{"product_id":"the-impossible-art-adventures-in-opera","title":"The Impossible Art: Adventures in Opera","description":"\n\u003ctable align=\"center\" border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"2\" cellspacing=\"0\" width=\"100%\"\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd class=\"productDetailSmallElements\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eBiographical Note\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eMatthew Aucoin \u003c\/b\u003eis an American composer, conductor, and writer. His operas have been commissioned and presented by the Metropolitan Opera, the Los Angeles Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and many other companies, and his instrumental music has been performed by Yo-Yo Ma, the Brentano Quartet, and other artists. He is a cofounder of the American Modern Opera Company (AMOC) and was the Los Angeles Opera's artist in residence from 2016 to 2020. He is a 2018 MacArthur Fellow.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePreface \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e1. A Field Guide to the Impossible \n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e2. Primal Loss: Orpheus and Eurydice in Opera \n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003ci\u003eA Guide to Four Hundred Years of Orphic Operas \u003c\/i\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003ci\u003eThe Impossible Moment: Claudio Monteverdi's \u003c\/i\u003eL'Orfeo \n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003ci\u003eMusic as Consolation: Marc-Antoine Charpentier's \u003c\/i\u003eLa descente d'Orphée aux enfers \n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003ci\u003eSupersaturation: Harrison Birtwistle's \u003c\/i\u003eThe Mask of Orpheus \n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e3. The Firewood and the Fire: Words, Music, and Stravinsky's \n\u003ci\u003eThe Rake's Progress \u003c\/i\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e4. Verdi's Shakespeare Operas: \n\u003ci\u003eMacbeth\u003c\/i\u003e, \n\u003ci\u003eOtello\u003c\/i\u003e, \n\u003ci\u003eFalstaff\u003c\/i\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003ci\u003eVerdi's Warmth \u003c\/i\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003ci\u003eRaw Material: \u003c\/i\u003eMacbeth \n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003ci\u003eThe Overreacher: The Singular Career of Arrigo Boito \u003c\/i\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003ci\u003eExpansion and Contraction: \u003c\/i\u003eOtello \n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003ci\u003eA Last Step, a First Step: \u003c\/i\u003eFalstaff \n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e5. Walt Whitman's Impossible Optimism \n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e6. Inner Rooms: Two Recent Impossibilities \n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003ci\u003eThomas Adès's \u003c\/i\u003eThe Exterminating Angel \n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003ci\u003eChaya Czernowin's \u003c\/i\u003eHeart Chamber \n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e7. Finding \n\u003ci\u003eEurydice\u003c\/i\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003ci\u003eA Conversation with Sarah Ruhl \u003c\/i\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e8. Music as Forgiveness: Mozart's \n\u003ci\u003eLe Nozze \u003c\/i\u003e\n\u003ci\u003eDi Figaro \u003c\/i\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWorks Referenced \n\u003cbr\u003eRecommended Recordings \n\u003cbr\u003eAcknowledgments \n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Quotes\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eNamed a Best Book of the Year by \u003ci\u003eThe Wall Street Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Exceptional . . . [Aucoin's] passion is evident in every chapter . . . An inspirational trip through highlights of 400 years of opera.\" -- \n\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"[ \n\u003ci\u003eThe Impossible Art\u003c\/i\u003e's] investigations of musical themes and personal obsessions constitute a scholar's analysis and a practitioner's diary as well as a lover's rhapsody . . . [Aucoin's] intellect is sharp and varied, his tastes catholic.\" --Willard Spiegelman, \n\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Wall Street Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"[ \n\u003ci\u003eThe Impossible Art\u003c\/i\u003e is] a magnificent blend of criticism and rapture.\" --John Domini, \n\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Boston Globe\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ci\u003e\"\u003c\/i\u003e \"Like Stravinsky and Rosen before him, Aucoin displays a prose style, a thoughtfulness, a brazenness of opinion arising from expertise, that put him in a league with those predecessors . . . Aucoin can really write. It is a pleasure to read his prose, and the moments when he makes me want to stop right now and go hear the music he describes so vividly are what makes the experience so pleasurable.\" --Thomas Forrest Kelly, \n\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eHarvard Magazine\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Aucoin writes with a precise awareness of what has gone before in [opera's] domain.\" --Geoffrey O'Brien, \n\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe New York Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Meaty, absorbing, fretting, and ultimately mind-blowing . . . \n\u003ci\u003eThe Impossible Art\u003c\/i\u003e will last me the rest of my life.\" --Timothy Pfaff, \n\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Bay Area Reporter\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Here's what George Loomis says: \"Many composers have written about music--think of Wagner's eight volumes of prose--but the phenomenon of a young composer setting forth his thoughts succinctly, persuasively and readably about the nature of opera and selected individual works, as Aucoin does here, is something special.\" --George Loomis, \n\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe New Criterion\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Vivid . . . Aucoin has the impulses of a master auto mechanic, relishing the act of getting under the hood and pulling the engine apart. Best of all, he wants to pass that knowledge on to us. Eschewing musicological jargon, he conveys his enthusiasm and wonder as he spells out, bar by musical bar, how Monteverdi creates a mood or Mozart manages to touch our hearts in the final scene of \n\u003ci\u003eThe Marriage of Figaro.\u003c\/i\u003e\" --Wynne Delacoma, \n\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe American Scholar\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Triple threat Matthew Aucoin: conductor, librettist, and composer, and now writer and thought leader. \n\u003ci\u003eThe Impossible Art \u003c\/i\u003esheds new light on the musicology, history, and personalities that bring opera to life, with a poet's appreciation of the importance of the libretto, often overlooked. Personal, witty, and well-researched, it will have you rushing to recordings of works you know well, and ones you have never heard, to listen with Aucoin's provocative insights in mind.