Igor Stravinsky: The Rake's Progress(1982)
Bertolt BrechtKurt WeillJohn Willett
The Rake's Progress is Stravinsky's biggest work and one of the few great operas written since the 1920s, rare too for the unusual quality of its libretto, by Auden and Kallman. Its importance is undisputed, but so too are the problems it raises: problems of both performance and understanding, caused by the irony with which it is so thoroughly permeated. In aspects of style and operatic convention it looks back to the eighteenth century, and in particular to the operas of Mozart and da Ponte, while making references also to other periods, to operas from Monteverdi to Verdi. Yet at the same time it is wholly a work of the twentieth-century, and indeed it is centrally concerned with the impossibility of return, artistic, psychological or actual, as well as with the nature and limitation of human free will. The Rake's Progress is not one of unbridled dissipation but rather, more interestingly, one of attachment to naive notions of freedom and choice, and his tragedy is that he can never go back.
Infos
124
English
1/1/1982
9780521281997
0521281997
More from Bertolt Brecht
Cambridge Opera Handbooks Series
Shelve Alban Berg: Lulu
Alban Berg: Lulu
Shelve Alban Berg: Wozzeck
Alban Berg: Wozzeck
Shelve Benjamin Britten, the Turn of the Screw
Benjamin Britten, the Turn of the Screw
Shelve Benjamin Britten: Billy Budd (Cambridge Opera Handbooks)
Benjamin Britten: Billy Budd (Cambridge Opera Handbooks)
Shelve Benjamin Britten: Death in Venice
Benjamin Britten: Death in Venice
Shelve Benjamin Britten: Peter Grimes
Benjamin Britten: Peter Grimes
Shelve C. W. von Gluck: Orfeo
C. W. von Gluck: Orfeo
Shelve Claude Debussy: Pelléas et Mélisande
Claude Debussy: Pelléas et Mélisande
Shelve Claudio Monteverdi: Orfeo
Claudio Monteverdi: Orfeo
Shelve Georges Bizet: Carmen
Georges Bizet: Carmen
Shelve Giacomo Puccini: La Bohème
Giacomo Puccini: La Bohème
Shelve Giacomo Puccini: Tosca
Giacomo Puccini: Tosca
Shelve Giuseppe Verdi: Falstaff
Giuseppe Verdi: Falstaff
Shelve Giuseppe Verdi: Otello
Giuseppe Verdi: Otello
Shelve Hector Berlioz: Les Troyens (Cambridge Opera Handbooks)
Hector Berlioz: Les Troyens (Cambridge Opera Handbooks)
Shelve Igor Stravinsky: The Rake's Progress
Igor Stravinsky: The Rake's Progress
Shelve Leoš Janáček: Kát'a Kabanová
Leoš Janáček: Kát'a Kabanová
Shelve Ludwig van Beethoven: Fidelio
Ludwig van Beethoven: Fidelio
Shelve Modest Musorgsky and Boris Godunov: Myths, Realities, Reconsiderations
Modest Musorgsky and Boris Godunov: Myths, Realities, Reconsiderations
Shelve Richard Strauss: Arabella
Richard Strauss: Arabella
Shelve Richard Strauss: Elektra
Richard Strauss: Elektra
Shelve Richard Strauss: Salome
Richard Strauss: Salome
Shelve Richard Wagner. Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
Richard Wagner. Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
Shelve Richard Wagner: Der Fliegende Holländer
Richard Wagner: Der Fliegende Holländer
Shelve Richard Wagner: Parsifal
Richard Wagner: Parsifal
Shelve The Threepenny Opera
The Threepenny Opera
Shelve Vincenzo Bellini: Norma
Vincenzo Bellini: Norma
Shelve W. A. Mozart: Così fan tutte
W. A. Mozart: Così fan tutte
Shelve W. A. Mozart: Die Entführung aus dem Serail
W. A. Mozart: Die Entführung aus dem Serail
Shelve W. A. Mozart: Die Zauberflöte
W. A. Mozart: Die Zauberflöte
Shelve W. A. Mozart: Don Giovanni
W. A. Mozart: Don Giovanni
Shelve W. A. Mozart: Idomeneo
W. A. Mozart: Idomeneo
Shelve W. A. Mozart: La Clemenza di Tito
W. A. Mozart: La Clemenza di Tito
Shelve W. A. Mozart: Le Nozze di Figaro
W. A. Mozart: Le Nozze di Figaro
Reviews
Collections
Nothing here
¯\_(ツ)_/¯