Author: Hugh Vickers
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780333345351
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 84

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Book Description

Author: Hugh Vickers
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 9780312346348
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 112

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Book Description
To its devotees, opera is the most sublime of arts. It is also one of the most accident prone, and when things go wrong, they tend to do so on a grand scale. Great Operatic Disasters records some of the most memorable calamities from opera houses around the world. Most of them are true, some have been embroidered over the years, and a few, well, se non e vero, e ben trovato.

Author: Michael Steen
Publisher: Icon Books
ISBN: 1848314604
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 904

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Book Description
With four famous operas each from Mozart, Verdi and Puccini, and two each from Rossini and Donizetti, there is a feast of information. Here are short guides to The Marriage of Figaro and Don Giovanni; to the splendour of Aïda, the heart-breaking La Traviata; the drama of Tosca. The range is very broad. There is Wagner's great love story Tristan und Isolde; there is Johann Strauss's light comedy Die Fledermaus. On the way you can be briefed about such favourites as Handel's Giulio Cesare, Bizet's Carmen, Gounod's Faust, Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin and Britten's Peter Grimes. With plot summaries, composer biographies, observations on musical points of interest and background on the historical and cultural context of each opera, every one of these guides will enhance your appreciation and enjoyment and help you discuss the work and the performance with your fellow opera-goers. Steen shares his expert knowledge with a lightness of touch that makes each guide a pleasure to read. Witty, informative and beautifully presented, Great Operas is an indispensable reference guide for both seasoned opera-goers and those enjoying opera for the first time.

Author: William Berger
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101221178
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
Major composers including Mozart, Wagner, Verdi, Puccini, and Strauss * Legendary singers from the great divas to the Three Tenors * What to look for and listen to at the opera * The history of opera and why it endures * Stylistic variations and basic theoretical underpinnings * Appreciating the art form * Biographies of the opera's greatest artists * A survey of classic operas

Author: Michael Steen
Publisher: Icon Books Ltd
ISBN: 1848314582
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 44

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Book Description
Tosca's première in Rome in January 1900 was nearly disrupted by a terrorist threat to blow up Italy's King Umberto. Victorien Sardou had written the melodrama for the great actress Sarah Bernhardt. Giacomo Puccini's popular opera is a tale of sadism and brutality, torture, attempted rape, murder, an execution and two suicides. 'Realism' was in vogue: Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana had been a great success, as had Leoncavallo's Pagliacci. With sharp practice, the publisher Giulio Ricordi obtained 'Tosca' for Puccini, who had already composed Manon Lescaut and La Bohème. The story, set in the Napoleonic, era was ideal for Puccini, a chain-smoker who enjoyed women, shooting birds, and high-speed motor cars. A political prisoner seeks sanctuary in the church where prima donna Floria Tosca's lover Cavaradossi, a role associated with Pavarotti, is painting a picture of Mary Magdalen. In Va, Tosca! the police chief Scarpia fantasises about Tosca during a Te Deum celebrating Napoleon's victory. Tosca stabs Scarpia following the famous operatic aria, Vissi d'arte, immortalised by Maria Callas on stage and in the film produced by Franco Zeffirelli. Awaiting death before dawn in the Castel Sant'Angelo, Cavaradossi sings the well-known arias E lucevan le stelle and O dolci mani. Tosca's attempt to save him comes to nothing. Written by Michael Steen, author of the acclaimed The Lives and Times of the Great Composers, 'Short Guides to Great Operas' are concise, entertaining and easy to read. They are packed with useful information and informed opinion, helping to make you a truly knowledgeable opera-goer, and so maximising your enjoyment of a great musical experience. Other 'Short Guides to Great Operas' that you may enjoy include La bohème, Madama Butterfly and Carmen.

