Description
When Joseph II placed his opera buffa troupe in competition with the re-formed Singspiel, he provoked an intense struggle between supporters of the rival national genres, who organized claques to cheer or hiss at performances, and encouraged press correspondents to write slanted notices. It was in this fraught atmosphere that Mozart collaborated with librettist Lorenzo da Ponte on his three mature Italian comedies--Figaro, Don Giovanni, and Cosi fan tutte. In Cabals and Satires: Mozart's Comic Operas in Vienna, Ian Woodfield brings the fascinating dynamics of this inter-troupe contest into focus. He reveals how Mozart, while not immune from the infighting, was able to weather satirical attacks, successfully negotiate the unpredictable twists and turns of theatre politics during the lean years of the Austro-Turkish War, and seal his reputation with a revival of Figaro in 1789 as a Habsburg festive work. Mozart's deft navigation of the turbulent political waters of this period left him well placed to benefit from the revival of the commercial stage in Vienna--the most enduring musical consequence of the war years.
About the Author
Ian Woodfield is Professor of Historical Musicology at Queen's University Belfast, and has specialized in Mozart's operas for the last sixteen years. He published a monograph with OUP in 2000 entitled Music of the Raj: A Social and Economic History of Music in Late 18th-Century Anglo-Indian Society.
Reviews
Woodfield (historical musicology, Queen's Univ., Belfast) deftly navigates the voluminous archival and periodical documentation on this hitherto neglected subject. He shows the rivalry to be no less fraught than the better-known and publicly waged Querelle des Bouffons between devotees of French opera and Italian opera that occurred in Paris in the 1750s. Although it is a mainstay of opera history that the musical genre is inextricably linked with politics (given the expense of production that almost always needs royal patronage and/or upper-class subventions), very few books have shown how closely aesthetic tastes are tied to specific political events (in this case, the Austro-Turkish War of 1788-91 and its aftermath). Particularly interesting is the discussion of Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf's opera Die Hochzeit des Figaro, a work that was contemporaneous with and rival to Mozart's opera Le nozze di Figaro. Summing up: Highly recommended * CHOICE *
digging deep into Woodfield's text will reap significant benefits for the scholar already familiar with opera in Vienna in the 1780s and anxious to replace the convenient fictions with something closer to how things really were. * Tim Carter, Revue de musicologie *
If you love Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro and his other late operas, you'll want to read Ian Woodfield's new book, Cabals and Satires. Professor Woodfield has discovered a treasure trove of new documents related to the early reception of Mozart's operas for Vienna, and synthesizes the new, and at times contradictory, evidence in a thoroughly engaging way. Now we know where Mozart stood in relation to his contemporaries and rivals during his lifetime. * Paul Corneilson, managing editor of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach: The Complete Works *
Cabals and Satires is a remarkable achievement both for its new discoveries and for its profoundly original conception of a neglected topic: operatic rivalry in Vienna at the time of Figaro. Focusing on the head-to-head competition between the German and Italian troupes created by the reinstatement of the Singspiel troupe in 1786, Woodfield explores the larger culture of rivalry it fostered among composers, librettists, singers, individual operas, and theaters (court vs. suburban). This book will forever change our understanding of operatic culture in Mozart's Vienna. * Jessica Waldoff, author of Recognition in Mozart's Operas (OUP, 2006) *
Book Information
ISBN 9780190692636
Author Dr. Ian Woodfield
Format Hardback
Page Count 304
Imprint Oxford University Press Inc
Publisher Oxford University Press Inc
Weight(grams) 612g
Dimensions(mm) 163mm * 236mm * 28mm
About the Author
Ian Woodfield is Professor of Historical Musicology at Queen's University Belfast, and has specialized in Mozart's operas for the last sixteen years. He published a monograph with OUP in 2000 entitled Music of the Raj: A Social and Economic History of Music in Late 18th-Century Anglo-Indian Society.
Reviews
Woodfield (historical musicology, Queen's Univ., Belfast) deftly navigates the voluminous archival and periodical documentation on this hitherto neglected subject. He shows the rivalry to be no less fraught than the better-known and publicly waged Querelle des Bouffons between devotees of French opera and Italian opera that occurred in Paris in the 1750s. Although it is a mainstay of opera history that the musical genre is inextricably linked with politics (given the expense of production that almost always needs royal patronage and/or upper-class subventions), very few books have shown how closely aesthetic tastes are tied to specific political events (in this case, the Austro-Turkish War of 1788-91 and its aftermath). Particularly interesting is the discussion of Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf's opera Die Hochzeit des Figaro, a work that was contemporaneous with and rival to Mozart's opera Le nozze di Figaro. Summing up: Highly recommended * CHOICE *
digging deep into Woodfield's text will reap significant benefits for the scholar already familiar with opera in Vienna in the 1780s and anxious to replace the convenient fictions with something closer to how things really were. * Tim Carter, Revue de musicologie *
If you love Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro and his other late operas, you'll want to read Ian Woodfield's new book, Cabals and Satires. Professor Woodfield has discovered a treasure trove of new documents related to the early reception of Mozart's operas for Vienna, and synthesizes the new, and at times contradictory, evidence in a thoroughly engaging way. Now we know where Mozart stood in relation to his contemporaries and rivals during his lifetime. * Paul Corneilson, managing editor of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach: The Complete Works *
Cabals and Satires is a remarkable achievement both for its new discoveries and for its profoundly original conception of a neglected topic: operatic rivalry in Vienna at the time of Figaro. Focusing on the head-to-head competition between the German and Italian troupes created by the reinstatement of the Singspiel troupe in 1786, Woodfield explores the larger culture of rivalry it fostered among composers, librettists, singers, individual operas, and theaters (court vs. suburban). This book will forever change our understanding of operatic culture in Mozart's Vienna. * Jessica Waldoff, author of Recognition in Mozart's Operas (OUP, 2006) *
Book Information
ISBN 9780190692636
Author Dr. Ian Woodfield
Format Hardback
Page Count 304
Imprint Oxford University Press Inc
Publisher Oxford University Press Inc
Weight(grams) 612g
Dimensions(mm) 163mm * 236mm * 28mm
