Classical Opera category: 1804 books

For the beginner or the devotee—it's everything the classical music buff needs to know. The major composers from Bach and Bartok to Rachmaninoff and Tchaikovsky Significant performers from Maurice Andre and Leornard Bernstein to Georg Solti and Yo Yo Ma The landmark works from Appalachian Spring...

“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...

This book contains 250 anecdotes about opera, including these anecdotes: 1) When Pierre Monteux started working at the Metropolitan Opera, he decided to buy a shiny Ford touring-car. He paid $300 for the car, which he was proud of at first, although it looked modest when parked beside the luxurious...

Building on ideas first advanced by Arnold Schoenberg and later developed by Erwin Ratz, this book introduces a new theory of form for instrumental music in the classical style. The theory provides a broad set of principles and a comprehensive methodology for the analysis of classical form, from individual...

The Crisis of Classical Music in America by Robert Freeman focuses on solutions for the oversupply of classically trained musicians in America, problem that grows ever more chronic as opportunities for classical musicians to gain full-time professional employment diminishes year upon year. An acute...

The Politics of Opera in Handel's Britain examines the involvement of Italian opera in British partisan politics in the first half of the eighteenth century, which saw Sir Robert Walpole's rise to power and George Frideric Handel's greatest period of opera production. McGeary argues that the conventional...

Known worldwide as a composer of symphonies and chamber music, Czech composer Antonín Dvorák declared toward the end of his life that his main love was writing operas. Written in 1900 at the height of Dvorák’s creative powers, his fairy tale opera Rusalka is a masterpiece firmly established in...

The history of women in the opera is a grand story. Women were singers and patrons, of course, but from opera’s beginnings in Renaissance Italy, they were also opera composers and librettists. At first it was exclusively for the nobility. In the 19th century, with the emergence of the middle class...

Since its inception, French opera has embraced dance, yet all too often operatic dancing is treated as mere decoration. Dance and Drama in French Baroque Opera exposes the multiple and meaningful roles that dance has played, starting from Jean-Baptiste Lully's first opera in 1672. It counters prevailing...

For readers who are unsure of the difference between an alto and a contralto, wonder exactly when to applaud at a concert, or aren't even sure what music they should be listening to in the first place, this is the perfect guide All too often, potential classical music listeners are put off...

In Staging Scenes from the Operas of Mozart: A Guide for Teachers and Singers, opera director William Ferrara offers the perfect resource for the dramatic preparation of opera scenes for directors and student performers. Topics include study and research, rehearsal planning, blocking, characterization,...

The representation of non-Western cultures in opera has long been a focus of critical inquiry. Within this field, the diverse relationships between opera and First Nations and Indigenous cultures, however, have received far less attention. Opera Indigene takes this subject as its focus, addressing...

From classic films like Carmen Jones to contemporary works like The Diary of Sally Hemings and U-Carmen eKhayelitsa, American and South African artists and composers have used opera to reclaim black people's place in history. Naomi André draws on the experiences of performers and audiences to explore...

The 'The Ultimate Classical Music Quiz Book' is a fun selection of original questions (and answers!), comprehensively covering all facets of classical music between 1730 and 1820! As a quiz game it will separate the Mozart's from the Salineri, the Beethoven's from the Luchesi's and is a fantastic way to enjoy classical music even more.