How to buy the best opera books?
When you want to find opera books, you may need to consider between many choices. Finding the best opera books is not an easy task. In this post, we create a very short list about top 7 the best opera books for you. You can check detail product features, product specifications and also our voting for each product. Let’s start with following top 7 opera books:
1. The Grove Book of Operas
Description
First published in 1996 to great critical and popular acclaim, the Grove Book of Operas, is a collection of synopses and descriptions of over 250 operas. Each succinct yet insightful entry is written by a leading authority on the opera and includes a full synopsis of the plot, a cast list, a note on the singers in the original production, and information on the origins of the work and its literary and social background. Contributions conclude with a brief comment on the particular work's place in operatic history. A glossary offers brief and accessible definitions of terms that may be unfamiliar to the reader. And indices of role names and of arias and ensembles allow the reader to find operas containing their favorite aria or a well-known character.The second edition brings the book up to date with several recently composed operas and a fascinating introductory essay by David Levin on opera performance in the 21st century. Recent additions to the operatic repertory included for the first time in this edition include Nicholas Maw, Sophie's Choice; Poul Ruders, A Handmaid's Tale; John Adams, Death of Klinghoffer; and Mark Adamo, Little Women.
Covering all operas in the current repertory along with some less-well-known early and very modern ones, this is an ideal volume for the general opera lover.
2. Opera: Passion, Power and Politics
Description
Opera is traditionally regarded as an elitist art form, far removed from reality with its fantastical plots and melodramatic divas. This lush new book shows that beneath all the opulent sets and sumptuous costumes, operalike all the artsdraws on essential human emotions, creating an experience that can be endlessly reinvented to reflect changes in society. Through the lens of seven opera premieres in seven cities across the past 400 years, the authors look at snapshots in time where politics, art, and social history intersected, providing an immersive account of the society from which these pieces and performances evolved. Noted opera designers, performers, conductors, singers, and directors come together with musicologists and historians to discuss the following premieres:
Venice, Monteverdis LIncoronazione di Poppea (1642)
London, Handels Rinaldo (1711)
Vienna, Mozarts The Marriage of Figaro (1786)
Milan, Verdis Nabucco (1842)
Paris, Wagners Tannhuser (1861)
Dresden, Strauss Salome (1905)
St Petersburg, Shostakovitchs Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District (1934)
This book will fascinate seasoned opera goers and history buffs alike.
Venice, Monteverdis LIncoronazione di Poppea (1642)
London, Handels Rinaldo (1711)
Vienna, Mozarts The Marriage of Figaro (1786)
Milan, Verdis Nabucco (1842)
Paris, Wagners Tannhuser (1861)
Dresden, Strauss Salome (1905)
St Petersburg, Shostakovitchs Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District (1934)
This book will fascinate seasoned opera goers and history buffs alike.
3. The Most Beautiful Opera Houses in the World
Feature
Used Book in Good ConditionDescription
Opera housestemples to the art of Mozart, Verdi, Tchaikovsky, and morehave been created by some of the most talented architects and designers of their generations, inspiring centuries of veneration from audiences, filled with royalty and commoners alike. In this sumptuous book, photographer Guillaume de Laubier and journalist Antoine Pecqueur explore more than 25 of the worlds most beautiful opera houses, from Tokyo to Covent Garden, from Oslo to Chicago, from Milan to New York. The buildings are described in their historical contexts, while stunning photography reveals the theaters most captivating spaces. In addition to offering sweeping views of ornate auditoriums and facades, the book opens doors normally closed to the public, entering the artists dressing rooms, rehearsal halls, scenery workshops, and more, presenting a wide-ranging and compelling look into a spectacular world.
