The Opera Lover's Companion

The Opera Lover's Companion

Author: Charles Osborne

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 2007-01-01

Total Pages: 648

ISBN-13: 9780300123739

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Written by a well-known authority, this book consists of 175 entries that set some of the most popular operas within the context of their composer's career, outline the plot, discuss the music, and more.


The Opera Lover's Cookbook

The Opera Lover's Cookbook

Author: Francine Segan

Publisher: Harry N. Abrams

Published: 2006-11-01

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781584795360

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

"Each chapter of Opera Lover's Cookbook presents a culinary performance--an elegant five-course dinner, a brunch, a dessert party--scored to a particular operatic motif or keyed to the work of a renowned composer. Operas set in Spain--Carmen, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Don Giovanni--are the exotic backdrop for a tapas fiesta. The far-flung locales of Puccini's La Boh?me, Madama Butterfly, Tosca, and Turandot inspire an eclectic international buffet. A rustic Italian dinner is orchestrated to the strains of Verdi's Traviata. And Gilbert and Sullivan, of course, provide the overture for an English-style pub supper"--Publisher website (November 2006).


A Mad Love

A Mad Love

Author: Vivien Schweitzer

Publisher: Hachette UK

Published: 2018-09-18

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13: 0465096948

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

A lively introduction to opera, from the Renaissance to the twenty-first century There are few art forms as visceral and emotional as opera -- and few that are as daunting for newcomers. A Mad Love offers a spirited and indispensable tour of opera's eclectic past and present, beginning with Monteverdi's L'Orfeo in 1607, generally considered the first successful opera, through classics like Carmen and La Boheme, and spanning to Brokeback Mountain and The Death of Klinghoffer in recent years. Musician and critic Vivien Schweitzer acquaints readers with the genre's most important composers and some of its most influential performers, recounts its long-standing debates, and explains its essential terminology. Today, opera is everywhere, from the historic houses of major opera companies to movie theaters and public parks to offbeat performance spaces and our earbuds. A Mad Love is an essential book for anyone who wants to appreciate this living, evolving art form in all its richness.


The Limelight Book of Opera

The Limelight Book of Opera

Author: Arthur Jacobs

Publisher: Hal Leonard Corporation

Published: 1985

Total Pages: 564

ISBN-13: 9780879100445

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Biographical sketches of the composers and critical interpretations of their productions accompany these summaries of eighty-seven famous operas


Italian for Opera Lovers

Italian for Opera Lovers

Author: Hassan W. Ebron

Publisher:

Published: 1994

Total Pages: 39

ISBN-13: 9780942208177

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In the sixteenth century, a group of Renaissance Italians sat down together to revive the lost art of Greek and Roman drama, as part of the great rebirth of learning that had already revolutionized the arts of painting, poetry, architecture. To name this "new" art, they used the word for any general work of art, opus, the plural in Latin being "opera." Opera today is experiencing another revival. Works by American composers such as Philip Glass and John Adams now stand alongside the great Italian, Russian, German, French operas. The repertoire is not closed, and the industry-singers, orchestras, stage designers, opera houses, publishers, and opera-goers-flourishes around the world. This little book is offered as a compendium of Italian terms describing the techniques and refinements that propelled this art into an enduring position among the arts. Italian terms are explained in English. Also, Italian poetry in English: Dante and His Circle (www.createspace.com/4024060) Vita Nuova (Dante on Beatrice) Ovid, The Changes (web only: www.bandannabooks.com/ovid). And Shakespeare plays with Italian settings: Two Gentlemen of Verona (www.createspace.com/3724080) The Merchant of Venice (www.createspace.com/3727221) The Taming of the Shrew (www.createspace.com/3718477) Romeo and Juliet (www.createspace.com/3892597)


