Title: Spectacle and Drama, or How Many Sets Do We Really Need to Perform Seventeenth-Century Opera?
Abstract:This chapter addresses two basic questions: why seventeenth-century operas called for so many different and always newly made sets? And how did they accomplish that number of rapid scene changes? Mode...This chapter addresses two basic questions: why seventeenth-century operas called for so many different and always newly made sets? And how did they accomplish that number of rapid scene changes? Modern audiences most likely would not be bothered by a momentarily empty stage, so those set changes introduced to avoid breaks in the liaison des scenes might well be considered superfluous. Modern audiences are so accustomed to seeing operatic productions in which the director's vision is clearly not that of the librettist or composer that authenticity in staging and scenery is not even an issue. The way librettists deployed the sets, and the changes in patterns of usage as the genre developed are also instructive. The sets have been divided into three large categories: outdoor sets, indoor sets and enclosed spaces. There are also a few sets that are labeled as special, including the heavens or caverns.Read More
Publication Year: 2017
Publication Date: 2017-07-05
Language: en
Type: book-chapter
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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