Praise for The Most Beautiful Opera Houses in the World:
Performance spaces take the spotlight in The Most Beautiful Opera Houses in the World and you dont need to be a music buff to appreciate their range. The photographs by Guillaume de Laubier capture 32 theaters across the globe in rich detail . . . Who knew empty stages made for such good theater? Wall Street Journal
With the growing popularity of massive arenas, it is often difficult to think back to a time when going out for a night of music was synonymous with elegance. But a new book has rediscovered the high art of these exquisite theater spaces. The Most Beautiful Opera Houses in the World contains hundreds of photographs showing the exteriors and auditoriums of these cultural treasuresand is a reminder why these architectural wonders are worth a visit. FOXNews.com
Praise for The Most Beautiful Opera Houses in the World:
Performance spaces take the spotlight in The Most Beautiful Opera Houses in the World and you dont need to be a music buff to appreciate their range. The photographs by Guillaume de Laubier capture 32 theaters across the globe in rich detail . . . Who knew empty stages made for such good theater? Wall Street Journal
With the growing popularity of massive arenas, it is often difficult to think back to a time when going out for a night of music was synonymous with elegance. But a new book has rediscovered the high art of these exquisite theater spaces. The Most Beautiful Opera Houses in the World contains hundreds of photographs showing the exteriors and auditoriums of these cultural treasuresand is a reminder why these architectural wonders are worth a visit. FOXNews.com
4. Opera 101: A Complete Guide to Learning and Loving Opera
Feature
Hachette BooksDescription
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.
5. In Character: Opera Portraiture
Feature
In Character (Opera Portraiture) Amadeus Series Hardcover Written by John FMartin In Character: Opera Portraiture memorably captures operatic performers away from the audience but fully inhabiting their roles
It showcases the work of John F
Martin, who for years set up a portable studio in the basement of the San Francisco Opera and photographed the players - in costume and full makeup - right before or after they took the stage
The subjects range from nonsinging supernumeraries through chorus members and comprimarii to opera's greatest stars, such as Anna Netrebko, Natalie Dessay, Deborah Voigt, Juan Diego Flrez, and Dmitri Hvorostovsky
Description
In Character: Opera Portraiture memorably captures operatic performers away from the audience but fully inhabiting their roles. It showcases the work of John F. Martin, who for years set up a portable studio in the basement of the San Francisco Opera and photographed the players in costume and full makeup right before or after they took the stage. The subjects range from nonsinging supernumeraries through chorus members and comprimarii to operas greatest stars, such as Anna Netrebko, Natalie Dessay, Deborah Voigt, Juan Diego Flrez, and Dmitri Hvorostovsky. Their roles run the gamut of opera personalities: heroes and heroines, villains and outcasts, royalty and common folk, Biblical figures and creatures of myth. Facing Martin's camera, each artist projects the essence of his or her character, however great or small the part.The book also features a foreword by author Amy Tan; a preface by David Gockley, general director of the San Francisco Opera; essays on opera behind the scenes, the vital role of costumes, and the transformation of singers into characters; and an interview with world-renowned soprano Danielle de Niese. A collection unlike any other, In Character will have broad appeal to opera and theater buffs, costume and fashion aficionados, and anyone who appreciates fine art photography.
6. A History of Opera
Feature
W W Norton CompanyDescription
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 genres most popular and enduring works were almost all written in a distant European past, opera continues to change the viewer physically, emotionally, intellectuallywith its enduring power. 24 pages of illustrations7. 100 Great Operas And Their Stories: Act-By-Act Synopses
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Anchor BooksDescription
An invaluable guide for both casual opera fans and aficionados, 100 Great Operas is perhaps the most comprehensive and enjoyable volume of opera stories ever written.From La Traviata to Ada, from Carmen to Don Giovanni, here are the plots of the worlds best-loved operas, told in an engaging, picturesque, and readable manner. Written by noted opera authority Henry W. Simon, this distinctive reference book contains act-by-act descriptions of 100 operatic works ranging from the historic early seventeenth century masterpieces of Monteverdi to the modern classics of Gian-Carlo Menotti.
In addition to highlighting the most important aspects of each opera, the author discusses the main characters, the famous turnings of plot, and the most significant arias. Here, too, is a wealth of anecdotes concerning literary background, past performances and stars, and production problems of the great operas.
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