- Kivy, Peter. The Fine Art of Repetition: Essays in the Philosophy of Music.
New York: Cambridge U.P., 1993. x, 373p. ISBN 0-521-43462-9. ML3845
.K583.
Previously published essays, offering a cross section of Kivy’s views on such
topics as Platonism in music, authentic performance, “How did Mozart do
it?,” music and emotion, and discussions of Darwin, Kant, and Hanslick. - Leibowitz, René. Les fantomes de l’opéra. Essais sur le théâtre lyrique.Paris:
Gallimard, 1972. 393p. ML1700 .L43.
The point of opera is the creation of character and situation through purely
musical means. Analyzes Fidelio, Euryanthe, Don Carlos, Pique dame, Tosca,
Pelléas et Mélisande,and works of Monteverdi to demonstrate this. Interesting
structural studies. Footnotes, no bibliography or index. - Lindenberger, Herbert Samuel. Opera: The Extravagant Art.Ithaca, N.Y.:
Cornell U.P., 1984. 297p. ISBN 0-8014-1698-1. ML1700 .L56.
An intriguing view of opera, which “occupies a unique position in our culture:
a form of high art distinctly more lofty in its modes of expression...whose
adherents insist on treating it as a historically closed book, with no new chap-
ters to be added.” Lindenberger uses contemporary literary theory to illumi-
nate problems about aesthetics, “commerce among genres,” and the “fortunes
of art in society.” It must be said that this ambitious project never materializes,
but many insights appear along the way. The libretto is perceived by the audi-
ence as a romance, without emotional values, as opposed to the text in a non-
musical drama: torture, violence, and suffering are only a “spectacular
entertainment.” Richard Strauss wrote to Hofmannsthal that perhaps there is
no such thing as a “true comic opera,” because comic actions are not funny in
opera—they represent what is funny. It is not laughter that the comic opera
elicits, but “awe at the virtuosity and energy that mark both the process of
composition and of performance.”
Although most writing on opera centers on a “dramatic principle” and
opposes mere musical display, we would not give up “vocal lustre and power”
in performance for any dramatic skill or stylish production. No libretto is a
predictor of success for the opera made from it. Strauss found the texts to Die
Meistersingerand Parsifal“unspeakably boring.” Lindenberger suggests that
“the larger theme or dramatic action as a whole” is more important to the
composer than the individual words, and all the listener wants is a “a series of
connected events” with some plausibility. Indexed.
See also Lindenberger (#81).
- Cone, Edward T. “The World of Opera and Its Inhabitants.” In his Music: A
View from Delft(#65), 125–138.
How does the world of opera differ from other dramatic worlds? Who lives
there and what sort of life do they lead? In opera, singing takes the place of
speech. The actors sing, but the characters do not—unless there is an actual
song for the character to sing, like “Voi che sapete.” Sometimes a song may
take both parts, being speech and a song, as in “Un di felice” or “La donna è
Philosophy and Theory of Opera 89