Modest Musorgsky and Boris Godunov
Modest Musorgsky and Boris Godunov
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Summary
Caryl Emerson (a literary specialist) and Robert William Oldani (a music historian) take a comprehensive look at the most famous Russian opera, Modest Musorgsky's Boris Godunov.
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Modest Musorgsky and Boris Godunov by Caryl Emerson
Caryl Emerson (a literary specialist) and Robert William Oldani (a music historian) take a comprehensive look at the most famous Russian opera, Modest Musorgsky's Boris Godunov. The result is both a historical study of a famous work and an interpretative piece of scholarship. The topics discussed include: the 'Boris Tale' in history; Karamzin's history and Pushkin's drama as literary sources; Musorgsky's innovations as a librettist and as a theorist of the sung Russian word; the strange story of the opera's composition and revision; its first productions at home and abroad; and an in-depth musical analysis. In the process, several often-met errors in Musorgsky scholarship are clarified and corrected. A final chapter speculates on the opera's themes of political murder, guilt and legitimacy - so important to Russian literary and national identity in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries - and the new role the 'Boris plot' and its composer might come to play in more recent phases of Russian cultural life.
"Emerson and Oldani's portrait of Musorgsky as composer is broad, intelligent and convincing" The Russian Review
"...a glowing example of practical scholarship...It makes history and personalities live." B.W. High Performance Review
"The latest addition to a growing body of work on Modest Musorgsky makes a major contribution. The authors, veterans in the field, have approached Musorgsky's masterpiece from multiple directions, attempting to correct long-standing errors, to challenge widely held misinterpretations, and to draw together much current thinking on the opera. The resulting volume contains outstanding scholarship and provocative new insights delivered in an effective style....As a whole the book serves two functions. First, its fine scholarship contributes substantial new material to the Musorgsky literature. Second, it serves as a handbook to the opera for any involved with it: listeners, performers, producers, or critics. Indeed, it should be required background reading for all who face the perplexing choices among versions and editions or who wish to place this complex masterpiece in perspective." Gordon D. McQuere, Notes
"Complex yet rewarding in structure and intent, the book provides an admirable range of cultural-historical, musical and textological analysis and context, as well as performance and reception history....The volume features an excellent select biography and an interesting...discography." David Shengold, Slavic and East European Journal
"...a glowing example of practical scholarship...It makes history and personalities live." B.W. High Performance Review
"The latest addition to a growing body of work on Modest Musorgsky makes a major contribution. The authors, veterans in the field, have approached Musorgsky's masterpiece from multiple directions, attempting to correct long-standing errors, to challenge widely held misinterpretations, and to draw together much current thinking on the opera. The resulting volume contains outstanding scholarship and provocative new insights delivered in an effective style....As a whole the book serves two functions. First, its fine scholarship contributes substantial new material to the Musorgsky literature. Second, it serves as a handbook to the opera for any involved with it: listeners, performers, producers, or critics. Indeed, it should be required background reading for all who face the perplexing choices among versions and editions or who wish to place this complex masterpiece in perspective." Gordon D. McQuere, Notes
"Complex yet rewarding in structure and intent, the book provides an admirable range of cultural-historical, musical and textological analysis and context, as well as performance and reception history....The volume features an excellent select biography and an interesting...discography." David Shengold, Slavic and East European Journal
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780521369763 |
| ISBN 10 | 0521369762 |
| Title | Modest Musorgsky and Boris Godunov |
| Author | Caryl Emerson |
| Series | Cambridge Opera Handbooks |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| Year published | 2006-11-02 |
| Number of pages | 356 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |