Review by Choice Review
Angermuller's beautiful volume, a mostly fluent and idiomatic translation of his Mozart--die Opern von der Urauffuhrung bis Heute (1988), is enough to raise one's opinion of coffee-table books. Luxuriously produced, copiously illustrated, it presents photos and some documents previously unavailable to armchair scholars. The book's organization is chronological, with a chapter on each of Mozart's dramatic works, even the incomplete Zaide and L'Oca del Cairo. Throughout, Angermuller--a recognized expert on Mozart and on 18th-century Italian opera in general--provides dependable information and commentary that is at least thoughtful and occasionally controversial. Areas considered include how Mozart came to write each opera, the work's publication and performance history, and its significance in Mozart's career. Yet it is difficult to decide for whom this book is intended. Amateurs will find frustrating the inclusion of plot summaries for the more obscure operas but not for those most likely to be produced. Scholars will like the excellent bibliography and the hard-to-find documentary material, but dislike that this material itself is insufficiently documented. Those likely to gain most are theater historians, who will find the detailed performance histories helpful. In the end, however, one may well decide to buy the book solely for its illustrations, which are numerous and enlightening in themselves. -K. Pendle, University of Cincinnati
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Booklist Review
Angermuller's survey of Mozart's theatrical compositions explores their dramatic content and context rather than their strictly musical merit, which is more extensively treated elsewhere. The visual documentation of the volume is a feast of performance history stretching from the original premieres to the productions of the 1980s, with reproductions of designs, drawings, stage sets, and performance photographs. Although the collaborations with Da Ponte are the ones most extensively covered, all of Mozart's operatic works are included and given their due. This attention to these lesser-known and rarely performed works is especially valuable since the pieces are now becoming more familiar through recordings. The author also covers the origins and composition of each opera with particular attention to the influence of the text on Mozart's music. Bibliography; index. JB.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Library Journal Review
This book is a fine example of recent interest among performing arts scholars in performance history and dramatic realization. Using archival material from Europe's opera houses, historical illustrations of costume and stage design, and superbly printed photographs of contemporary performances, Angermuller focuses on Mozart's evolution and impact as a music dramatist. He also discusses the genesis of each opera, using Mozart's letters and contemporary accounts of first performances to reveal Mozart's working methods and his pragmatic adjustments to available singers and cultural expectations. The documentation of subsequent stagings show how perceptions of Mozart changed over time and geography and also the difficulties involved in staging his operas. Recommended for all performing arts collections.-- Steven J. Squires, Univ. of North Carolina Lib., Chapel Hill (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Choice Review
Review by Booklist Review
Review by Library Journal Review
