Opera Books

Book SynopsisIn Singing in Greek: A Guide to Greek Lyric Diction and Vocal Repertoire, Lydía Zervanos reveals to singers the vast riches of Greek vocal music. Dating back to 1770, Greek art musicfollowing the Western European styles, often drawing on themes from folk music and motifslong awaits its rightful place in a truly international vocal repertoire. Modern singers in search of new musical opportunities will find in Singing in Greek the necessary tools to locate and perform art songs and arias from this extensive national vocal repertoire. Concisely written and full of practical advice, the book opens with an introduction to the Greek alphabet and pronunciation, navigating the assignment of International Phonetic Alphabet symbols. Zervanos covers such topics as Greek vowels, digraphs, consonants, binary consonants, consonant combinations, palatalization, basic Greek grammatical concepts and their role in stress and length, syllabification, and punctuationall separated into easily referenced chTrade ReviewWith this volume, Zervanos has taken away the obstacle of an unfamiliar language that, to this point, has prohibited wider exploration of Greek repertoire. In so doing, she has opened up a world of previously inaccessible music - and for this, singers everywhere can be grateful. (Brian Manternach) * Classical Singer Magazine *Singing in Greek is not simply an exploration of the Greek language and pronunciation but also an overall and thorough presentation of Greek music. . . .[T]his book is a valuable source of information. . . .All the credit should go to the author Lydía Zervanos not only for her deep scientific knowledge and study of the Greek language as a whole and its lyric pronunciation specifically, but also for her knowledge of music history. A book that should be on the shelves of every musician and every music-lover. (Translated from Greek) * Operatikos *Classical Greek repertoire needs to be done more often as it has so much to offer in extraordinary beauty of text, melody and style. Lydia Zervanos' Singing in Greek is a tool that can break down the barriers for artists and help them learn to sing the tragoúdia (songs) in this beautiful language. Not just a book about diction, it provides much needed information about this vast and important genre. I'm so delighted that this book exists and hope that it will be in the libraries of every singer, right along side their Italian, French and German language books. -- Maria Zouves, Greek-American soprano, producer, director, executive director of the Sherrill Milnes VOICE Programs (VOICExperience & Savannah VOICE Festival)At last we have a resource for the Greek vocal repertoire—and what a terrific resource! Lydía Zervanos opens this vast repertoire up to us, with a very clear, detailed and easy-to-use guide to Greek diction (including understanding the Greek alphabet) and audio examples from some of the best Greek singers of our time. With her passion for the subject, she makes the history of Greek vocal music come alive, as well. A must have reference book for singers, coaches and conductors interested in broadening their repertoire. -- Ellen Rissinger, vocal coach, Semperoper Dresden, host of The Diction PoliceA fully comprehensive guide to singing in the Greek Language; I am sure this landmark work will make Greek vocal literature accessible to a wider audience' -- Dr. Pantelis Polychronidis, senior lecturer/pianist, University of Music and Performing Arts, ViennaTable of ContentsRecording Examples Foreword Preface Acknowledgments Part One: The Sounds of the Greek Language Introduction to Part One Chapter 1: The Greek Vowel Sounds – [a] [ɛ] [i] [ɔ] [u] Chapter 2: Digraphs – ΑΙ αι, ΕΙ ει, ΟΙ οι, ΟΥ ου, ΑΥ αυ, ΕΥ ευ (ΥΙ υι, ΗΥ ηυ) Chapter 3: The Greek Consonant Sounds Chapter 4: Assimilation Part Two: Greek Vocal Repertoire Chapter 5: Overview Chapter 6: Ionian School of Music – Composers Chapter 7: Nikolaos Halikiopoulos-Mantzaros (1795-1872) Chapter 8: Pavlos Carrer (1829-1896) Chapter 9: G. & N. Lambelet Chapter 10: Spyridon-Filiskos Samaras (1861-1917) Chapter 11: National School of Music – Composers Chapter 12: Manolis Kalomiris (1883 - 1962) Chapter 13: National School of Music – Song Selection Chapter 14: Greek Operetta Chapter 15: Modernism in Greek Art Music Chapter 16: Maurice Ravel (1875-1937): Five Greek Folk Songs Appendix A: Publishers Appendix B: Organizations Appendix C: Greek Poets Appendix D: Vowels to IPA Consonants to IPA References Index About the AUthor