\" -- \n\u003cb\u003eRenée Fleming\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\"Matthew Aucoin's \n\u003ci\u003eThe Impossible Art \u003c\/i\u003eshines with unforced generosity; his generation's perceptiveness, honesty, and frank address; and the personally felt urgency of moving history forward. Writing with uncanny wisdom and a modesty that is equal parts nerdy and heroic, here is a musician who is as insightful about Auden as about Stravinsky and who blows your mind with psychedelic and synesthetic descriptions of Birtwistle. This is a book infused with first love, and first vows of clear-eyed, lifelong devotion.\" -- \n\u003cb\u003ePeter Sellars\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Deeply insightful and delightfully entertaining . . . \n\u003ci\u003eThe Impossible Art \u003c\/i\u003eserves as a valuable guide to those who seek a more intimate relationship with art, with opera and with the mysteries of the human soul that reside within the realm of artistic creation--no matter how impossible that realm may be to approach.\" --Eamon Stein, \n\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eShelf Awareness\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"I could not put this book down. To read such cogent insights from such an important composer is pure joy from beginning to end. I thought I knew a fair amount about opera, but I learned a lot. If you are new to opera, this book will draw you in--if you are already among the converted, this book will open your eyes to new vistas about this greatest of arts.\" -- \n\u003cb\u003ePatrick Summers, Artistic \u0026amp; Music Director of the Houston Grand Opera\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Opera lovers will be delighted by this conversational, memoir-style book from an author who has spent years studying and writing in the art form.\" --Elizabeth Berndt-Morris, \n\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Aucoin speaks eloquently from his own experience as composer, conductor, writer, and pianist . . . With substantial lists of works cited and recommended recordings, Aucoin's insightful and informative opera history will engage everyone interested in music, including students and opera fans.\" -- \n\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"[Aucoin gives readers] a rare behind-the-scenes look at an art form with a reputation of being particularly impenetrable to outsiders.\" --Corinne Segal, \n\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eLit Hub\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublisher Marketing\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA user's guide to opera--Matthew Aucoin, \"the most promising operatic talent in a generation\" (\u003ci\u003eThe\u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003eNew York Times Magazine\u003c\/i\u003e), describes the creation of his groundbreaking new work, \u003ci\u003eEurydice\u003c\/i\u003e, and shares his reflections on the past, present, and future of opera\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFrom its beginning, opera has been an impossible art. Its first practitioners, in seventeenth-century Florence, set themselves the unreachable goal of reproducing the wonders of ancient Greek drama, which no one can be sure was sung in the first place. Opera's greatest artists have striven to fuse multiple art forms--music, drama, poetry, dance--into a unified synesthetic experience. The composer Matthew Aucoin, a rising star of the opera world, posits that it is this impossibility that gives opera its exceptional power and serves as its lifeblood. The virtuosity required of its performers, the bizarre and often spectacular nature of its stage productions, the creation of a whole world whose basic fabric is music--opera assumes its true form when it pursues impossible goals. \n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ci\u003eThe Impossible Art\u003c\/i\u003e is a passionate defense of what is best about opera, a love letter to the form, written in the midst of a global pandemic during which operatic performance was (literally) impossible. Aucoin writes of the rare works--ranging from classics by Mozart and Verdi to contemporary offerings of Thomas Adès and Chaya Czernowin--that capture something essential about human experience. He illuminates the symbiotic relationship between composers and librettists, between opera's greatest figures and those of literature. Aucoin also tells the story of his new opera, \n\u003ci\u003eEurydice\u003c\/i\u003e, from its inception to its production on the Metropolitan Opera's iconic stage. \n\u003ci\u003eThe Impossible Art\u003c\/i\u003e opens the theater door and invites the reader into this extraordinary world. \n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Citations:\u003c\/strong\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"italic\"\u003eLibrary Journal Prepub Alert\u003c\/span\u003e 07\/01\/2021 pg. 12 (EAN 9780374175382, Hardcover)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"italic\"\u003eBooklist\u003c\/span\u003e 10\/15\/2021 pg. 18 (EAN 9780374175382, Hardcover)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"italic\"\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/span\u003e 11\/01\/2021 (EAN 9780374175382, Hardcover) - *Starred Review\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"italic\"\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/span\u003e 12\/01\/2021 pg. 83 (EAN 9780374175382, Hardcover)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"italic\"\u003eShelf Awareness\u003c\/span\u003e 12\/21\/2021 (EAN 9780374175382, Hardcover)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eContributor Bio:\u003c\/strong\u003eAucoin, Matthew\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eMatthew Aucoin\u003c\/b\u003e is an American composer, conductor, writer, and pianist, and a MacArthur Fellow. He has worked as a composer and conductor with the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, American Repertory Theater, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Music Academy of the West. He was the Los Angeles Opera's Artist in Residence from 2016 to 2020, and is a cofounder of the American Modern Opera Company.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003c\/table\u003e\n","brand":"Farrar, Straus and Giroux","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47953515249890,"sku":"9780374175382","price":33.6,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0023\/0005\/1501\/files\/9780374175382.png?v=1782964778","url":"https:\/\/www.mangadeal.com\/products\/the-impossible-art-adventures-in-opera","provider":"Manga Deal","version":"1.0","type":"link"}