The Impossible Art: Adventures in Opera

Opera has been an impossible art since its beginning in seventeenth-century Florence, striving to reproduce the wonders of ancient Greek drama. Its greatest artists have fused multiple art forms into a unified synesthetic experience, giving it its exceptional power. Matthew Aucoin's new opera, Eurydice, is a passionate defense of what is best about opera, written in the midst of a global pandemic. It illuminates the symbiotic relationship between composers and librettists, between operas greatest figures and those of literature, and tells the story of its new opera from its inception to its production on the Metropolitan Operas iconic stage.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 320 pages
Publication date: 07 March 2023
Publisher: St Martin's Press

Opera has always been a challenging art form, with its earliest practitioners in seventeenth-century Florence aiming to recreate the wonders of ancient Greek drama, which is uncertain whether it was even sung in the first place. The greatest opera artists have sought to blend multiple art forms, including music, drama, poetry, and dance, into a unified synesthetic experience. Composer Matthew Aucoin, a rising star in the opera world, believes that this impossibility is what gives opera its exceptional power and serves as its lifeblood.

Opera assumes its true form when it pursues impossible goals, such as the virtuosity required of its performers, the bizarre and often spectacular nature of its stage productions, and the creation of a whole world whose basic fabric is music. The Impossible Art 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 rare works that capture something essential about human experience, ranging from classics by Mozart and Verdi to contemporary offerings of Thomas Adès and Chaya Czernowin. He illuminates the symbiotic relationship between composers and librettists, between operas greatest figures and those of literature. Aucoin also tells the story of his new opera, Eurydice, from its inception to its production on the Metropolitan Operas iconic stage.

The Impossible Art opens the theater door and invites the reader into this extraordinary world.

Weight: 300g
Dimension: 200 x 125 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781250858818