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Book SynopsisA collection of essays which explore the cultural background and creative evolution of this once-overlooked work. This volume is based on a selection of papers presented during a study course devoted to Gloriana held at the Britten-Pears School for Advanced Musical Studies in 1991. Glorianahas been a source of controversy since its première as part of the Coronation celebrations in 1953. It was planned as a national opera of broad appeal by its authors, Benjamin Britten and William Plomer, but, despite wide coverage in the media, the opera failed toestablish itself in the repertoire until a new production in 1966 revealed it to be a powerful and stageworthy work. In recent years it has attracted an increasing amount of scholarly attention. This volume offers essays byROBERT HEWISON, PHILIP REED, ANTONIA MALLOY, DONALD MITCHELL and PETER EVANS which explore the opera's cultural background, the early stages of its creative evolution, the first critical responses, and various aspects of the workitself: these are supplemented by a list of source materials for the opera and the works derived from it, and an extensive bibliography.Trade ReviewBoydell's reprint ... of Gloriana highlights the ongoing need for scholars to revisit the opera ... Clearly, there remains more to uncover about this 'royal' work that so vexed and perplexed its opening night audience. * NORTH AMERICAN BRITISH MUSIC STUDIES ASSOCIATION *

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Book SynopsisPatrick Barbier's entertaining and authoritative book is the first full study of the subject in the context of the baroque period. Covering the lives of more than sixty singers from the end of the sixteenth century to the nineteenth, he blends history and anecdote as he examines their social origins and backgrounds, their training and debuts, their brilliant careers their relationship with society and the Church, and their decline and death.The castrati became a legend that still fascinates us today. Thousands flocked to hear and see these singing hybrids - part man, part woman, part child - who portrayed virile heroes on the operatic stage, their soprano or contralto voices weirdly at variance with their clothes and bearing. The sole surviving scratchy recording tells us little of the extraordinary effect of those voices on their audiences - thrilling, unlike any sound produced by the normal human voice.Illustrated with photographs and engravings, the book ranges from the glories of p

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Book SynopsisThe UK's biggest-selling classical artist reveals how her angelic voice has shot her to superstardom...Trade ReviewInspiring... If you are already a fan of Jenkins then this book is a must. For everyoe else, it's a heartwarming read * BIG ISSUE *Sweet and charming to the last note * MANCHESTER EVENING NEWS *Told with Katherine's unique charm * SOUTH WALES ARGUS *told with Katherine's unique charm * SOUTH WALES ARGUS *Sweet and charming to the last note * MANCHESTER EVENING NEWS *inspiring... If you are already a fan of Jenkins then this book is a must. For everyoe else, it's a heartwarming read * BIG ISSUE IN THE NORTH *

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Book SynopsisIn this collection of essays Mary Cyr explores some of the written and unwritten performance conventions that applied to French and English music of the 17th and early 18th centuries. Using composers' own notations, marks added by 18th-century performers, historical treatises, and pictorial evidence, she investigates both vocal and instrumental genres, including opera, cantatas, instrumental chamber music, and solo music for the viol and violin. Some of the performance conventions remain controversial, such as the use of gesture by the French opera chorus, and others are still little-known, such as the use of the double bass for rhythmic and harmonic support in early 18th-century French opera. As many of these essays demonstrate, French Baroque music allowed performers a wider latitude of nuance and expression than is often assumed today. The essays in this volume will be of particular interest to scholars and performers who are interested in adopting a historically-informed approach to performing music by Henry Purcell, Ãâlisabeth-Claude Jacquet de La Guerre, Jean-Philippe Rameau, and their contemporaries. Several studies also deal with attributions, sources, and the discovery of a cantata by Rameau.Trade Review’The articles on ornamentation in English lyra viol music are a must for viol players interested in this repertoire... This book covers 30 years of work, but is so well researched and close to the sources that the older essays are not out of date... an extremely informative volume, of much use to performers and scholars alike.’ The Viola da Gamba Society Journal ’The articles are thoroughly researched and substantial; several of them have content which can teach us to perform baroque music to which they refer with greater historical awareness. And they break valuable new ground.’ The ConsortTable of ContentsContents: Part 1 Vocal Music in France: Élisabeth-Claude Jacquet de La Guerre: a biographical essay; The sacred and secular cantatas of Élisabeth-Claude Jacquet de La Guerre: an introduction; Representing Jacquet de La Guerre on disc: scoring and basse continue practices and a new painting of the composer; A new Rameau cantata; Performing Rameau's cantatas; Towards a chronology of Rameau's cantatas; Declamation and expressive singing in recitative; 18th-century French and Italian singing: Rameau's writing for the voice; On performing 18th-century haute-contre roles; Basses and basse continue in the orchestra of the Paris Opéra, 1700-1764; The dramatic role of the chorus in French opera: evidence for the use of gesture, 1670-1770; The Paris Opéra chorus during the time of Rameau; 'Inclina Domine': a Martin motet wrongly attributed to Rameau; Preface to François Martin, Petits Motets for One and Two Solo Voices with Instruments; Bach's music in France: a new source. Part 2 The Viol and Violin in England: A 17th-century source of ornamentation for voice and viol: British Museum ms. Egerton 2971; Carl Friedrich Abel's solos: a musical offering to Gainsborough?; Books on old violins and 19th-century playing from the bequest of T.W. Mills; Tempo graduations in Purcell's sonatas; Violin playing in late 17th-century England: Baltzar, Matteis, and Purcell; Ornamentation in English lyra viol music: part 1: slurs, juts, and thumpes and other 'graces' for the bow; Ornamentation in English lyra viol music: part 2: shakes, relishes, falls, and other 'graces' for the left hand; Index.

