Susan Vandiver Nicassio's Books

Tosca's Rome

The Play and the Opera in Historical Perspective

By: Susan Vandiver Nicassio

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Tosca's Rome

The Play and the Opera in Historical Perspective

By: Susan Vandiver Nicassio

In the first section, the author reviews Roman life in the late 18th and 19th centuries, paying considerable attention to how Puccini's own prejudices shaped his story and how Sardou (the French playwright) reinterpreted the historical realities that the opera treats. In the second section, she looks at how Rome circa 1800 was viewed through the eyes of a painter, a singer, and a policeman (the occupations of the opera's three main characters). The third section gives a scene-by-scene analysis of the opera. An appendix shows the parallels (and discrepancies) between the play and the opera.

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Page Count

372

Publisher

University of Chicago Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0226579719

ISBN 13

9780226579719

Imperial City

Rome under Napoleon

By: Susan Vandiver Nicassio

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Imperial City

Rome under Napoleon

By: Susan Vandiver Nicassio

In 1798, the armies of the French Revolution tried to transform Rome from the capital of the Papal States to a Jacobin Republic. For the next two decades, Rome was the subject of power struggles between the forces of the Empire and the Papacy, while Romans endured the unsuccessful efforts of Napoleon’s best and brightest to pull the ancient city into the modern world. Against this historical backdrop, Nicassio weaves together an absorbing social, cultural, and political history of Rome and its people. Based on primary sources and incorporating two centuries of Italian, French, and international research, her work reveals what life was like for Romans in the age of Napoleon. “A remarkable book that wonderfully vivifies an understudied era in the history of Rome. . . . This book will engage anyone interested in early modern cities, the relationship between religion and daily life, and the history of the city of Rome.”—Journal of Modern History “An engaging account of Tosca’s Rome. . . . Nicassio provides a fluent introduction to her subject.”—History Today “Meticulously researched, drawing on a host of original manuscripts, memoirs, personal letters, and secondary sources, enabling [Nicassio] to bring her story to life.”—History

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Page Count

257

Publisher

University of Chicago Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0226579743

ISBN 13

9780226579740

Tosca's Rome

The Play and the Opera in Historical Perspective

By: Susan Vandiver Nicassio

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Tosca's Rome

The Play and the Opera in Historical Perspective

By: Susan Vandiver Nicassio

A timeless tale of love, lust, and politics, Tosca is one of the most popular operas ever written. In Tosca's Rome, Susan Vandiver Nicassio explores the surprising historical realities that lie behind Giacomo Puccini's opera and the play by Victorien Sardou on which it is based. By far the most "historical" opera in the active repertoire, Tosca is set in a very specific time and place: Rome, from June 17 to 18, 1800. But as Nicassio demonstrates, history in Tosca is distorted by nationalism and by the vehement anticlerical perceptions of papal Rome shared by Sardou, Puccini, and the librettists. To provide the historical background necessary for understanding Tosca, Nicassio takes a detailed look at Rome in 1800 as each of Tosca's main characters would have seen it—the painter Cavaradossi, the singer Tosca, and the policeman Scarpia. Finally, she provides a scene-by-scene musical and dramatic analysis of the opera. "[Nicassio] must be the only living historian who can boast that she once sang the role of Tosca. Her deep knowledge of Puccini's score is only to be expected, but her understanding of daily and political life in Rome at the close of the 18th century is an unanticipated pleasure. She has steeped herself in the period and its prevailing culture-literary, artistic, and musical-and has come up with an unusual, and unusually entertaining, history."—Paul Bailey, Daily Telegraph "In Tosca's Rome, Susan Vandiver Nicassio . . . orchestrates a wealth of detail without losing view of the opera and its pleasures. . . . Nicassio aims for opera fans and for historians: she may well enthrall both."—Publishers Weekly "This is the book that ranks highest in my estimation as the most in-depth, and yet highly entertaining, journey into the story of the making of Tosca."—Catherine Malfitano "Nicassio's prose . . . is lively and approachable. There is plenty here to intrigue everyone-seasoned opera lovers, musical novices, history buffs, and Italophiles."—Library Journal

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Page Count

370

Publisher

University of Chicago Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0226579727

ISBN 13

9780226579726

The Caesar of Paris

By: Susan Jaques

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The Caesar of Paris

By: Susan Jaques

Napoleon is one of history’s most fascinating figures. But his complex relationship with Rome—both with antiquity and his contemporary conflicts with the Pope and Holy See—have undergone little examination. In The Caesar of Paris, Susan Jaques reveals how Napoleon’s dueling fascination and rivalry informed his effort to turn Paris into “the new Rome”— Europe’s cultural capital—through architectural and artistic commissions around the city. His initiatives and his aggressive pursuit of antiquities and classical treasures from Italy gave Paris much of the classical beauty we know and adore today.Napoleon had a tradition of appropriating from past military greats to legitimize his regime—Alexander the Great during his invasion of Egypt, Charlemagne during his coronation as emperor, even Frederick the Great when he occupied Berlin. But it was ancient Rome and the Caesars that held the most artistic and political influence and would remain his lodestars. Whether it was the Arc de Triopmhe, the Venus de Medici in the Louvre, or the gorgeous works of Antonio Canova, Susan Jaques brings Napoleon to life as never before.

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Page Count

629

Publisher

Simon and Schuster

Published Date

ISBN 10

1681779404

ISBN 13

9781681779409

Imperial City

Rome under Napoleon

By: Susan Vandiver Nicassio

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Imperial City

Rome under Napoleon

By: Susan Vandiver Nicassio

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Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

257

Publisher

University of Chicago Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0226579743

ISBN 13

9780226579740

Book's by Susan Vandiver Nicassio

Tosca's Rome

Tosca's Rome

Imperial City

Imperial City

Tosca's Rome

Tosca's Rome

The Caesar of Paris

The Caesar of Paris

Imperial City

Imperial City

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