First published in 1988. Italy, the birthplace of opera in the late sixteenth century, has in recent decades seen remarkable and vital musical growth, with composers as diverse as Luciano Berio and Nino Rota, Luigi Nono and Sylvano Bussotti, Giacomo Manzoni, Bruno Maderna and Salvatore Sciarrino. The musical theatre has figured prominently in the work of Italian composers during this period, ranging from operas conceived in a traditional mode to works of a Music Theatre variety, and in style from popular to avant-garde. In this book Raymond Fearn surveys this Italian musico-theatrical phenomenon in the period since the Second World War, examining a wide range of works such as Nono's Intolleranza and Al Gran Sole Carico d'Amore, Berio's Passaggio and Un re in ascolto, Manzoni's Atomtod and La Sentenza and Castiglioni's Oberon and The King's Masque, and places these developments within a cultural and theatrical context

Introduction to the Series List of Plates Preface Acknowledgements Chapter 1: Rebirth and Renewal 1945 - 1950 Chapter 2: Opera and Experiment 1950 - 1959 Chapter 3: Towards a New Musical Theatre 1960 - 1965 Chapter 4: From Happening to Revolution 1965 - 1975 Chapter 5: Towards - And Away From - A New Musical Theatre Appendices 1: Chronological List of Principal Operas 2. Composers: Brief Discography Index