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Book SynopsisProfusely illustrated. Reproductions of paintings and engravings in the period of a given opera's historical setting illuminate the author's interpretations.Trade Review...a valuable handbook for those concerned with traditional opera production. * CHOICE *

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Book SynopsisThis history explores the soprano's evolution from the 16th to the 21st century, analysing societal influences on the art form. Boyden's gender-focused perspective, part of a five-volume series, is a valuable resource for singing history enthusiasts, referencing various art forms and offering insight into the rich history of the soprano voice.Table of ContentsAuthor’s Note Preface – Anatomy of a Muse Chapter 1 – Engendered Slavery Chapter 2 – Origin of the Species Chapter 3 – So Potent Art Chapter 4 – Sweet Madness Chapter 5 – Counterintuitively Speaking Chapter 6 – Faster Pussycat! Chapter 7 – First Ladies Chapter 8 – Donne d’ogni grado, d’ogni forma, d’ogni età Chapter 9 – Colouring by Numbers Acknowledgments Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisAuthorised biography of one of the greatest classical tenors in the world today, the German tenor Jonas Kaufmann.Trade ReviewMr Voigt's journalistic credentials are impeccable ... Mr Kaufmann goes into detail on the physical demands of his art; he speaks eloquently on the fear to which all singers are prone * The Economist *

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Book SynopsisThe Annotated Ring Cycle. It's accessible, colorful, and geared to a wide readershipnot only scholars and opera buffs but fans of Tolkien, Star Wars, and Hogwarts. Each volume in the series contains the follow: A new, complete translation in lively modern English that conveys Wagner's humor, rhymes, alliterative effects, subliminal messages, and inventive tale spinning. Focus on the cycle's storyline... its libretto, lyrics, and stage directions... motives, secrets, and plot twists... what's really going on... what its narrative shows and tells. Hundreds of intriguing notes and public domain pix, including celebrated artwork by Arthur Rackham, Howard Pyle, Aubrey Beardsley, the 1876 costume & set designs, and much more. Most important are the new contemporary Graphic Novel style illustrations that visual represent an appealing connection to the Ring's storyline, set side-by-side with the classic artwork of Rackham, et al.

