Showing titles in Opera

This invaluable primer will introduce the uninitiated to the mysteries of opera and help more experienced fans to expand their understanding and deepen their appreciation of the art form.

Here is the colorful story of sometimes temperamental composers and even more temperamental singers working in an art form which has produced some of man's noblest artistic creations. This absorbing history is illustrated by over 100 musical examples by Naxos artists as well as some of the greatest singers of the 20th century, including Enrico Caruso and Fyodor Chaliapin.

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.

New opera enthusiasts and seasoned aficionados alike will delight in Dale Harris' witty and insightful analyses of La Traviata, Carmen, The Magic Flute, and La Boheme. The notable music critic, whose lectures at the Metropolitan used to be sell-out events, examines these operas in terms of libretto, plot, music, performance history, and cultural background, amply illustrated with musical examples.

The attraction of opera is in its scale, in the fact that it is larger than real life in actions and emotions, more magnificent in sound and in sight. And in the world of opera, no figure in our time loomed larger than the late Luciano Pavarotti. Especially in his triumphant collaborations with Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras, he captured the imagination of an audience breadth and depth is remarkable even in the grand context of classical opera.

Diese Sonderausgabe des "Klassik(ver)führers" präsentiert die Leitmotive von Wagners "Ring des Nibelungen" und erläutert sie mit fachkundigen Kommentaren...

"Wagner's Ring Motifs" is aimed in the first instance at listeners new to the Ring and is intended to convey the fascination of Wagner's music...

>"Privateinrichtung" handelt von der Verbundenheit einer Mutter mit ihrem Kind, das durch einen Arztfehler für immer schwerstbehindert bleiben wird...

Wahrscheinlich hat niemand über Richard Wagner schöner und grausamer geschrieben als Friedrich Nietzsche...

Mit "Tristan und Isolde" widmet sich dieser Band des Klassik(ver)führers dem Bühnenwerk, für das Wagner die Arbeit am Ring unterbrach...

Dr. Sven Friedrich, Direktor des Wagner-Museums in Bayreuth, vermittelt in bewährter Weise eine Einführung in Wagners "Fliegenden Holländer"...

Alfie Boe is the first official bad boy of opera: a musical superstar celebrated not only in Britain, but worldwide. This is the story of his life - the ups and the downs, from finding fame to losing his father - and, essentially, of his love affair with music. This is the tale of how Alfie went from car mechanic to the UK's most popular and well-known opera star, lauded by Baz Luhrman, Cameron Macintosh and Michael Parkinson as the best tenor we've produced in a generation.

Christian Thielemann kennt Richard Wagner wie kein anderer. Jetzt widmet der große Wagner-Dirigent seinem Lieblingskomponisten zum 200. Geburtstag...

Madama Butterfly runs the gamut of operatic emotions. The title heroine has a fragility wonderfully expressed in her entry music, deep sexual instincts as shown in the love duet, and immense tragic stature in her last hours. The fate of Madama Butterfly - married to an American sailor and then abandoned - engages our emotions to a degree equaled by few other opera heroines. The oriental setting and the exquisite orchestral and choral writings are treasured bonuses.

La Traviata owes its enduring popularity to a superb story of young love and fatal sacrifice, set to music by Italy’s master melodist at the peak of his powers. Interest and poignancy are added by the fact that this is a true story - the baritone ‘heavy’ is Alexander Dumas who wrote The Count of Monte Cristo. But it is the central figure, the heroine Violetta, the archetypal ‘whore with the heart of gold’ who dominates the piece. It is her opera and we love her for it.

Così Fan Tutte contains some of Mozart’s most sublime music. On one level, the opera is purely a social anecdote about young people falling in and out of love; but Mozart was a supreme sensualist and a great humanist, and invested the tale with all his understanding of humanity and young love. In this title, David Timson refutes the charge that Mozart squandered his genius on a work full of trivial nonsense and proves this "miraculous yet problematic" opera to be a great work of theatre. To listen to this thought-provoking examination of the characters and the music is both thoroughly enriching and great fun.

Russell 'The Voice' Watson is a star with a real story to tell. While most stars of today find success early, Russell was still working in a Salford factory at the age of 30. He spent the evenings singing in working men's clubs for extra cash to keep the bailiffs from his family's door. The chairman of Manchester United gave him his big break in May 1999: the opportunity to sing at Old Trafford. His extraordinary performance was quickly followed by a record deal and his phenomenal debut album.

Through a deft compilation of primary sources—letters, memoirs, and personal accounts from composers, librettists, and performers—Michael Rose re-creates for his readers the circumstances that gave rise to fifteen operatic milestones. From Monteverdi and Mozart to Puccini and Berg, each chapter focuses on a well-known opera and tells the story that lies behind its creation.

Das Hörbuch zur Handlung beleuchtet die Hintergründe der Historie und der aktuellen Produktion. Sie vereint Ausschnitte aus einem Interview mit dem Regieteam und aus Gesprächen mit den Sängern, bietet aber auch präzise Einblicke in die Problematik des Werks.

Das Hörbuch zum Bühnenweihfestspiel beleuchtet die Hintergründe der Historie und der aktuellen Produktion. Sie vereint Ausschnitte aus einem Interview mit dem Regisseur Christoph Schlingensief, Äußerungen des Dirigenten Pierre Boulez und Statements der Bühnenbildner, bietet aber auch präzise Einblicke in die Problematik des Werks.