Ebook A Night at the Opera: An Irreverent Guide to The Plots, The Singers, The Composers, The Recordings (Modern Library (Paperback)), by Sir Denis Forman
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A Night at the Opera: An Irreverent Guide to The Plots, The Singers, The Composers, The Recordings (Modern Library (Paperback)), by Sir Denis Forman
Ebook A Night at the Opera: An Irreverent Guide to The Plots, The Singers, The Composers, The Recordings (Modern Library (Paperback)), by Sir Denis Forman
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Amazon.com Review
As a nuts-and-bolts operagoer's guide, Denis Forman's book is richly incisive. It's equally satisfying as a tart, effervescent take on the solemn world of opera. The author--a British television executive and former deputy chairman of the Royal Opera House--covers most of the likely offerings of your local repertory company, with a few questionable omissions (Peter Grimes) and inclusions (The Threepenny Opera). For each he provides a synopsis, musical highlights, critical remarks, and historical information (the premiere of Il Trovatore: "stupendous"; that of Norma: "a flop"). Another section offers comments on everything from the craze for authenticity to the practice of booing. Forman's opinions sometimes run athwart of convention. Falstaff "has no sex appeal and no heart, and opera demands both these qualities"; Tristan und Isolde is the creation of "the Wagner that liked to spend time stroking velvet." His tone, especially in the synopses, is often evocative of Anna Russell's opera parodies: "It really is too bad of you Tristan to die on me like this. She passes out." The prose can be cute, but that fits Forman's approach of puncturing the inflated atmosphere of opera while glorying in it. Though he is most entertaining when he's daring to shout in church, his enthusiasms are as illuminating as his barbs. "Traviata is the first grown-up opera about contemporary life," he says, adroitly locating that work in operatic history. In Don Giovanni, "Mozart brought terror to the opera stage for the first time." It's the book's greatest pleasure that Forman's passion is matched by his knowledge. --David Olivenbaum
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From the Inside Flap
With an encyclopedic knowledge of opera and a delightful dash of irreverence, Sir Denis Forman throws open the world of opera--its structure, composers, conductors, and artists--in this hugely informative guide. A Night at the Opera dissects the eighty-three most popular operas recorded on compact disc, from Cilea's Adriana Lecouvreur to Mozart's Die Zauberflöte. For each opera, Sir Denis details the plot and cast of characters, awarding stars to parts that are "worth looking out for," "really good," or, occasionally, "stunning." He goes on to tell the history of each opera and its early reception. Finally, each work is graded from alpha to gamma (although the Ring cycle gets an "X"), and Sir Denis has no qualms about voicing his opinion: the first act of Fidelio is "a bit of a mess," while the last scene of  Don Giovanni "towers above the comic finales of Figaro and Così and whether or not [it] is Mozart's greatest opera, it is certainly his most powerful finale."The guide also presents brief biographies of the great composers, conductors, and singers. A glossary of musical terms is included, as well as Operatica, or the essential elements of opera, from the proper place and style of the audience's applause (and boos) to the use of surtitles.A Night at the Opera is for connoisseurs and neophytes alike. It will entertain and inform, delight and (perhaps) infuriate, providing a subject for lively debate and ready reference for years to come.
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Product details
Series: Modern Library (Paperback)
Paperback: 976 pages
Publisher: Modern Library; Revised, Subsequent edition (September 1, 1998)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0375751769
ISBN-13: 978-0375751769
Product Dimensions:
6.2 x 2.1 x 9.3 inches
Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review:
4.5 out of 5 stars
61 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
#84,251 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Sir Denis Forman's overview of the masterpieces of world opera is a lively and witty book. His aim is to present the great and most popular works of opera in a humorous and entertaining way and I believe he succeeds brilliantly in this effort. He gives a brief synopsis of each opera, followed by what- in his opinion- are the most significant and important arias in each act of the opera, finishing with his personal opinion and a rating of the importance of each opera. While some may object that his style is overly irreverent and heavy-laden with British slang that may be difficult for some non-Brits to comprehend, all in all I think this is a wonderful introduction to opera for the novice from an expert in the field who knows his stuff.
