Sara R. (appaloosatb) reviewed 100 Great Operas And Their Stories : Act-By-Act Synopses on + 96 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
Annotation
From La Traviata to Aida, from Carmen to Don Giovanni, here are the plots of the world's best-loved operas, recounted in an engaging, picturesque, and readable manner. In addition to highlighting the most important aspects of each opera, the author discusses main characters, famous plot twists, and the most significant arias.
From the Publisher
An invaluable guide for both casual opera fans and afficionados, this volume contains act-by-act descriptions of operatic works ranging from the early seventeenth century masterworks of Monteverdi and Purcell to the modern classics of Menotti and Briffen. Written in a lively anecdotal style, entries include character descriptions, historical background, and much more.
From La Traviata to Aida, from Carmen to Don Giovanni, here are the plots of the world's best-loved operas, recounted in an engaging, picturesque, and readable manner. In addition to highlighting the most important aspects of each opera, the author discusses main characters, famous plot twists, and the most significant arias.
From the Publisher
An invaluable guide for both casual opera fans and afficionados, this volume contains act-by-act descriptions of operatic works ranging from the early seventeenth century masterworks of Monteverdi and Purcell to the modern classics of Menotti and Briffen. Written in a lively anecdotal style, entries include character descriptions, historical background, and much more.
Kristen W. (Piper52) reviewed 100 Great Operas And Their Stories : Act-By-Act Synopses on + 7 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
This is a great book for the opera novice; also, if you are not a huge opera fan but enjoy going once in a while, this is perfect for you. Most operas that are currently produced are in the book, so if you are heading out to "Tosca" for instance, and have no idea what it's about, you can read a few entertaining (sometimes even gossipy) paragraphs about the history and context of the piece, and then move on to an act-by-act synopsis which gives an excellent sense of the story, characters, and musical themes you will hear, all in just a few pages.
Voila! you are now ready to enjoy the opera without peering at your program in the dark to read the plot summary, while simultaneously trying to figure out what on earth "E lucevan le stelle" means in English.
("The stars were shining brightly.")
Voila! you are now ready to enjoy the opera without peering at your program in the dark to read the plot summary, while simultaneously trying to figure out what on earth "E lucevan le stelle" means in English.
("The stars were shining brightly.")
Elizabeth E. (TylerTxRose) reviewed 100 Great Operas And Their Stories : Act-By-Act Synopses on + 84 more book reviews
The volume covers synopses of some of the world's most famous opreas. "From 'La Traviata' to 'Aida", from 'Carmen' to 'Don Giovanni', here are the plots of the world's best-loved operas, told in an engaging, picturesque, and readable manner. Written by noted operaauthority Henry W. Simon, this distinctive reference book contains act-by-act descriptions of the 100 operatic works ranging from the historic early seventeenth century masterpieces of Monteverdi to the modern classic of Gian-Carlo Menotti. It highlights the most important aspects of each opera, discusses the main characters, the turnings of plots, aa well as the most significent arias. Here to, is a wealth of anecdotesconcerning literary backround, past performances & stars, plus production problems faced by these great operas. HOWEVER, there is some annotation & some highlighting, primarily on the opera 'Rigoletto', other-wise book is clean & like new.
