{"title":"Defining Opera","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"disordered-heroes-in-opera-book-john-cordingly-9780993198335","title":"Disordered Heroes in Opera","description":"The psychiatrist John Cordingly examines twelve operatic heroes under six sub-categories of personality disorder, placing them within the histories of mental disorder, sexuality, Byronismand their cultural contexts.  The retired psychiatrist and former music graduate John Cordingly examines twelve operatic heroes under six sub-categories of personality disorder. He justifies his view that they are not 'mad' by tracing the histories of mental disorder, sexuality and Byronism, and by placing each opera within its cultural context. He also considers what professional treatment is needed according to modern criteria.    His gallery of heroes includes the hubristic Otello and Godunov, the psychopathic Iago and Claggart, the schizoid Wozzeck and Grimes, the borderline Werther and Herman, the narcissistic Don Giovanni and Onegin, and the repressed and melancholic Faust and Aschenbach. Each is considered within the overall design of their respective work. Cordingly also probes the reception of each opera and draws comparisons with cases from life. The book is a landmark in being the first of its kind and weaves a fascinating tapestry of concerns. It is also eminently readable.   JOHN CORDINGLY (author) is a Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. CLAIRE SEYMOUR (editor) is Head of Senior College at Queen's College London and the author of The Operas of Benjamin Britten [Boydell Press].","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49556260782353,"sku":"GOR009728195","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53077908685073,"sku":"GOR014731606","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0993198333.jpg?v=1751204050"},{"product_id":"what-opera-means-book-christopher-wintle-9780993198359","title":"What Opera Means","description":"A fresh, elegant and vital enquiry into the elusive character of opera, unfolded through categories and case-studies, with an emphasis on historical background, psychology and performance.  This book mounts a searching enquiry into the elusive character of opera. The author argues that any work of art can be grasped primarily through its constellation of Platonic ideas, or 'categories', several of which he explores in light of a new definition of the art-form. He elaborates each category with case-studies rooted in the time, place and circumstance of an opera's origin: most of these are adaptations of previously-published essays, though somedraw on talks for universities, opera houses and the BBC.   Although he looks back to the infancy of opera, he concentrates on later, more familiar repertory - principally Wagner, Verdi, Strauss and Britten. Case-studies included under 'Psychology' reveal his long-standing involvement with psychoanalysis, and those under 'Performance' reinforce his view of opera as a branch of rhetoric. As the first of a two-volume project, What Opera Means deals with categories accessible to all: of fifty entries, only two require basic musical knowledge (the second volume will be for specialists). The book is thus suitable for the general reader, as well as for college courses.   CHRISTOPHER WINTLE is Emeritus Senior Lecturer in Music at King's College London and General Editor of the series Defining Opera (Plumbago Books). He has published extensively on nineteenth- and twentieth-century music, and for twenty years was an opera critic for the Times Literary Supplement.   KATE HOPKINS (Editor) is Content Producer for Opera at the Royal Opera House and Senior Assistant Editor of Plumbago Books. She has written on opera and literature for ENO, WNO and The Royal Opera.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49905184276753,"sku":"GOR009564331","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/099319835X.jpg?v=1751045683"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/en-gb\/collections\/defining-opera-book-series.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}