Opera

Schindler's 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...

This new edition of leading opera critic Rupert Christiansen's perennially popular Pocket Guide has between extensively revised, and incorporates many more operas from all periods, including recent works by Philip Glass, Mark Anthony Turnage, Thomas Ades...

Without Beethoven, music as we know it wouldn't exist. Who was this titan of world culture? 'You want to build a Beethoven library? There can be no better starting point... Brilliant.' John Suchet, Classic FM presenter Through 100 recordings,...

A tale of forbidden love and inevitable death, the medieval legend of Tristan and Isolde recounts the story of two lovers unknowingly drinking a magic potion and ultimately dying in one another's arms. Critics have lauded Wagner's Tristan und Isolde for...

Igor Stravinsky is one of a small number of early modernist composers whose music epitomises the stylistic crisis of twentieth-century music, from the Russian nationalist heritage of the early works, the neo-classical works which anticipate the stylistic...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9781739659929Author David VernonFormat PaperbackPage Count 440Imprint Candle Row PressPublisher Candle Row PressWeight(grams) 476gDimensions(mm) 203mm *...

Richard Wagner's vast Der Ring des Nibelungen cycle comprises four full-length operas (Das Rheingold, Die Walkure, Siegfried and Gotterdammerung) and is arguably the most extraordinary achievement in the history of opera. His own libretto to the operas,...

The British composer, conductor, and pianist Thomas Ades has achieved a level of recognition and celebrity within the world of classical music today that is almost unmatched. Once seen as the heir to Benjamin Britten, both in his importance to British...

Some of classical music's most famous works are found in opera, and from film soundtracks to football stadiums, it reaches a vast worldwide audience. Packed full of essential information, this pocket-sized handbook explores the key styles in the genre,...

Some of classical music's most famous works are found in opera, and from film soundtracks to football stadiums, it reaches a vast worldwide audience. Packed full of essential information, this pocket-sized handbook explores the key styles in the genre,...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9780385054485Author Henry W. SimonFormat PaperbackPage Count 560Imprint Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing GroupPublisher Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9780385054485Author Henry W. SimonFormat PaperbackPage Count 560Imprint Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing GroupPublisher Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing...

The UK's biggest-selling classical artist reveals how her angelic voice has shot her to superstardom...Katherine Jenkins is an international singing superstar who has redefined a music genre: she has brought classical music to the masses and inspired...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9781847495556Author Wolfgang Amadeus MozartFormat PaperbackPage Count 256Imprint Oneworld Classics LtdPublisher Alma Books LtdWeight(grams) 344g

Giacomo Puccini's La Bohème is one of the most frequently performed operas in the world. But how did it come to be so adored? In this book, author Alexandra Wilson traces La Bohème's rise to fame and demonstrates that its success grew steadily through...

A long-awaited resource for the young operatic singer, this annotated guide brings together many sources to start the journey toward powerful, informed performance. An extensive discussion of fach and audition repertoire is followed by more than 400...

Since the first performance of the first opera in 1600, operas have been telling stories from myth and history. This book - beginning with the Creation and ending in the present day - is a chronology of myth and history as told in opera. Over 260...

Published in the run-up to the 200th anniversary of the composer's birth in 2013, and written by one of the most distinguished Wagner scholars in the world, this will be the Wagner book of the bicentenary. Richard Wagner (1813-1883) is one of the most...

"Divas and Scholars" is a dazzling and beguiling account of how opera comes to the stage, filled with Philip Gossett's personal experiences of triumphant - and even failed - performances and suffused with his towering passion for music. Gossett, the...

Iolanthe (Libretto)Book InformationISBN 9780571534425Author William S. GilbertFormat PaperbackPage Count 52Imprint Faber Music LtdPublisher Faber Music LtdWeight(grams) 119g

In this title, renowned Mozart scholar Daniel Heartz brings his deep knowledge of social history, theater, and art to a study of the last and great decade of Mozart's operas. Mozart specialists will recognize some of Heartz's best-known essays here; but...

