{"product_id":"9780729411998-rousseau-on-stage","title":"Rousseau on Stage: Playwright, Musician, Spectator","description":"\u003cmeta content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\" http-equiv=\"Content-Type\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAn analysis of Rousseau's conflicted relationship with the theatre.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eFollowing his opposition to the establishment of a theatre in Geneva, Jean-Jacques Rousseau is often considered an enemy of the stage. Yet he was fascinated by drama: he was a keen theatre-goer, his earliest writings were operas and comedies, his admiration for Italian lyric theatre ran through his career, he wrote one of the most successful operas of the day, \u003cem\u003eLe Devin du village\u003c\/em\u003e, and with his Pygmalion, he invented a new theatrical genre, the \u003cem\u003eScène lyrique \u003c\/em\u003e(‘melodrama’). \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThrough multi-faceted analyses of Rousseau’s theatrical and musical works, authors re-evaluate his practical and theoretical involvement with and influence on the dramatic arts, as well as his presence in modern theatre histories. New readings of the \u003cem\u003eLettre à d’Alembert\u003c\/em\u003e highlight its political underpinnings, positioning it as an act of resistance to external bourgeois domination of Geneva’s cultural sphere, and demonstrate the work's influence on theatrical reform after Rousseau’s death. Fresh analyses of his theory of voice, developed in the \u003cem\u003eEssai sur l’origine des langues\u003c\/em\u003e, highlight the unique prestige of Italian opera for Rousseau. His ambition to rethink the nature and function of stage works, seen in \u003cem\u003eLe Devin du village\u003c\/em\u003e and then, more radically, in \u003cem\u003ePygmalion\u003c\/em\u003e, give rise to several different discussions in the volume, as do his complex relations with Gluck. Together, contributors shed new light on the writer’s relationship to the stage, and argue for a more nuanced approach to his theatrical and operatic works, theories and legacy.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Rarewaves","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":40743269105761,"sku":"9780729411998","price":129.77,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0092\/7504\/8033\/files\/orig_29875041.jpg?v=1725811130","url":"https:\/\/www.rarewaves.com\/products\/9780729411998-rousseau-on-stage","provider":"Rarewaves.com","version":"1.0","type":"link"}