by Dennis Forman.
“Opera is when a guy gets stabbed in the back and, instead of bleeding, he sings.“ Despite the above satirical remark by the American humorist Robert Benchley, opera continues to attract large audiences, and many cities are rightly proud of their superb opera houses and opera companies, from Vienna to Milan to Sydney to New York to San Francisco. If you are a novice and wonder why opera has such magic, you should consider reading this book. Most operas you can think of, as well as many you are not aware of, are covered by the author, who possessed an encyclopedic knowledge of the subject. For each opera, the author organized his materials into “Cast”, “Story”, “Look out for”, “News and gossip”, “Comment”, and a grade at the end (Alpha plus, Alpha, Beta, Gamma). The “Look out for” is informative, “News and Gossip” as well as “Comment” are often humorous and witty. For this reviewer, unexpected bonuses include information on conductors and singers, as well as the section “words, words, words”. It is fun comparing the grades the author gave to my favorite operas with my own assessments. I was, however, surprised that there are two significant omissions. One is Verdi’s “Jerusalem”, where is nowhere to be found in the book. This is a pity as the chorus “O Mon Dieu“ in this opera was one of my favorites. The other glaring omission is "Lohengrin", whose popular "Bridal Chorus", played in many wedding marches all over the world, apparently did not impress the author. I was also disappointed that Renee Fleming was not included among the sopranos, probably due to the fact that she had not achieved the pinnacle of her fame when the book was published in 1994. I started by saying that this book will help novices to understand why so many people are attracted to opera. I would like to end by stating that, for opera fans, this book is full of valuable information that will help you to deepen your appreciation of the factors that contribute to the wonders of operas – the majestic arias that convey our deepest emotions, the magnificent singing which often reaches the limit of what human voices are capable, and the dramatic stories highlighting the good and evil of human nature. Unfortunately, I was unable to give the review five stars on account of the two omissions mentioned above.
(Source: Wikipedia)
(Source: Wikipedia)
Link of review in amazon.com.
2nd among 142 ratings as of 4/4/23
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