. The book focuses upon two central, related questions which were debated throughout Puccini's career: his status as a national or international composer, and his status as a traditionalist or modernist. In addition, Wilson examines how Puccini's operas became caught up in a wide range of extra-musical controversies concerning such issues as gender and class. This book makes a major contribution to our understanding of both the history of opera and of the wider artistic and intellectual life of turn-of-the-century Italy.--Publisher's description.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 292-309) and index.