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Expressions Of Madness In Coloratura Mad Scenes Of Bel Canto Operas, Rachel G. Christenson
Expressions Of Madness In Coloratura Mad Scenes Of Bel Canto Operas, Rachel G. Christenson
Senior Honors Theses
This thesis will explore the musical innovations in the mad scenes of the bel canto composers in the 1800s. It will analyze Gaetano Donizetti’s mad scenes in Anna Bolena (1830) and Lucia di Lammermoor (1835), and Vincezzo Bellini’s mad scenes in I Puritani (1835) to discover how each composer expresses madness through the high and virtuosic voice of the coloratura soprano. The subject of madness is not a new idea in opera. However, the mad scenes of Donizetti and Bellini are the most successful and are often performed in opera houses around the world. Specific attention is given to the …