Aikin, Judith P.
A Language for German Opera

The Development of Forms and Formulas for Recitative and Aria in Seventeenth-Century German Libretti.

Contents: Introductory Remarks on Word-Music Relations: "Mein selbst ander ich". - I. Forms for Early German Opera in Dresden: Heinrich Schütz, Martin Opitz and Augustus Buchner. - II. Two Directions for the Early German Opera Libretto: Georg Philipp Harsdörffer and Simon Dach. - III. German Language Opera in Dresden, 1650-1680. - IV. The Turning Point: Caspar Ziegler’s "Von den Madrigalen" (1653) and Initial Signs of its Impact in Dresden and Wolfenbüttel. - V. The Final Pieces of the Puzzle: "Festspiele" in Rudolstadt (1665-1667) and "Die hällische Oper" (1660-1679). - VI. Three Operas at the Threshold of Maturity: "Rosander und Rosimene" (1679), "Floretto" (1683), and "Die Drey Töchter Cecrops" (1679). - Conclusion: Opera as Poetic Genre and Source of Poetic Forms: "das galanteste Stück der Poesie". - Bibliographies. - Indices. VII,349 Seiten mit 37 Abb. und Notenbeispielen, gebunden (Wolfenbütteler Arbeiten zur Barockforschung; Band 37/Herzog August Bibliothek in Kommission bei Harrassowitz Verlag 2002)