Dorothea Link examines singers' voices and casting practices in late eighteenth-century Italian opera as exemplified in Vienna's court opera from 1783 to 1791. The investigation into the singers' voices proceeds on two levels: understanding the performers in terms of the vocal-dramatic categories employed in opera at the time; and creating vocal profiles for the principal singers from the music composed expressly for them. In addition, Link contextualizes the singers within the company in order to expose the court opera's casting practices.

Authoritative and insightful, The Italian Opera Singers in Mozart's Vienna offers a singular look at a musical milieu and a key to addressing the performance-practice problem of how to cast the Mozart roles today.

About the Author
Dorothea Link is professor emerita of musicology at the University of Georgia. Her books include The National Court Theatre in Mozart's Vienna, Sources and Documents, 1783-1792 and Arias for Stefano Mandini, Mozart's First Count Almaviva.

Reviews
"Dorothea Link crowns her research into Italian opera in Josephine Vienna by exposing systematically, season by season, the hierarchy of stars and lesser singers and the politics of their terms of employment: a book for scholars to treasure and enjoy."--Julian Rushton, author of Mozart



Book Information
ISBN 9780252044649
Author Dorothea Link
Format Hardback
Page Count 496
Imprint University of Illinois Press
Publisher University of Illinois Press
Dimensions(mm) 235mm * 156mm * 41mm