Calgary Public Library

Opera 101, a complete guide to learning and loving opera, Fred Plotkin

eng

Includes discographiesIncludes videography (pages 405-414)Includes bibliographical references (pages 399-403) and index

index present

non fiction

Opera 101

bibliographydictionariesfilmographiesdirectoriesdiscographies

881627878

Fred Plotkin

a complete guide to learning and loving opera

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. It is a clear, friendly, and truly complete handbook for 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 listeners, whatever their level of musical knowledge, to all the elements that make up opera, including: 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

400 years of opera -- Becoming an opera cognoscente -- Going to the opera -- Discography for Opera 101 -- Rigoletto: learning your first opera -- Tosca: opera as drama -- Lucia di Lammermoor: drama expressed through music -- Il barbiere di Siviglia: opera and comedy -- Don Giovanni: Classical opera -- Les contes d'Hoffmann: French opera -- Eugene Onegin: romantic opera -- Don Carlo: grand opera -- Tannhäuser: opera and ideas -- Die walküre: epic opera -- Elektra: psychological opera -- Opera and you: a lifelong love affair -- Appendixes