Ideology in Britten's Operas by J P E Harper-Scott

Ideology in Britten's Operas by J P E Harper-Scott

This thematic examination of Britten's operas focuses on the way that ideology is presented on stage. To watch or listen is to engage with a vivid artistic testament to the ideological world of mid-twentieth-century Britain. But it is more than that, too, because in many ways Britten's operas continue to proffer a diagnosis of certain unresolved problems in our own time. Only rarely, as in Peter Grimes, which shows the violence inherent in all forms of social and psychological identification, does Britten unmistakably call into question fundamental precepts of his contemporary ideology. This has not, however, prevented some writers from romanticizing Britten as a quiet revolutionary. This book argues, in contrast, that his operas, and some interpretations of them, have obscured a greater social and philosophical complicity that it is timely - if at the same time uncomfortable - for his early twenty-first-century audiences to address.

'The author is interested in Britten's ideology and studies this by focusing on the origins, nature, and structure of the ideas in the operasRecommended. Graduate students, researchers, faculty, professionals.' R. Pitts, Choice
'… deeply original and brilliantly wrought … Ideology in Britten's Operas is an intellectually stimulating achievement-agile in critical-theoretical perspective, musical in its score analyses, and engaging to read. It is also an ambitious book, seeking in Britten's operas a testing-ground for a broader ideologically framed criticism.' Philip Rupprecht, Music and Letters

Harper-Scott, J. P. E.: - J. P. E. Harper-Scott is Temporary Lecturer in Music at Royal Holloway, University of London. He studied at the University of Durham and at Magdalen College, Oxford. His essays on Elgar have been published in 19th-Century Music and Music Analysis, and he is a contributor to The Cambridge Companion to Elgar. He is the co-editor, with Julian Rushton, of an essay collection, Elgar Studies (Cambridge, 2007). This is his first book.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781108402873
ISBN 10	1108402879
Title	Ideology in Britten's Operas
Author	J P E Harper-Scott
Series	Music Since 1900
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Cambridge University Press
Year published	2020-10-29
Number of pages	345
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.