Ganz große Oper – Skurriles und Wissenswertes fürs gelungene PausengesprächMit »Palazzo Bajazzo« und »Bohème Suprême« hat der Musiker und Kabarettist Konrad Beikircher das verstaubte Genre der Opernführer auf charmante Weise aufgemischt.
Die märchenhafte Handlung und ihre mitreißenden, teils volkstümlichen Gesangsnummern machen »Die Zauberflöte« bis heute zu einem der populärsten Bühnenwerke weltweit.
Opera is often dismissed as outdated and excessive, and perceived to be characterised by excessive passions, sumptuous costumes, and ill-mannered divas.
Schindlers List meets The Sound of Music as best-selling New York Post investigative journalist Isabel Vincent delves into pre-World-War-II history to recover the amazing story of two British spinsters who masterminded a plan to spirit dozens of Jewish stars and personnel of the German and Austrian opera to England and save them from a terrible fate under the Third Reich.
A wide-ranging look at the interplay of opera and political ideas through the centuriesThe Politics of Opera takes readers on a fascinating journey into the entwined development of opera and politics, from the Renaissance through the turn of the nineteenth century.
Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924) is the world's most frequently performed operatic composer, yet he is only beginning to receive serious scholarly attention.
Unfinished at Puccini's death in 1924, Turandot was not only his most ambitious work, but it became the last Italian opera to enter the international repertory.
Titles in The Listener's Companion: A Scarecrow Press Music Series provide readers with a deeper understanding of key musical genres and the work of major artists and composers.
Titles in The Listener's Companion: A Scarecrow Press Music Series provide readers with a deeper understanding of key musical genres and the work of major artists and composers.
A rare look at the life and music of renowned Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-KorsakovDuring his lifetime, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908) was a composer whose work had great influence not only in his native Russia but also internationally.
In Halfway Home, Ronan Tynan, a member of the enormously popular Irish Tenors, shares his moving life story - a story Barbara Walters calls 'so amazing you may find it hard to believe' - of overcoming adversity and attaining worldwide success in several different fields.
In a lively exploration of Jacques Offenbach's final masterpiece, Heather Hadlock shows how Les Contes d'Hoffmann summed up not only the composer's career but also a century of Romantic culture.
Originally published in 1997, Collins Opera & Operetta is an invaluable guide to this fascinating but sometimes misunderstood art form, presenting essential information on over 180 major operas and operettas in an accessible, yet scholarly, way.
'A fine, intellectually sparkling and always engaging little book - a welcome addition to any Wagner library'Hans Vaget, Opera QuarterlyWhilst no one would dispute Wagner's ranking among the most significant composers in the history of Western music, his works have been more fiercely attacked than those of any other composer.
From football hooligan to opera singer, from the Cockney Reds to Catullus, from a hectic household to tranquility of spirit, Mark Glanville has travelled many paths, been many people - this is his remarkable story.
The inside story of the 'reluctant medium', finally available in a mass-market A-format editionBetty Shine was originally an opera singer, but studied all forms of alternative healing, becoming a vitamin and mineral therapist.
Analyzing Opera: Verdi and Wagner explores the latest developments in opera analysis by considering, side by side, the works of the two greatest opera composers of the nineteenth century.
With her superb coloratura soprano, passion for the world of opera, and down-to-earth personality, Beverly Sills made high art accessible to millions from the time of her meteoric rise to stardom in 1966 until her death in 2007.
Defined by its distinct performance style, stage practices, and regional and dialect based identities, Cantonese opera originated as a traditional art form performed by itinerant companies in temple courtyards and rural market fairs.
Opera is a fragile, complex art, but it flourished extravagantly in San Francisco during the Gold Rush years, a time when daily life in the city was filled with gambling, duels, murder, and suicide.
Analyzing Opera: Verdi and Wagner explores the latest developments in opera analysis by considering, side by side, the works of the two greatest opera composers of the nineteenth century.
A superbly insightful and moving exploration of Wagner's last opera, by one of Britain's leading intellectuals Wagner's last music-drama tells the story of Parsifal, the 'pure fool, knowing through compassion', who has been called to rescue the Kingdom of the Grail from the sins that have polluted it.
