New Orleans and the Creation of Transatlantic Opera, 1819–1859

Description

A history of nineteenth-century New Orleans and the people who made it a vital, if unexpected, part of an emerging operatic world. New Orleans and the Creation of Transatlantic Opera, 1819–1859 explores the thriving operatic life of New Orleans in the first half of the nineteenth century, drawing out the transatlantic connections that animated it. By focusing on a variety of individuals, their extended webs of human contacts, and the materials that they moved along with them, this book pieces together what it took to bring opera to New Orleans and the ways in which the city’s operatic life shaped contemporary perceptions of global interconnection. The early chapters explore the process of bringing opera to the stage, taking a detailed look at the management of New Orleans’s Francophone theater, the Théâtre d’Orléans, as well as the performers who came to the city and the reception they received. But opera’s significance was not confined to the theater, and later chapters of the book examine how opera permeated everyday life in New Orleans, through popular sheet music, novels, magazines and visual culture, and dancing in its many ballrooms. Just as New Orleans helped to create transatlantic opera, opera in turn helped to create the city of New Orleans. Contents Abbreviations Introduction 1 “Un théâtre est une machine difficile à mouvoir” Developing a Transatlantic Cultural Institution 2 Transatlantic Production and Transatlantic Reception: Positioning New Orleans through Grand Opéra 3 Audiences and Publics: Opera in the Sociocultural Fabric of New Orleans 4 Opera’s Material Culture and the Creation of Global Intimacy 5 Reimagining New Orleans in Operatic Travelogues Epilogue. From the Transatlantic to the Global: Beyond the Théâtre d’Orléans Acknowledgments Author’s Note Appendix 1 Théâtre d’Orléans Pro Forma Contract Notes Bibliography Index