Degas at the Opera

Degas at the Opera

Author: Henri Loyrette

Publisher: National Geographic Books

Published: 2020-05-05

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 0500023395

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

A lavish new investigation into the Paris Opera’s influence on Edgar Degas's painting. From his debut in the 1860s up to his final works after 1900, the Paris Opera formed a focal point of Edgar Degas's paintings. He explored the theater's various spaces—auditorium and stage, private boxes, foyers, and dance studios—and painted those who frequented them: dancers, singers, orchestral musicians, audience members, and subscribers watching from the wings. This theater presented a microcosm of infinite possibilities, allowing him to experiment with multiple points of view, contrasting lighting, motion, and the precision of movement. This catalog, created in concert with an exhibition at the Muse´e d'Orsay in Paris, and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, considers the Paris Opera’s influence on Degas as a whole, examining not only his passionate relationship with the house and his musical tastes, but also the infinite resources of the opera's marvelous toolbox. Filled with striking reproductions of Degas’s work and including insightful essays by leading curators and scholars, Degas at the Opera offers admission into the world of Degas and the Paris Opera of the nineteenth century.


Masculinity in Opera

Masculinity in Opera

Author: Philip Purvis

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-07-18

Total Pages: 305

ISBN-13: 1136182152

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This book addresses the ways in which masculinity is negotiated, constructed, represented, and problematized within operatic music and practice. Although the consideration of masculine ontology and epistemology has pervaded cultural and sociological studies since the late 1980s, and masculinity has been the focus of recent if sporadic musicological discussion, the relationship between masculinity and opera has so far escaped detailed critical scrutiny. Operating from a position of sympathy with feminist and queer approaches and the phallocentric tendencies they identify, this study offers a unique perspective on the cultural relativism of opera by focusing on the male operatic subject. Anchored by musical analysis or close readings of musical discourse, the contributions take an interdisciplinary approach by also engaging with theatre, popular music, and cultural musicology scholarship. The various musical, theoretical, and socio-political trajectories of the essays are historically dispersed from seventeenth to twentieth- first-century operatic works and practices, visiting masculinity and the operatic voice, the complication or refusal of essentialist notions of masculinity, and the operatic representation of the ‘crisis’ of masculinity. This volume will not only enliven the study of masculinity in opera, but be an appealing contribution to music scholars interested in gender, history, and new musicology.


Opera

Opera

Author: Alan Riding

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2022-08-16

Total Pages: 362

ISBN-13: 0744076919

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Experience the passion and drama of the world’s greatest operas with this sumptuously illustrated visual guide. Immerse yourself in more than 400 years of the world’s most celebrated operas and discover the fascinating stories behind them. Explore the lives of singers such as Maria Callas, Luciano Pavarotti, and Jonas Kaufmann. Meet composers like Mozart, Wagner, and Britten, and the librettists with whom they collaborated to create the magical blend of words and music that make up opera. From its origins in the 17th-century courts of Italy to live screenings in public spaces today, Opera: The Definitive Illustrated Story follows the history of opera from Monteverdi’s L'Orfeo in 1607, to Cosi fan Tutte, La Bohème, and modern operas such as Brokeback Mountain. It explains musical terminology, traces historical developments, and sets everything in a cultural context. This awe-inspiring opera book further features: -Includes all of the most important operas from the Renaissance to the 21st century -Profiles the key composers, librettists, performers, and companies, with details of their lives, works, and influence -Arranged in chronological order to show the evolution of the genre -Clear, informative explanation of musical terminology and different types of opera This book revels in the sets and costumes that make up the grand spectacle of opera. It also explores the great opera houses of the world, such as La Scala, Milan, the Met in New York, and the Sydney Opera House. Opera: The Definitive Illustrated Story is the essential book for anyone who wants to understand and enjoy the constantly evolving world of this beloved art form. Did you know that there are more than 25,000 opera performances per year worldwide? Opera: The Definitive Illustrated Story can be regarded as the most lavishly illustrated history of opera currently available, covering all of the most important operas from the Renaissance to the 21st century, and is completely global in scope. A must-have volume for opera buffs, whether as a gift or self-purchase, if you’re a music lover looking for an accessible introduction to opera, then this is the book for you!