There has been a long-standing and mutually-informing association between psychoanalysis, literature and the arts. Surprisingly, given the oral/aural basis of the ‘talking cure’, music has largely been overlooked by psychoanalysis. Notably, neuroscientific research investigating music reception and production has been steadily increasing in range and scope over the years. However, in order to avoid confounding factors, empirical studies have focused primarily on non-vocal music. Remarkably, operatic vocal music has not featured prominently in either field. Yet the multi-dimensional, multi-layered nature of opera, which fuses together a number of different arts, would appear to provide fertile soil for both disciplines. This book aims to fill that gap, providing a stepping stone for further research. It leverages the individual strengths of psychoanalysis and neuroscience both separately and jointly as the inter-discipline of neuropsychoanalysis. By combining various theories of mind with knowledge about music processing in the brain, this book comprehensively examines the operatic reception experience, providing an account in subjective as well as objective terms. It explores the bittersweet enjoyment of operatic vocal music, which can literally move an operaphile to tears. The explanation for this may be found in a number of subjective dynamics that are unique to the reception of opera, rather than in any distinct objective neural processes, which are common to the reception of all music. These subjective dynamics, which are recruited during neural processing, are triggered by the equally unique features of the operatic voice, in combination with a number of auxiliary elements that are specific to opera. This book will be of interest to academics in a broad range of science and arts disciplines related to music perception and performance, such as music psychology and operatic performance. It may also appeal to passionate operaphiles who wish to understand what drives their addiction!

"The Enjoyment of Theatre's" balanced coverage of performance and history provides a comprehensive and accessible introduction to theatre for both majors and non-majors. This text covers the full span of theatre's 2,500-year history as well as performance/production topics such as playwriting, acting, directing, and the theatre industry. The 6th Edition features major revisions while continuing to bring students the expertise of a proven author team--one whose strong academic credentials combine with a wealth of theatre experience. Cameron and Gillespie make theatre come alive for all students by showing them how theatre is, and will continue to be, relevant to their everyday lives. New and Notable Features: " Offers a balance of history and performance to give students a context for understanding today's theatre and the social impact of the theatre since its inception. Features two 16-page color inserts with new color photographs of Broadway productions by New York's finest theatrical photographers bringing Broadway to life for students. New and unique "Explore Theatre: A Backstage Pass" is a peer-to-peer, interactive, DVD learning tool (available in a free package with the text) developed by students for students under the direction of an award winning teacher of theatre. Seventeen major content areas (director, actor, costume designer, etc.) are covered, with an eye towards introducing students to the people and processes that make theatre happen. Emphasizes theatre's cultural and economic context in extensively revised chapters throughout the book, to sugest how forces outside the theatre influence it. Integrates material on world theatre throughout the text rather than discussing it in a separate chapter. Includes new "Story of the Play"discussions that summarize some of the great plays that are used as examples in the book for students.

2000 publication by Andre Deutsch and is distributed by Trafalgar Square. Annotation 2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com).

French in 1986, is now available in Arthur Denner's fluid and sensitive English translation. Predictably, Poizat's route is not at all a conventional one. Rather than taking as his point of departure the intentions of composers and librettists, he is primarily concerned with the expectations and desires of the audience. He reports on an informal group interview with overnight standees on the Paris Opera House steps as they compare notes on how opera became an addiction.

For more than 60 years, this text has led the way in preparing students for a lifetime of listening to great music and understanding its cultural and historical context. The Thirteenth Edition builds on this foundation with NEW coverage of performance and musical style. NEW tools help students share their deepening listening skills and appreciation in writing and conversation.

Opera's Second Death is a passionate exploration of opera - the genre, its masterpieces, and the nature of death. Using a dazzling array of tools, Slavoj Zizek and coauthor Mladen Dolar explore the strange compulsions that overpower characters in Mozart and Wagner, as well as our own desires to die and to go to the opera.

From Aristotle's Poetics to Vaclav Havel, the debate about the nature and function of theatre has been marked by controversy. Daniel Gerould's landmark work, Theatre/Theory/Theatre, collects history's most influential Eastern and Western dramatic theorists – poets, playwrights, directors and philosophers – whose ideas about theatre continue to shape its future. In complete texts and choice excerpts spanning centuries, we see an ongoing dialogue and exchange of ideas between actors and directors like Craig and Meyerhold, and writers such as Nietzsche and Yeats. Each of Gerould's introductory essays shows fascinating insight into both the life and the theory of the author. From Horace to Soyinka, Corneille to Brecht, this is an indispensable compendium of the greatest dramatic theory ever written.