'La Traviata' was Giuseppe Verdi's eighteenth opera and shows him at the height of his middle-period powers. Adapted from 'La Dame aux Camelias' by Alexandre Dumas fils, it portrays the love between the courtesan Violetta Valery and the young Alfredo...

In this classic guide, the foremost Wagner expert of our century discusses ten of Wagner's most beloved operas, illuminates their key themes and the myths and literary sources behind the librettos, and demonstrates how the composer's style changed from...

Building on the long-established success of Ethan Mordden's Opera Anecdotes, The New Book Of Opera Anecdotes continues where the original left off, bringing into view the new corps of major singers that arose after the first book's publication in 1985 --...

Written in 1927, Arabella is a portrait - partly romanticized, partly factual - of Habsburg Vienna in the 1860s. It is also a celebration of the profound importance of courage and the ability to forgive in love. Our sympathies are not only drawn to...

Iolanthe; or, The Peer and the Peri is Gilbert and Sullivan's seventh opera, first performed in 1882. The satirical work concerns the fairy Iolanthe, who has been exiled for her choice to marry a mortal. Misunderstandings within her family eventually...

Rivaled in its success only by The Mikado, Gilbert and Sullivan's comic opera HMS Pinafore continues to rank among the most popular works by the famed duo of librettist and songwriter. Popular from the start, the work contains some of Gilbert's most...

'Sometimes I liken the creative act to that of being a good gardener. The musical material itself, the harmonies, rhythms, the timbres and tempi, are seeds you have planted. Composing, bringing forth the final formal arrangement of these elements, is...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9780714528854Author Christopher PalmerFormat HardbackPage Count 346Imprint Marion Boyars Publishers LtdPublisher Marion Boyars Publishers LtdWeight(grams)...

Puccini's La boheme is one of the most beloved and enduring operas of all time. In this guide, William Ashbrook evaluates the opera's initial reception, the reasons for its wide appeal and Verdi's influence on the composition. Nicholas John discusses the...

One of the late twentieth century's most celebrated and influential public intellectuals, Edward W. Said was also a critic of astonishing range. This book presents his insightful and elegant analyses of four major operas-originally delivered as the...

'One of the most sought-after tenors with the stamina and heft for Wagner and the ardent warmth for Italian opera'New York TimesJonas Kaufmann is a phenomenon. With his musicality, his vocal technique and his expressive powers - to say nothing of his...

The Singer's Guide to German Diction is the essential foundation for a complete course in German diction for singers, vocal coaches, choral conductors, and anyone wishing to learn to learn the proper pronunciation of High German. Written by Valentin...

Wagner's Tristan und Isolde occupies a singular position in the history of Western culture. What Nietzsche called the 'sweet and terrible infinity' of its basic nexus of longing and death has fascinated audiences since its first performance in 1865. At...

It used to be thought that Verdi miscalculated with this attempt at a "grand opera" in the French style. This guide demonstrates that Don Carlos was - and remains - an extraordinary achievement in melding two opposing visions of opera: the spectacular...

Every generation or so an opera singer attains the kind of public adulation and affection usually reserved for film stars or pop singers. Luciano Pavarotti reached this level of fame: he was the most celebrated tenor of all time, his concerts attended by...

This volume uniquely combines a lively biography of one of the best-loved composers of the nineteenth century with a detailed chronological guide to much of his oeuvre, from the most popular - Swan Lake or the 1812 Overture - to the lesser known pieces...

Since the first performance of the first opera in 1600, operas have been telling stories from myth and history. This book - beginning with the Creation and ending in the present day - is a chronology of myth and history as told in opera. Over 260...

'A Landmark in Musical History' is John Luke Rose's title for the introduction to this extraordinary piece of theatre. It belongs to the German tradition of mystical writing, and a short note on the poem itself by Martin Swales and Timothy McFarland...

'Hugely entertaining and inspiring' The Sunday TimesOne of The Sunday Times' 100 biographies to loveThe inspirational and colourful memoir of Michael Volpe, the general manager of Opera Holland Park. The son of Italian immigrants, he and his brothers...