Metaphysical Song: An Essay on Opera

(Paperback)

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Connecting opera to shifting visions of metaphysics and selfhood across the last four hundred years, this book examines the relationship between the self and metaphysics as described by philosophers from Ficino through Descartes, Kant and Nietzsche, to Adorno. He then argues that opera, in its own right, has brought these subjects to the stage. Among the composers featured are Peri, Wagner, Lully, Verdi, Mozart and Britten. The book details interactions of song, words, drama and sounds used by creators of opera to fill in the outlines of the subjectivities they envisioned.

Reviews

"A well-written, wide-ranging, and thought-provoking look at opera. Highly recommended."--Library Journal (starred review) "There is much in this book for philosophers and opera lovers to enjoy, to reflect on, and to disagree with."--The Review of Metaphysics

Author Bio

Gary Tomlinson is Annenberg Professor in the Humanities at the University of Pennsylvania and has held Guggenheim and MacArthur fellowships. His books include Monteverdi and the End of the Renaissance and Music in Renaissance Magic: Toward a Historiography of Others.