LITERARY REALISM AND VERISMO OPERA (ITALY AND FRANCE).
Item
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Title
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LITERARY REALISM AND VERISMO OPERA (ITALY AND FRANCE).
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Identifier
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AAI8319814
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identifier
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8319814
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Creator
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DE SANCTIS, DONA A.
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Contributor
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Prof. Robert Adams Day
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Date
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1983
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Literature, Comparative
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Abstract
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Verismo opera is a suspect genre, disparaged by music critics, but enthusiastically applauded by generations of opera audiences. Curiosity about the reasons for this paradox led to the present study, which is a selective rather than exhaustive exploration of the genre. It concentrates on seminal verismo operas in Italy and France, and specifically on the literary properties of their libretti which were influenced by the nineteenth century literary movement, realism. It suggests that the superior quality of the plots, characters, themes, and symbols of these libretti are largely responsible for the genre's enduring appeal.;Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana, two interpretations of La Boheme, one by Puccini, the other by Leoncavallo, Giordano's Andrea Chenier, Charpentier's Louise, Massenet's La Navarraise, Puccini's Il Tabarro, and three of Zola's original libretti set by Alfred Bruneau are examined in depth. Those libretti which were adaptations of literary works have been compared to their sources. Original libretti have been studied in their relationship to such literary genres as tragedy, historical fiction, comedy, and symbolism, which, together with realism, shaped their composition. All the works have been examined in the context of opera tradition to discover which fundamental opera conventions--arias, recitatives, orchestra, and chorus--were modified in order to present a realistic portrayal of life on the lyric stage.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
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Program
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Comparative Literature
