(Dis)embodying myths in ancien régime opera: multidisciplinary perspectives

Throughout the Ancien Régime, mythology played a remarkably vital role in opera, defining such epoch-making works as Claudio Monteverdi’s La favola d’Orfeo (1607) and Christoph Gluck’s Iphigénie en Tauride (1779). The operatic presence of the Greco-Roman gods and heroes was anything but unambiguous or unproblematic, however. (Dis)embodying Myths in Ancien Régime Opera highlights myth’s chameleonic life in the Italian dramma per musica and French tragédie en musique of the seventeenth and eighteenth century. Written by eminent scholars in the fields of music, literature, theater, and cultural studies, the six essays in this book address important questions. Through what ideological lenses did the Ancien Régime perceive an ancient legacy that was fundamentally pagan and fictitious, as opposed to Christian and rationalistic? What dramaturgies did librettists and composers devise to adapt mythical topics to altering philosophical and esthetic doctrines? Were the ancients’ precepts obeyed or precisely overridden by the age of ‘classicism’? And how could myths be made to fit changing modes of spectatorship? Enlightening and wide-ranging on an essentially multidisciplinary development in European culture, (Dis)embodying Myths in Ancien Régime Opera will appeal to all music, literature and art lovers seeking to deepen their knowledge of an increasingly popular repertoire

An Evening of Vocal Music by Richard Strauss, December 14, 1964

This is the concert program of the An Evening of Vocal Music by Richard Strauss performance on Monday, December 14, 1964 at 8:30 p.m., at the Concert Hall, 855 Commonwealth Avenue. Works performed were the following by Richard Strauss: Allerseelen, Ständchen, Traum durch die Dämmerung, Wigenlied, Kling!..., Breit' über mein Haupt..., All mein Gedanken..., Nachtgang, Ich schwebe, Befreit, Wie Sollten wir geheim sie halten, Das Geheimnis, Dem Hersen ähnlich..., Gefunden, Ser Stern, Schlagende Herzen, Opening Scenes of the Opera Ariadne auf Naxos, Duet from Act I of Die Liebe der Danae, and Trio and Duet from Act III of Der Rosenkavalier. Digitization for Boston University Concert Programs was supported by the Boston University Humanities Library Endowed Fund

William Henry Fry’s Leonora: the Italian connection

On 7 June 1845, the New York Herald published a letter by an ‘occasional correspondent’ from Philadelphia concerning William Henry Fry's first grand opera, Leonora, which premiered three days before at the Chestnut Street Theatre. The letter contained the following remark:All were delighted with the music, it was so much like an old acquaintance in a new coat; indeed some of ‘the cognoscenti’ said that it was a warm ‘hash’ of Bellini, with a cold shoulder of ‘Rossini,’ and a handful of ‘Auber’ salt – whilst others congratulated Mr. Fry upon his opera being so much like Norma

Boston University Symphony Orchestra

This is the concert program of the Boston University Symphony Orchestra performance on Tuesday, December 9, 1997 at 8:00 p.m., at the Tsai Performance Center, 685 Commonwealth Avenue. Works performed were Elegy by Samuel Headrick, Symphonic Metamorphosis on Themes of Carl Maria von Weber by Paul Hindemith, Kommos B (Lament) by Theodore Antoniou, and Orchestral Excerpts from "Parsifal" (compiled by Lukas Foss) by Richard Wagner. Digitization for Boston University Concert Programs was supported by the Boston University Humanities Library Endowed Fund

Boston University Symphony Orchestra

This is the concert program of the Boston University Symphony Orchestra performance on Tuesday, December 9, 1997 at 8:00 p.m., at the Tsai Performance Center, 685 Commonwealth Avenue. Works performed were Elegy by Samuel Headrick, Symphonic Metamorphosis on Themes of Carl Maria von Weber by Paul Hindemith, Kommos B (Lament) by Theodore Antoniou, and Orchestral Excerpts from "Parsifal" (compiled by Lukas Foss) by Richard Wagner. Digitization for Boston University Concert Programs was supported by the Boston University Humanities Library Endowed Fund

Extending Reach with Technology: Seattle Opera's Multipronged Experiment to Deepen Relationships and Reach New Audiences

This case study describes the Seattle Opera's four-year-long effort to test which kinds of technology channels work well in audience engagement. Its experiments with technology included a simulcast of Madama Butterfly at an 8,300-capacity sports arena, interactive kiosks in the opera house lobby and online videos that took viewers behind the scenes of the opera's signature production of Wagner's Ring cycle. Every season employed at least some winning engagement tools, driven in large part by the company's efforts to gather information before determining what applications to use. Although the majority of the tools were most effective at enhancing the experience of patrons who already had a deep connection with the company, the simulcast, in project's fourth year, also brought in opera newcomers. One important lesson from the work was that effective strategies required the involvement not just of the marketing department, but of the entire organization, including its union representatives

Elegy for Young Lovers, December 3, 1992

This is the concert program of the Boston University Opera Institute performance of Elegy for Young Lovers by Hans Werner Henze with libretto by W. H. Auden and Chester Kallman, running December 3, 4, 5, 1992 at 8:00 p.m. and December 6, 1992 at 2:00 p.m., at the Boston University Theatre, 264 Huntington Avenue. Digitization for Boston University Concert Programs was supported by the Boston University Humanities Library Endowed Fund

Ein Pakt mit dem Teufel : Leni Riefenstahl, Triumph of the Will, and the Nature of Guilt

Leni Riefenstahl’s Triumph of the Will is rightly considered a massive technical achievement in the world of cinema and propaganda. However, this achievement was undertaken at the behest of the immoral, murderous regime of Nazi Germany, a regime that Riefenstahl was more than willing to work with and glorify in order to further her career. This thesis will argue that Riefenstahl’s onscreen deification of Hitler, visual representation of völkisch ideology, and use of the music of Richard Wagner make her later claims of ignorance as to the film’s ultimate meaning impossible to correlate with established facts