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Book SynopsisThis book explores the responses of leading European avant-garde painters to the operas of Richard Wagner, the most influential composer of the late nineteenth century. The term avant-garde represents a twenty-first century evaluation of certain nineteenth-century artists working in a variety of advanced styles, rather than a phrase the artists applied to themselves. Chapters are on individual artists or groups, rather than an attempt to survey all of nineteenth-century Wagnerian visual art. They deal with paintings and drawings inspired by Wagner and his operas, not with the composer’s larger cultural influence through his writings and personal example. Thus artists such as Vincent Van Gogh and Paul Gauguin, who knew of Wagner’s music and writings but did not depict scenes from his operas, are not discussed in detail. The emphasis is on the diverse effects Wagner had on the works of leading avant-garde artists, varying according to their personalities and stylistic interests. The period beginning in the 1880s, often associated with post-Impressionism, was characterized by a movement away from realist subject matter to more personal or imaginary themes, a general intellectual trend of the fin-de-siècle. Wagner’s remote quasi-historical or mythological subjects fit well with this escapist tendency in the art and culture of the time, in part a return to the Romantic sensibility that was dominant in Wagner’s youth. Wagner’s influence peaked in the period between his death in 1883 and 1900, though a few long-lived artists continued their Wagnerian explorations from this era well into the early twentieth century. There is no “Wagner style” in art, yet Wagner’s pervasive influence is immediately evident in these works. Artists whose works are discussed include Eugène Delacroix, Henri Fantin-Latour, Odilon Redon, Max Klinger, James Ensor, Fernand Khnopff, John Singer Sargent and Aubrey Beardsley, among others.The book features 60 art reproductions, half of them in color.Table of ContentsContentsList of Figures and PlatesIntroductionAcknowledgmentsCh.1. Tannhäuser in ParisCh 2. An Allegorical Portrait of Richard Wagner with his MuseCh. 3. Brünnhilde and Parsifal as Seen by Odilon RedonCh. 4. “Wagnerian” Themes in English Pre-Raphaelite PaintingCh. 5. Aubrey Beardsley's Drawings of Tristan und IsoldeCh. 6. Art in the Wagner Memorial Album of 1884Ch. 7. John Singer Sargent, WagneriteCh. 8. Richard Wagner and the Artists of the Belgian Avant-GardePart 1 James EnsorCh. 9 Richard Wagner and the Artists of the Belgian Avant-GardePart 2 The Symbolists: Fernand Khnopff and Jean Delville Ch. 10. Constantin Meunier’s Bronze ValkyrieCh. 11. Wagnerian Architecture: The Wagnerhof in RotterdamIndexAbout the Author

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Book SynopsisEmploying a remarkable combination of expertise in music, opera, and psychological insight, Eric Plaut explores the great operas and their composers from the time of the French Revolution to the onset of the First World War. He sees opera as the preeminent medium for expressing human willfulness, its characters driven by emotions of passionate intensity. The great composers of opera were also governed by their feelings and heavily influenced by the life of their time. Weaving together these social, psychological, and historical strains, Dr. Plaut investigates the meaning behind eighteen of the greatest operas, including Tristan and Isolde, Madame Butterfly, Tosca, Die Fledermaus, The Barber of Seville, Aida, Tales of Hoffmann, Fidelio, Lucia di Lammermoor, Carmen, Boris Godounov, Otello, Salome, and Faust. At the same time he looks into the lives of their composers, seeking those experiences and characteristics which help to explain both the opera in question and the composer's larger body of works. The result is an unusually satisfying and perceptive view of grand opera, a book that will be essential for opera lovers and informative and entertaining for general readers.Trade ReviewCompletely absorbing...an eminently readable book that flows. -- Ilana Bar-Levav * Contemporary Psychology *Extremely timely...Plaut explores the psychological backgrounds of composers with tight precision. -- Jon Anderson * Chicago Tribune *A fascinating book for anyone who loves opera. -- Ardis Krainik, general director, Lyric Opera of Chicago * The New York Times *

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Book SynopsisHis exceptional good looks made him a matinee idol and Franco Corelli ä the Prince of Tenors ä was dubbed Mr. Soldout for 20 consecutive years. In 1958 just seven years after beginning his career he was already the highest-paid tenor in Italy. Following his Met debut in 1961 he was celebrated as the greatest tenor in the world a position that he retained until his departure from the Met in 1975.ÞHis charismatic performances in such operas as ÊLa VestaleÊ and ÊFedoraÊ (both in collaboration with Maria Callas) coupled with a formidable mystique as well as a number of notorious and colorful incidents including his real-life sword fight with Boris Christoff in Rome the Callas walkout there the beating up of a spectator in Naples and the alleged biting of Birgit Nilsson on a Boston tour of ÊTurandotÊ created a mania for Corelli.ÞNearly a decade in the making this definitive biography is based on the author's extensive research of theater archives and interviews with the opera star's numerous friends family members colleagues (Nilsson Pavarotti and many others) as well as the management of some of the world's leading opera houses.

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Book SynopsisToday Mozart's exquisite ÊLe Nozze di FigaroÊ delights and moves audiences everywhere long after its 1786 birth into tumultuous times. The original Beaumarchais play raised a firestorm in France then on the brink of revolution with its dangerous commentary on class relations. However Lorenzo Da Ponte carefully omitted anything political from his opera libretto; what remained when joined with Mozart's sublime and penetrating music was a witty yet profound tale of infatuation heartache scheming and tenderness where complex emotions are laid bare and everyone regardless of class is equally vulnerable to the powers of love.ÞFigaro continues the story of ÊThe Barber of SevilleÊ several years later in a single day of madness. Count Almaviva's love Rosina is now his long-suffering countess and the barber Figaro now the count's valet is about to marry Susanna the countess's maid. But the couple-to-be must first deal with two obstacles: a demand that Figaro pay his debt to an older woman or marry her instead and the count's determination to bed Susanna on her wedding night.ÞSuspicions fly plots are hatched narrow escapes abound and connivers receive their due. Love and forgiveness finally bring order to the craziness and a day filled with torment and worry ends in joy.

