1,721,060 research outputs found
‘Mimesis, Iconoclasm and Resistance: Resituating The Revenger’s Tragedy’
No full textNo abstract available
Situating Political and Biblical Authority in Massinger and Field's 'The Fatal Dowry'
No full textThe Fatal Dowry, a collaborative tragedy written by Philip Massinger and Nathan Field, has been almost completely ignored by critics of early modern drama. One reason for this is that we do not know what led Massinger and Field to collaborate on this play, nor do we possess any existing evidence as to when it was written or first performed (see Massinger, 1976, xxx–xxxi). The Oxford editors of Massinger’s complete works note that dating is contingent upon reading contemporary allusions in and to the play but also admit that these are debatable. As they write: ‘not too much weight can be put on these allusions. While a date of 1617–19 might be a reasonable inference, it is impossible to be definite within the limits 1615–1620’ (Massinger, 1976, 3). The upper limit of 1620 is unquestionable given Field’s death that year. What is not known is how close to 1620 we can place the writing and production of The Fatal Dowry. Because this is not a well-known play, a brief outline of the plot is necessary in order to contextualise what follows. Charalois, the son of the late Marshall, wishes to release the body of his dead father for burial and is supported by his friend, the soldier Romont. But the body is held in abeyance by his father’s creditors and so Charalois agrees to go to jail with Romont, thus enabling a proper burial to take place
Shakespeare and Opera
No full textThis chapter reports that both Hector Berlioz and Giuseppe Verdi were dominant presences in the European obsession with opera in the nineteenth century. An analysis of some complex confluences of Shakespearean history, politics and performance is presented. The chapter then explores in detail the genesis and first performances of Otello. Some of the major recorded interpretations of the role of Otello during the twentieth century are reviewed. It also shows that the performance history of Otello is as contested and complex as the original play upon which Verdi and his team of collaborators drew. Today, the world's opera houses offer only one of many outlets for operatic performances. There are any number of iconic singers whose interpretations of the canonical Shakespearean operas either on recordings or on film deserve wider exposure and further examination beyond the remit of classical music and opera scholars
The pageant of history: staging the local past, 1905-39
No full textBook synopsis: Over the last one hundred years, many of the events and personalities of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries have been brought before home, cinema, exhibition, festival and theatrical audiences via a variety of visual media. This collection, for the first time, examines these representations, looking at recent television series, documentaries, feature films, pageantry, theatre and popular culture in a range of cultural and linguistic guises. Filming and Performing Renaissance History opens up wider avenues of interpretive opportunity and substitutes a more generous, nuanced acknowledgement of the ways in which the 'Renaissance' is made to signify across disciplines and in relation to a whole series of events and personalities. Accessing the Renaissance in this fashion generates a genuine sense of the modalities of historical representation, of what the Renaissance 'means' and of how its meanings have been negotiated in modernity
Performing Verdi's <i>Otello</i> in Fin-de-Siècle London
No full textThe premiere of Giuseppe Verdi and Arrigo Boito’s opera Otello on 5 February 1887 at La Scala, Milan was an event of international significance. The first London performances in July 1889 were given by many of the cast who had participated in the Milan premiere, including Francesco Tamagno as Otello, Victor Maurel as Iago, and the conductor Franco Faccio. This chapter considers the London premiere, arguing that contemporary discussions of subjects such as acting and singing techniques, finance, Wagnerian influence, celebrity, and national versus international style, are all bound up with larger questions of British national identity at the fin-du-siècle. The author also compares the reception of Tamagno’s performance with that of the Polish tenor Jean De Reszke, who took on the part two years later in London. The author contends that debates about these singers’ conceptions of the role recasts an earlier controversy about the relative merits of two of the most famous Victorian Othellos, the Italian Salvini and the British Irving. Shakespeare’s cultural status is, of course, central to all these debates. On the one hand, Victorian commentators on Verdi’s opera assert Shakespeare’s unique and dominant Britishness. On the other hand, the appropriation of the Bard in the ‘foreign’ medium of opera, and by foreign nations and performers, reveals nascent anxieties about the ideological security of Shakespeare, and by implication Britain, in the age of Empire
Filming and Performing Renaissance History
No full textOver the last one hundred years, many of the events and personalities of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries have been brought before home, cinema, exhibition, festival and theatrical audiences via a variety of visual media. This collection, for the first time, examines these representations, looking at recent television series, documentaries, feature films, pageantry, theatre and popular culture in a range of cultural and linguistic guises. Filming and Performing Renaissance History opens up wider avenues of interpretive opportunity and substitutes a more generous, nuanced acknowledgement of the ways in which the 'Renaissance' is made to signify across disciplines and in relation to a whole series of events and personalities. Accessing the Renaissance in this fashion generates a genuine sense of the modalities of historical representation, of what the Renaissance 'means' and of how its meanings have been negotiated in modernity
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