The Faber Pocket Guide to Opera
The Faber Pocket Guide to Opera

Author: Rupert Christiansen

Publisher: Faber & Faber

Published: 2014-04-29

Total Pages: 336

ISBN-13: 0571307833

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This new edition of leading opera critic Rupert Christiansen's perennially popular Pocket Guide has between extensively revised, and incorporates many more operas from all periods, including recent works by Philip Glass, Mark Anthony Turnage, Thomas Adès and George Benjamin. Whether you are a first-timer at La Boheme or a seasoned Wagnerian, every opera-goer can benefit from a little background information, and this book aims to provide just that. Accessible and easy-to-use, it contains entries for over a hundred works, both familiar and unfamiliar.

The Faber Pocket Guide to Wagner
The Faber Pocket Guide to Wagner

Author: Michael Tanner

Publisher: Faber & Faber

Published: 2010-05-06

Total Pages: 240

ISBN-13: 0571258484

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Richard Wagner remains, almost 130 years after his death, the most controversial composer in the history of music. Creator of huge and hugely ambitious operas, which have an immense immediate impact, as well as providing food for endless thought and discussion, Wagner has had an influence on many fields outside music. In this lively pocket guide, Michael Tanner gives concise accounts of all his operas - the likes of Parsifal, Lohengrin and Tristan und Isolde - showing how important it is to grasp the dramatic situations at every point, and indicating some of the key musical features. He also provides an outline of Wagner's astonishing life, and shows that he has often been unfairly criticised and made a scapegoat, especially for political events which took place long after his death. Key features include: - Wagner: his life year by year - Wagner: his music work by work - Things people said about Wagner - Essential Wagner: ten great moments - Wagner on CD and DVD - Wagner bibliography This indispensable Faber Pocket Guide provides a wealth of insights into Wagner and is essential reading for anyone with an interest in both and the man and his music. '[P]robably the best introduction ever written to this most complex of composers.' Simon Heffer, Telegraph

The Faber Pocket Guide to Handel
The Faber Pocket Guide to Handel

Author: Edward Blakeman

Publisher: Faber & Faber

Published: 2011-02-03

Total Pages: 338

ISBN-13: 0571268803

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The Faber Pocket Guide to Handel offers a detailed but accessible exploration of George Frederick Handel, his composition, and his legacy. A larger-than-life figure in his time, Handel's reputation has been less than steady since his death in 1759. Was he (in the words of Berlioz) just 'a great barrel of pork and beer', or (as Handel himself claimed) truly 'the master of us all'? Now, more than 250 years after his death, there is more interest in Handel than ever before, with his operas (such as Rinaldo and Agrippina) experiencing fantastic renewed popularity. This lively new Pocket Guide goes in search of the composer who wrote the Messiah, Water Music - and much more. Handy for browsing and reference, key features include: - Handel's life: year by year - Handel's operas: a complete guide - Essential Handel - Picturing Handel - Handel on CD and DVD - Handel Online Edward Blakeman assesses how Handel's works - incredibly influential in their context of baroque music - have stood the test of time and why they can still speak thrillingly to us today. With recommendations throughout for listening, further reading, and web surfing, this is the ideal guide for music lovers who want to discover the great composer for themselves.

The Faber Pocket Guide to Wagner
The Faber Pocket Guide to Wagner

Author: Michael Tanner

Publisher: Faber & Faber Classical Music & Dance

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780571237364

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Richard Wagner remains, almost 130 years after his death, the most controversial composer in the history of music. Creator of huge & hugely ambitious operas, which have an immense immediate impact, as well as providing food for endless thought & discussion, Wagner has had an influence on many fields outside music.

The Faber Pocket Guide to Bach
The Faber Pocket Guide to Bach

Author: Sir Nicholas Kenyon

Publisher: Faber & Faber

Published: 2011-03-17

Total Pages: 508

ISBN-13: 0571272002

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The music of J.S.Bach has a unique power and attraction some 300 years after it was written. From annual performances of the great Passions and BBC Radio 3's hugely successful Bach Christmas, to its use in adverts, films and popular arrangements, the imaginative strength of Bach's music continues to draw listeners to explore its mysteries. This new Pocket Guide looks at all Bach's music, sacred and secular, and explores why he speaks so profoundly to our age about both the spiritual and the sensual in life. Among the features of this easy-to-use book: The Bach Top Ten Bach: The music work by work Performing Bach today Bach: The life year by year What people said about Bach Accessible and easy to use, Nicholas Kenyon provides for the first time an up-to-date survey of all Bach's major works in the light of the latest research, from Masses to Cantatas, Concertos to Suites, and recommends the best CDs and further reading.