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Book SynopsisA riveting story of fatal attraction between a beguiling strong-willed gypsy and a na¯ve but passionate soldier who falls under her spell Georges Bizet's ÊCarmenÊ pulses with seduction obsession and deadly betrayal. It was reviled at its Paris premiere where its realism and perceived amorality proved shocking but it became one of the most popular and highly regarded operas of all time. Arguably the greatest musical product of France's enduring fascination with Spain Carmen features many numbers that are now almost universally familiar including the seductive Habanera and the boastful but infectious Toreador Song.ÞDon Jos© is an idealistic young corporal in 1820s Seville when he encounters the gypsy Carmen who is irresistible to all men ä seemingly except Jos© who loves the innocent country girl Mica«la. But soon enough Carmen works her wiles on him to escape imprisonment and a later twist of ever-looming fate forces him to completely abandon the world he knows and follow Carmen into a life of crime. When the bullfighter Escamillo wins Carmen's affections Don Jos©'s explosive jealousy clashes with Carmen's resolve to remain true to herself leading to one of opera's fiercest confrontations and most unforgettable conclusions.

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Book SynopsisThe Black Dog Opera Library is the best, easiest and most informative and budget-friendly way to enjoy four of the greatest operas of all time. Finally available again, and packaged with gorgeous new covers, each book in the library includes the complete opera on 2 CDs, featuring world-class performances and orchestras; the complete libretto, plus its English translation; an exciting history of the opera; a biography of the composer; a synopsis of the story, broken down by act and scene; and dozens of photographs and drawings depicting performances, singers, sets, costumes, and more.La Traviata featuring Beverly Sills, Nicolai Gedda, and Rolando Panerai, with Aldo Ceccato conducting the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.Also available:La Boh?me featuring Nicolai Gedda and Mirella Freni, with Thomas Schippers conducting the Orchestro e Coro del Teatro dell'Opera di Roma; The Marriage of Figaro featuring Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Heather Harper, Judith Blegen, Geraint Evans, Teresa Berganza, and Birgit Finnil?, with Daniel Barenboim conducting the English Chamber Orchestra. Carmen featuring Grace Bumbry, Jon Vickers, Mirella Freni, and Kostas Paskalis, with Rafael Fru?beck de Burgos conducting the Orchestra of the Th??tre National de l'Op?ra.Listen. Enjoy. Learn.

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Book SynopsisThe Black Dog Opera Library is the best, easiest and most informative and budget-friendly way to enjoy four of the greatest operas of all time. Finally available again, and packaged with gorgeous new covers, each book in the library includes the complete opera on 2 CDs, featuring world-class performances and orchestras; the complete libretto, plus its English translation; an exciting history of the opera; a biography of the composer; a synopsis of the story, broken down by act and scene; and dozens of photographs and drawings depicting performances, singers, sets, costumes, and more.Carmen features Grace Bumbry, Jon Vickers, Mirella Freni, and Kostas Paskalis, with Rafael Fru?beck de Burgos conducting the Orchestra of the Th??tre National de l'Op?ra.?Also available:La Boh?me featuring Nicolai Gedda and Mirella Freni, with Thomas Schippers conducting the Orchestro e Coro del Teatro dell'Opera di Roma; La Traviata featuring Beverly Sills, Nicolai Gedda, and Rolando Panerai, with Aldo Ceccato conducting the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra; The Marriage of Figaro featuring Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Heather Harper, Judith Blegen, Geraint Evans, Teresa Berganza, and Birgit Finnil?, with Daniel Barenboim conducting the English Chamber Orchestra.Listen. Enjoy. Learn.