Author: Peter Hall
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520046072
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 339

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Book Description
"Wide-ranging, significant, and readable...It will earn respect in non-academics as well as academic circles. A first-rate job."—Lloyd Rodwin

Author: Michael Steen
Publisher: Icon Books Ltd
ISBN: 1848314647
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 46

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Book Description
Puccini's obsession with detail ensured the success of La Bohème, his opera about the impoverished 'artistes' in Paris in the 1830s. Soon after its première, people started calling their baby daughters Mimi. The story of this seamstress, her hectic but fraught love affair with the poet Rodolfo and her tragic death from consumption (tuberculosis), never fail to touch the audience. Che gelida manina, Mi chiamano Mimì ..., and O soave fanciulla have become some of the most popular operatic excerpts, sung by stars ranging from Callas to Gheorghiu, Caruso to Pavarotti. Written by Michael Steen, author of the acclaimed The Lives and Times of the Great Composers, 'Short Guides to Great Operas' are concise, entertaining and easy to read books about opera. Each is an opera guide packed with useful information and informed opinion, helping to make you a truly knowledgeable opera-goer, and so maximising your enjoyment of a great musical experience. Other 'Short Guides to Great Operas' that you may enjoy include Madama Butterfly, Tosca and Turandot.

Author: Michael Steen
Publisher: Icon Books Ltd
ISBN: 1848315422
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 54

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Book Description
Even Salieri, the notorious villain of Peter Shaffer's drama Amadeus, admired Mozart's comic opera Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute), which was premièred in Vienna a few weeks before Mozart's death in December 1791. Though sometimes enjoyed as a children's opera, this is not a pantomime: rooted in Freemasonry, the Enlightenment and the Age of Reason, it promotes the ideals of progress, virtue, self-betterment, truth and justice. Tamino, an Egyptian Prince, has a magic flute to take him and his beloved Pamina through trials of constancy and endurance, before they can attain ultimate bliss. Critics have long been confounded as to how Mozart could present such a light-hearted yet deep masterpiece, with such wonderful music, while being in deep financial trouble. There is great stylistic diversity. The sensationally difficult part of the Queen of the Night comes from the Italian opera tradition, while the comical bird catcher Papageno (originally performed by the librettist Schikaneder) sings in the popular style of the Viennese suburbs. Such is the beauty of the music that Bernard Shaw thought that the O Isis and Osiris, of Sarastro, the High Priest, was fit to emerge from the mouth of a god. Written by Michael Steen, author of the acclaimed The Lives and Times of the Great Composers, 'Short Guides to Great Operas' are concise, entertaining and easy to read. They are packed with useful information and informed opinion, helping to make you a truly knowledgeable opera-goer, and so maximising your enjoyment of a great musical experience. Other 'Short Guides to Great Operas' that you may enjoy include Don Giovanni, The Marriage of Figaro and Così fan tutte.

Author: Hugh Vickers
Publisher: Pan Books Limited
ISBN: 9780330373050
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 130

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Book Description

Author: Michael Steen
Publisher: Icon Books Ltd
ISBN: 1848315511
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 54

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Book Description
The Paris audience in 1875 was shocked by the sexually explicit realism of Bizet's exotic operatic masterpiece, its 'verismo' depiction of low life and brutal passion. But since the disastrous première – a sensational failure which hastened Bizet's premature death – it has been the greatest operatic success. It led to a film opera, a jazz opera, a rock ballet and a Broadway musical. Equally, it impressed great composers including Tchaikovsky, Brahms and Vaughan Williams. The story, written by Prosper Mérimée and adapted by librettists Meilhac and Halévy, is set in colourful Seville, in southern Spain, renowned for bullfights. The corporal Don José is seduced by Carmencita, a gypsy whore who works in a tobacco factory. With her Habanera (a Cuban dance like the tango) and Andalusian Seguidilla, she charms him, and escapes prison. She falls for Escamillo, a celebrity toreador associated with the famous tune Toréador en garde. Don José's Flower Song fails to win her for long. We visit the haunt of Seville's demi-monde, Lillas Pastia's bodega, and a gypsy encampment in the mountains, before José stabs Carmen outside the bullring. Written by Michael Steen, author of the acclaimed The Lives and Times of the Great Composers, 'Short Guides to Great Operas' are concise, entertaining and easy to read. They are packed with useful information and informed opinion, helping to make you a truly knowledgeable opera-goer, and so maximising your enjoyment of a great musical experience. Other 'Short Guides to Great Operas' that you may enjoy include Tosca, Madama Butterfly and Eugene Onegin.