The Faber Pocket Guide to Haydn
The Faber Pocket Guide to Haydn

Author: Richard Wigmore

Publisher: Faber & Faber

Published: 2011-02-03

Total Pages: 402

ISBN-13: 0571268730

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Joseph Haydn is one of the greatest and most innovative of all composers, yet in some ways he is still curiously misunderstood. This engaging new Pocket Guide assesses what Haydn's music means to us today, and challenges some of the myths that have grown up around the composer. With suggestions for further reading and recommended CD recordings, Richard Wigmore's crisp and concise guide presents you with all you need to listen to and enjoy Haydn's music. It explores each of his key works, from his symphonies to his quartets, from his choral works to his sonatas, and invites a new generation of listeners to discover the depth and dazzling ingenuity of this most humane and life-affirming of composers.

The Faber Pocket Guide to Musicals
The Faber Pocket Guide to Musicals

Author: James Inverne

Publisher: Faber & Faber

Published: 2010-12-22

Total Pages: 305

ISBN-13: 0571268668

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With hit TV shows picking the leads in productions of Oliver! and The Sound Of Music, and smash musicals like Hairspray and Wicked all the West End rage, musical theatre is as popular as it's ever been. James Inverne provides an indispensable guide to his top one hundred greatest shows of all time - and ten of the worst. Whether you know your Pal Joey from The Producers, your West Side Story from your Witch Witch, the Faber Pocket Guide To Musicals is packed with entertaining behind-the-scenes stories, essential songlists and comprehensive recording guides. Did you know, for instance, that one of the best recordings of Les Miserables is in Hebrew? Or that the Mel Brooks wasn't the first person to want to make a musical of The Producers? (That claim goes to Eric Idle.) Or the ridiculous story of the huge purpose-built theatre constructed in Holland to house a flop about Grace Kelly? Key features include: - The hundred greatest musicals - Numbers to listen for - Snapshot plot summaries - Ten terrible musicals - Recommended recordings James Inverne has been writing about musical theatre for years and brings copious knowledge, passion for the subject and a sense of fun to a genre that continues to entertain us all. Make the most of the musicals with this vital book.

The Faber Pocket Guide to Britten
The Faber Pocket Guide to Britten

Author: John Bridcut

Publisher: Faber & Faber

Published: 2010-11-04

Total Pages: 442

ISBN-13: 0571258492

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John Bridcut, author of the acclaimed 'Britten's Children', will include significant fresh material which will make the book indispensable for Britten aficionados as well as for those who are discovering the composer's music for the first time. This guide is all about finding a way into Britten's music. An outline of planned chapters: - The Top Ten Britten pieces - Critics' First Impressions - Britten's Life - Britten and Pears - The things they said - The Music (stage works, choral works, songs, chamber music, orchestral works) - The Interpreters of Britten's work - Britten as Performer - The Impresario (English Opera Group and Aldeburgh Festival) - Britten's Homes - Trivial Pursuits

The Faber Pocket Guide to Ballet
The Faber Pocket Guide to Ballet

Author: Luke Jennings

Publisher: Faber & Faber

Published: 2014-09-04

Total Pages: 340

ISBN-13: 0571321607

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The essential, easy-to-use classical ballet guide - spanning nearly two centuries of classical dance - with entries for more than eighty works from ballet companies around the world, from Giselle and Swan Lake to Cinderella and Steptext. This new edition has been revised to include new ballets by Wayne McGregor, Alexei Ratmansky and Christopher Wheeldon alongside classics by Tchaikovsky, Diaghilev and Balanchine. Features include: - plot summaries - an analysis of each ballet's principal themes - useful background and historical information - a unique, behind-the-scenes, performer's-eye view Dip in at random or trace the development of dance from cover to cover. Written by former Royal Ballet principal Deborah Bull and leading dance critic Luke Jennings, this ever popular Faber Pocket guide is a must for all ballet-goers - regulars and first-timers alike.

The New Penguin Opera Guide
The New Penguin Opera Guide

Author: Amanda Holden

Publisher: Penguin USA

Published: 2001

Total Pages: 1142

ISBN-13: 9780140514759

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Provides biographical sketches for nearly 850 composers along with articles on approximately 2,000 works.