Nineteenth-Century Opera and the Scientific Imagination

Scientific thinking has long been linked to music theory and instrument making, but the profound and often surprising intersections between the sciences and opera during the long nineteenth century are explored for the first time in this book. It reveals an intertwined cultural history that extends from backstage hydraulics to drawing-room hypnotism, from laryngoscopy to theatrical aeronautics, and offers a novel and illuminating set of case studies.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 397 pages
Publication date: 22 July 2021
Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Scientific thinking has a longstanding relationship with music theory and instrument crafting, yet the profound and often unexpected connections between the sciences and opera during the long nineteenth century have remained largely unexplored. This book delves into these intersections, covering a wide range of topics such as vocal physiology, theories of listening and sensory communication, technologies of theatrical machinery, and discourses of biological degeneration. By examining these chapters collectively, we uncover an intricate cultural history that spans from backstage hydraulics to drawing-room hypnotism, and from laryngoscopy to theatrical aeronautics. Positioned at the crossroads of opera studies and the history of science, this book presents a unique and enlightening collection of case studies that will captivate historians of both science and opera, as well as those interested in European culture from the French Revolution to the end of the Victorian period.
Scientific thinking has a longstanding relationship with music theory and instrument crafting, yet the profound and often unexpected connections between the sciences and opera during the long nineteenth century have remained largely unexplored. This book delves into these intersections, covering a wide range of topics such as vocal physiology, theories of listening and sensory communication, technologies of theatrical machinery, and discourses of biological degeneration. By examining these chapters collectively, we uncover an intricate cultural history that spans from backstage hydraulics to drawing-room hypnotism, and from laryngoscopy to theatrical aeronautics. Positioned at the crossroads of opera studies and the history of science, this book presents a unique and enlightening collection of case studies that will captivate historians of both science and opera, as well as those interested in European culture from the French Revolution to the end of the Victorian period.

Scientific thinking has a longstanding relationship with music theory and instrument crafting, yet the profound and often unexpected connections between the sciences and opera during the long nineteenth century have remained largely unexplored. This book delves into these intersections, covering a wide range of topics such as vocal physiology, theories of listening and sensory communication, technologies of theatrical machinery, and discourses of biological degeneration. By examining these chapters collectively, we uncover an intricate cultural history that spans from backstage hydraulics to drawing-room hypnotism, and from laryngoscopy to theatrical aeronautics. Positioned at the crossroads of opera studies and the history of science, this book presents a unique and enlightening collection of case studies that will captivate historians of both science and opera, as well as those interested in European culture from the French Revolution to the end of the Victorian period.

Weight: 686g
Dimension: 171 x 243 x 25 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781107529021