Opera in America: A Cultural History [Paperback]

Professor John Dizikes (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 27, 1995

"I hear the chorus, it is a grand opera, Ah this indeed is music-this suits me."-Walt Whitman, "Song of Myself" America has had a love affair with opera in all its forms since it was first performed here in colonial times. This book-the first comprehensive cultural and social history of musical theater in the United States-includes vignettes of productions, personalities, audiences, and theaters throughout the country from 1735 to the present day. John Dizikes tells how opera, steeped in European aristocratic tradition, was transplanted into the democratic cultural environment of America. With a wealth of colorful detail, he describes how operas were performed and received in small towns and in big cities, and he brings to life little-known people involved with opera as well as famous ones such as Oscar Hammerstein, Jenny Lind, Gustav Mahler, Enrico Caruso, Milton Cross, Maria Callas, and Leonard Bernstein. He tells us about the often overlooked African American contribution to operatic history, from nineteenth-century minstrel shows to the work of Scott Joplin and Marian Anderson, and he discusses operetta and Broadway musicals, recognized everywhere in the world as one of the triumphs of American twentieth-century art. Dizikes considers the increasingly diverse operatic audiences of the twentieth century, shaped by records, radio, and television, and he describes the places where opera now flourishes-not only New York, Chicago, and San Francisco, but also St. Louis, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Santa Fe, Seattle, and elsewhere. Generously illustrated and engagingly written, the book is a fitting tribute to its subject-as grand and entertaining as opera itself.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

A dozen years in the making, Dizikes' work, which won the 1993 National Book Critics Circle Award for Criticism, is a milestone achievement. He begins his chronicle in the early 19th century, tracing the expansion of opera in the United States while exploring its influences at the hands of politics, war and immigration. The staging of "The Bohemian Girl" in 1844, writes Dizikes, marked the birth of modern opera in the U.S. He fills out his research with rich detail about the singers, conductors, composers, patrons and fans who collectively have shepherded opera into every corner of the country--from large urban centers to rural backwaters. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Dizikes laces this comprehensive chronicle with colorful detail and supports it with an extensive bibliography. Beginning with opera's arrival here in the early 18th century, he describes how it spread, succeeded, receded and finally prospered. Until the middle of the 19th century, "English opera was at the center of theatrical life"; then, famous European singers--notably Jenny Lind, Marietta Albone and Henrietta Sontag--arrived, opulent opera houses were built "and Italian opera, in Italian, displaced English-language opera." Dizikes, who teaches American studies at UC-Santa Cruz, cites The Bohemian Girl , arriving from London in 1844, as signaling what Americans would become familiar with in the 19th and 20th centuries--operetta, light opera and the musical. He writes not only of singers, conductors and composers, but about the impresarios, promoters and opera's wealthy audience. Invoking the music criticism of Walt Whitman, George Bernard Shaw and others, he documents how U.S. operatic history was affected by politics, war, events in Europe and immigration. Closer to home, he explores 20th-century figures, from Toscanini to Flagstad, Scott Joplin to Marian Anderson; Rudolf Friml, George M. Cohan, Rodgers and Hammerstein and Stephen Sondheim. Despite occasional backtracking and a pace-slowing plethora of details, Dizikes has assembled a thoroughly enlightening walk through opera history. Illustrations. Reader's Subscription Book Club.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 622 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press (September 27, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300061013
• ISBN-13: 978-0300061017
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 7 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #633,950 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Fun but flawed, January 4, 2010

By 

T. Starnes - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Opera in America: A Cultural History (Hardcover)

The author starts with a very brief intro perhaps indulging forgiveness for what follows. It reads easily enough but lacks editorial direction or a foundation in music. Imagine sending an untrained singer out to perform in an opera - might work but probably won't be the best. With previous books on politics and sports, the author presents an impressive and unrelenting cascade of historical facts but no context, insight or even concerted opinion. I take issue with including the Broadway musical as part of opera but if you flatly state it is then please give some musical definitions and support. There is no discussion of structural evolution in opera music or how composers drew from/were inspired by classical sources. The history ends well before the 1990's copyright date and does not address opera on DVD - as you would assume it would after the first 500 pages. The future of opera in America is not addressed in any meaningful way. I enjoyed reading it but, as stated in the intro - will wait for someone else to come along and expand on the story. It surely succeeds in the goal of laying a foundation.