Phaidon Book of the Opera
Author:
Publisher:
Published: 1979
Total Pages: 520
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Arranged chronologically with an index of operas and a separate index of composers, librettists and literary sources.
Lanterna Rally
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A Guide to Orchestral Music
Author: Ethan Mordden
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 1986
Total Pages: 588
ISBN-13: 0195040414
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →This authoritative guide gives the non-musician the fundamentals of orchestral music. It begins with a general introduction to the symphony and various musical styles and then describes, chronologically, over seven hundred pieces--from Vivaldi to twentieth-century composers. Mordden also includes a glossary of musical terms and other useful aids for the music lover.
Opera 101
Author: Fred Plotkin
Publisher: Hachette Books
Published: 2013-07-16
Total Pages: 444
ISBN-13: 1401306004
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Opera is the fastest growing of all the performing arts, attracting audiences of all ages who are enthralled by the gorgeous music, vivid drama, and magnificent production values. If you've decided that the time has finally come to learn about opera and discover for yourself what it is about opera that sends your normally reserved friends into states of ecstatic abandon, this is the book for you. Opera 101 is recognized as the standard text in English for anyone who wants to become an opera lover--a clear, friendly, and truly complete handbook to learning how to listen to opera, whether on the radio, on recordings, or live at the opera house. Fred Plotkin, an internationally respected writer and teacher about opera who for many years was performance manager of the Metropolitan Opera, introduces the reader (whatever his or her level of musical knowledge) to all the elements that make up opera, including: A brief, entertaining history of opera; An explanation of key operatic concepts, from vocal types to musical conventions; Hints on the best way to approach the first opera you attend and how to best understand what is happening both offstage and on; Lists of recommended books and recordings, and the most complete traveler's guide to opera houses around the world. The major part of Opera 101 is devoted to an almost minute-by-minute analysis of eleven key operas, ranging from Verdi's thunderous masterpiece Rigoletto and Puccini's electrifying Tosca through works by Mozart, Donizetti, Rossini, Offenbach, Tchaikovsky, and Wagner, to the psychological complexities of Richard Strauss's Elektra. Once you have completed Opera 101, you will be prepared to see and hear any opera you encounter, thanks to this book's unprecedentedly detailed and enjoyable method of revealing the riches of opera.
Opera
Author: Piero Weiss
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 2002
Total Pages: 338
ISBN-13: 9780195116380
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →In Opera: A History in Documents, Piero Weiss presents a wide-ranging, vivid, and carefully researched tour of operatic history. A unique anthology of primary source material, this survey includes 115 chronologically organized selections--passages from private letters, public decrees, descriptions of first performances, portions of libretti, literary criticism and satire, newspaper reviews and articles, and poetry and fiction--from opera's late Renaissance infancy through modern times. This first-hand testimony allows students to experience the history of opera as eyewitnesses, offering an immediacy and validity unmatched by standard histories. Readers are transported to a Medici wedding in sixteenth-century Florence, to the Haymarket Theatre for a performance of Handel's Rinaldo, to Mozart at work on Die Entführung aus dem Serail, and to Bertolt Brecht's writing desk, among many other landmarks in opera's history. Weiss expertly guides students, providing highly accessible headnotes to each selection that both contextualize the excerpts and position them within the broader historical narrative. In addition, he offers original translations of more than half of the selections in the book, many of which appear here in English for the first time. Stage settings, costumes, portraits, contemporary playbills, and other illustrations enliven the text and help to recreate the feel of the era under discussion. Opera: A History in Documents is an intrinsically lively text that will enrich college courses on opera and delight any music-loving reader.
The Opera Manual
Author: Nicholas Ivor Martin
Publisher: Scarecrow Press
Published: 2013-10-30
Total Pages: 488
ISBN-13: 0810888696
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →You are getting ready for a performance of Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore and you have a few questions. How many clarinets are in the orchestra? How many orchestra members appear onstage? How many different sets are there? How long does the opera typically run? What are the key arias? Are any special effects or ballet choreography required? Who owns the rights? Where was it premiered? What are the leading and supporting roles? The Opera Manual is the only single source for the answers to these and other important questions. It is the ultimate companion for opera lovers, professionals, scholars, and teachers, featuring comprehensive information about, and plot summaries for, more than 550 operas—including every opera that is likely to be performed today, from standard to rediscovered contemporary works. The book is invaluable, especially for opera professionals, who will find everything they need for choosing and staging operas. But it is also a treasure for listeners. Similar reference books commonly skip over scenes and supporting characters in their plot summaries, lacking even the most basic facts about staging, orchestral, and vocal requirements. The Opera Manual, based on the actual scores of the works discussed, is the only exhaustive, up-to-date opera companion—a “recipe book” that will enable its readers to explore those operas they know and discover new ones to sample and enjoy.
The New Penguin Opera Guide
Author: Amanda Holden
Publisher: Penguin USA
Published: 2001
Total Pages: 1142
ISBN-13: 9780140514759
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Provides biographical sketches for nearly 850 composers along with articles on approximately 2,000 works.
Opera 101
Author: Fred Plotkin
Publisher: Hyperion
Published: 1994-12
Total Pages: 520
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Written by an opera insider and featuring an introduction by Placido Domingo, here is a thorough, friendly, and truly complete guide to learning how to love and appreciate the opera. After a brief history of opera, the book includes a guide to operatic terms, a minute-by-minute listener's guide to 11 central works, a list of recommended books and recordings and much more.
The Opera, History and Guide
A History of Opera
Author: Carolyn Abbate
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Published: 2015-09-08
Total Pages: 576
ISBN-13: 0393089533
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →“The best single volume ever written on the subject, such is its range, authority, and readability.”—Times Literary Supplement Why has opera transfixed and fascinated audiences for centuries? Carolyn Abbate and Roger Parker answer this question in their “effervescent, witty” (Die Welt, Germany) retelling of the history of opera, examining its development, the musical and dramatic means by which it communicates, and its role in society. Now with an expanded examination of opera as an institution in the twenty-first century, this “lucid and sweeping” (Boston Globe) narrative explores the tensions that have sustained opera over four hundred years: between words and music, character and singer, inattention and absorption. Abbate and Parker argue that, though the genre’s most popular and enduring works were almost all written in a distant European past, opera continues to change the viewer— physically, emotionally, intellectually—with its enduring power.
Opera a to Z
Author: Liddy Lindsay
Publisher:
Published: 2013-03-01
Total Pages: 60
ISBN-13: 9780985424831
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Opera A to Z: A Beginner's Guide to Opera is an overview of the most famous operas and opera characters of all time; one for each letter of the alphabet. The book was written with children ages eight to twelve in mind, but it is sure to delight young and old alike with its engaging summaries of twenty-six renowned operas. The book is based on a 27 x 40 watercolor that took author and illustrator Liddy Lindsay two years to complete and has become a bestseller as notecards and Gicle prints at The Met Opera Shop in New York.