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Book SynopsisThe Black Dog Opera Library is the best, easiest and most informative and budget-friendly way to enjoy four of the greatest operas of all time. Finally available again, and packaged with gorgeous new covers, each book in the library includes the complete opera on 2 CDs, featuring world-class performances and orchestras; the complete libretto, plus its English translation; an exciting history of the opera; a biography of the composer; a synopsis of the story, broken down by act and scene; and dozens of photographs and drawings depicting performances, singers, sets, costumes, and more.La Boh?me features Nicolai Gedda and Mirella Freni, with Thomas Schippers conducting the Orchestro e Coro del Teatro dell'Opera di Roma.Also available:Carmen features Grace Bumbry, Jon Vickers, Mirella Freni, and Kostas Paskalis, with Rafael Fru?beck de Burgos conducting the Orchestra of the Th??tre National de l'Op?ra. La Traviata features Beverly Sills, Nicolai Gedda, and Rolando Panerai, with Aldo Ceccato conducting the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra; The Marriage of Figaro features Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Heather Harper, Judith Blegen, Geraint Evans, Teresa Berganza, and Birgit Finnil?, with Daniel Barenboim conducting the English Chamber Orchestra.Listen. Enjoy. Learn.

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Book SynopsisAngela Gheorghiu is one of the most passionate and talented artists working in opera today, a larger-than-life figure whose intensity and drive, on stage and off, have commanded the attention of the opera world. This authorized biography of the internationally acclaimed soprano, largely composed of exclusive interviews with the artist, covers Gheorghiu’s life and career from her childhood in Communist Romania to her spectacular Covent Garden debut in 1992 and up to the present day. In it, Gheorghiu shares new insights into the performance of many of her iconic stage roles and her collaborations with opera’s leading lights. Also featured are commentaries and reminiscences by such celebrated figures in the music and art worlds as Grace Bumbry, José Carreras, Plácido Domingo, Marilyn Horne, Bryn Terfel, and Franco Zeffirelli.Table of ContentsAcknowledgments • Preface • Poems of Childhood • Study, Study, Study • Communist Romania and the Path of Music • Romance and Revolution • Falling in Love with Covent Garden • A Star Is Born • New Beginnings • Dramas and Traumas • Royal Encounters • Becoming Tosca • Choices and Launches • Restoring My Faith in Love • Timeline of Career Highlights • Discography • Index of Names

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Book SynopsisMany musical and theatrical traditions walk the very narrow path between the sublime and the ridiculous, but perhaps none more so than opera, which, while maintaining an elegant reputation, makes a show out of princes making romantic speeches to soft fruit, noses being accidentally cut off and woodpeckers performing wedding ceremonies. Opera Obscura is a beautifully illustrated collection that contributes twenty-five brand new impossibly madcap operas to the canon of magnificent absurdities, along with the intricate blueprints for several incredible opera houses and information on of a whole range of almost unbelievably incredible instruments.

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Book SynopsisUnscrupulous, devilishly ambitious and undeniably charismatic, Domenico Barbaja was the most celebrated Italian impresario of the early 1800s and one of the most intriguing characters to dominate the operatic empire of the period. Dubbed the 'Viceroy of Naples', Barbaja managed both the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples and La Scala in Milan. He was the influential force behind the careers of a plethora of artists including Vincenzo Bellini, Gioachino Rossini and the great mezzo-soprano Isabella Colbran, who became Barbaja's lover before eventually deserting him to marry Rossini. Most vitally, Barbaja's vision had an irrevocable impact on the history of Italian opera; determined to create a lucrative business, he cultivated an energetic environment of new artists producing innovative, exciting opera that people would flock to hear. Philip Eisenbeiss brilliantly pieces together the forgotten story of a tireless tyrant who began life as a barely educated coffee waiter, yet grew to be one of the richest and most potent men in Italy. A natural entrepreneur, Barbaja had the ability to predict a sensation; a skill he exploited his entire life, forging his fortune as a cafe-owner, arms profiteer, gambling tycoon and eventually, opera magnate. Eisenbeiss unlocks the enigma of this eccentric and fascinating personality that has been hitherto neglected.Trade Review'a delightful read, and it should appeal to opera lovers as well as anybody who has an interest in 18th-century entrepreneurship.' '...a heck of a good read' -- Charlotte Rea '...a fine piece of work; informative, entertaining, written in a hugely accessible style. I particularly liked the detail [he goes] into of the politics of the Kingdom of Naples and how San Carlo and Barbaja rolled with the punches.' -- Sir David McVicar 'Eisenbeiss seems to have read widely in several languages, and is as likely to devote a paragraph to the political ambitions of the Carbonari, the latest forms of gas lighting or the details of a theatrical contract as to the artistic quality or nature of a particular opera or performer ... [he] deserves credit...' '...a highly readable, even entertaining historical work about music and culture in Italy during the 1800s. Author Eisenbeiss, heart in hand, displays admirable research and analytic skills as he makes sense of an almost-unheard-of opera impresario, Domenico Barbaja.'

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