I appreciate that Forman is trying to make the works accessible to beginners, but when he refers to Ed or Lucy instead of Edguardo or Luciano, I'm having a hard time connecting it back to the CD or program credits I'm referring to.
I have a soft spot for Czech opera, this guy doesn't however. There's a few very popular operas that need inclusion here. The biggest names in Czech music were all deeply involved in opera and it would only take about 3 more entries to do them justice.But to rate the contents of the book, it was a very entertaining, and informative read. As a non-vocal student of classical music, I've only been exposed to opera through small excerpts. I've played many overtures, interludes, suites and some arias, but I'm just starting to appreciate opera as the whole work, from beginning to end. This book filled in a lot of blanks for me while being light hearted and entertaining, whereas a lot of other books on the subject are rather dry.
Just love this book. Am a classical pianist whose love is opera, this sits well on the more humorous side of opera which fills an entire bookcase. I'm having such a good time referring to it now & then & it is indeed "irreverent"!
This guide is one of several books that I purchased to learn about opera (so, beginners, listen up - opera experts go elsewhere). This guide is unique, witty, and entertaining. The "irreverent" style of the synopses is fun at first, but if you read several in a row it can wear thin. Read the synopsis of Adriana Lecouvreur that Amazon furnishes online to see if you appreciate the style - it is fairly typical except that some of the others have more of a British accent. The British slang sometimes goes over my head which means that I miss the point that is being made so cleverly. However, the real plus of the irreverent style is that it helps to cast the story in more contemporary light (which makes suspension of disbelief easier).I like that there are real opinions about the works, not just descriptions. Some guides are so brief and sterile that you don't really get any flavor - not so here, there is flavor everywhere. What you may not be able to tell from the Amazon exerpt is that the four-page synopsis they show for Adriana Lecouvreur is only about half of the coverage of that opera. Following the synopsis is a scene-by-scene description of the action with what to look for at each point, then followed by a news and gossip and a comments section. Very comprehensive. The synopsis is only about half the coverage of each opera. The appendices at the back of the book also are good study material. They include: operatica (an elementary who's who and what's what at the opera house, about 55 pages); composers (brief biographies, about 40 pages); artists (again bios, about 25 pages); and a glossary (about 15 pages).To learn about opera you need several references. This one is so unique that I say you should get it just for variety. Other good considerations: "Opera 101" for the absolutely best overall introductory study of opera in general. "100 Great Operas" for a more garden variety, shorter, simpler, and easier-to-read synopsis of individual operas. I also like the "Rough Guide to Opera". All of these are very different.
At my retirement at the end of 2012, I polled a few of my colleagues to find if any in my Retired Mens Association of about 200 men, would like to learn more about grand opera. We limited the group to the first dozen men, to accommodate the DVD viewing rooms in the homes of our host members. So far we've viewed with great pleasure Donizetti's "L'Elisir d'Amore", Bizet's "Carmen", Mozart's "The Magic Flute", Verdi's "Rigoletto", Puccini's "La Boheme", and Verdi's "Il Travatore". Next month it will be Puccini's "Turandot".. The volunteer host of the month gets to select he opera from a list of operas I've e-mailed that are at our local library. All have English subtitles, so are easily understood. Your book has enabled me in advance to publish a synopsis of each upcoming opera, plus some important facts about its composition, its premiere performance and the audience's reception of it. We e-mail this to each member in advance of the showing, and they bring them with them to enhance our viewings.
I really like this book. I have a hard copy for home and an Kindle version on my smart phone and have bought several copies for family and friends. A great book for learning about operas with a unpretentious and funny viewpoint. Describes the characters, plot, and give reviews of each song in the score. Lots of additional info on the composers. How can you not like a book about an art form with great melodies, words you can not understand (unless you are Italian, French, or German for the most part), and where they can sing for 5 minutes and the translation equates to 'I'm happy' or 'I'm dying'. Read and then listen.
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