Seeing opera anew : a cultural and biological perspective /

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Includes bibliographical references and index.Part 1. Music-dramas, evolutionary biology, and psychology. Introduction : what science has to offer ; Orfeo : stories, singing, and sexuality ; Rodelinda : emotion, music, and drama ; L'elisir d'amore : mate choice, comedy, and consonance ; Le nozze di Figaro : marital commitment and challenges to it ; Don Giovanni, Wozzeck : assessing adult character ; Die Walküre, Simon Boccanegra : parenting, power, and posterity ; The tempest, Lear, Falstaff : aging and wisdom -- Part 2. Cultural considerations regarding opera. Introduction : what is meant by "culture" ; Attracting audiences : War and peace, Omar, Song from the uproar ; Origins and innovations : before and after La bohème (the movie) ; Affording extraordinary experiences : Les Troyens, Akhnaten."What people ultimately want from opera, audience research suggests, is to be absorbed in a story that engages their feelings, even moves them deeply, and that may lead them to insights about life and, perhaps, themselves. How and why can this combination of music and drama do that? What causes people to be moved by opera? How is it that people may become more informed about living and their own lives? Seeing Opera Anew addresses these fundamental questions. Most approaches to opera present information solely from the humanities, providing musical, literary, and historical interpretations, but this book offers a "stereo" perspective, adding insights from the sciences closely related to human life, including evolutionary biology, psychology, anthropology, and neuroscience. It can be hoped that academic specialists less familiar with the science will find points of interest in this book's novel approach, and that open-minded students and inquisitive opera-goers will be stimulated by its "cultural and biological perspective.""--