Download or read book Singers of Italian Opera written by John Rosselli and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1995-03-02 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Adelina Patti was the most highly regarded singer in history. She earned nearly $5,000 a night and had her own railway carriage. Yet a minor comic singer would perform for the cost of his food and a pair of shoes to wear on stage. John Rosselli's wide-ranging study introduces all those singers, members of the chorus as well as stars, who have sung Italian opera from 1600 to the twentieth century. Singers are shown slowly emancipating themselves from dependence on great patrons and entering the dangerous freedom of the market. Rosselli also examines the sexist prejudices against the castrati of the eighteenth century and against women singers. Securely rooted in painstaking scholarship and sprinkled with amusing anecdote, this is a book to fascinate and inform opera fans at all levels.
Download or read book Early 20th Century Opera Singers written by Nicholas E. Limansky and published by YBK Publishers. This book was released on 2016-04 with total page 298 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Historical recordings by opera singers have proven since 1900 to offer much reward to the singer, student, listener, and collector alike. In the first book of this kind to appear in decades, Nicholas Limansky explains why critical listening is important and describes the merits of analyzing and comparing the recordings of previous generations of singers with those of the present. He also recounts how markedly record collecting has changed through the decades-especially in large cities like New York-mainly due to technological advance. He not only treats collecting 78 rpm disks, but LPs and CDs as well. Expired copyright now enables many of these early recordings to easily be acquired and collected, enabling the broad-scale comparison of style, technique, and vocal quality among the famous performers of earlier eras. The author points out what to look for among these differences in style, technique, and ability-both good and bad. (On occasion, the most famous are not the best ) With emphasis on today's student and collector, Limansky provides information about where, how, and on what labels given recordings can be found. He discusses printed resources that offer the interested even more information. Beginners and veterans alike will find much of interest in this far-ranging book. Nicholas Limansky studied voice at Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore and has a performance degree from the University of West Virginia. He has sung with major professional choral groups in New York City that include The Bach Aria Group, Musica Sacra, New York Choral Artists (NY Philharmonic), Opera Orchestra of New York, The Netherlands Ballet, and Alvin Ailey (Revelations, Rainbow). He has written performance reviews for the Italian publication, "Rassegna Melodrammatic," and reviewed new vocal releases of historical singers for "Opera News, The Record Collector, Classical Singer, " and "Opera Quarterly." He lectures at the New York Vocal Record Collectors Society and is a member of its board of directors.
Download or read book Great Opera Singers of the Twentieth Century 1927 1990 written by Donald S. Blair and published by . This book was released on 1991 with total page 164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume contains biographical sketches of 50 great opera singers of the 20th century, with photographs of each singer in a famous role.
Download or read book The Opera of the Twentieth Century written by William Schoell and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2015-01-24 with total page 309 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the late 1500s in Florence, aristocrats of the Renaissance renovated classical Greek dramas into dramatic musicals and gave birth to the first operas. After centuries of transformation, the opera is still appreciated as a historically dynamic paradigm of the fine arts. Composers of the twentieth century have worked hard to fashion a voice distinct from the romantic composers of the nineteenth century and the traditions that preceded them, and this volume explores the extent of their success. Beginning with a thorough introduction to the history of operatic forms and transformation, this book presents a comprehensive discussion of twentieth century opera. Giving ear to many composers and many styles--romantic and modern and assorted variations--the discussion includes such globally renowned composers as Strauss, Puccini, Prokofiev and Mascagni, as well as the esoteric works of less famous composers. Spanning as it does from Puccini's Tosca and Charpentier's Louise to Heggie's Dead Man Walking and Corigliano's The Ghosts of Versailles, twentieth century operatic form has something for every taste. The discussion is therefore structured chronologically and directed at exploring this complex diversity and ingenuity of twentieth-century styles. Examples from across the globe and firsthand commentary from contemporary operatic professionals complement the discussion. Concluding chapters comment upon the operatic presence in the twenty-first century and the future of operatic forms.
Download or read book Opera Singers of the Twentieth Century written by and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 101 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fifty oil painting portraits of eminent opera singers, with accompanying brief biographies.
Download or read book Opera Singers of the Twentieth Century written by Thomas Crawford and published by Workbook Press. This book was released on 2022-08-31 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This handsomely designed and printed book contains 50 oil painting portraits of eminent opera singers accompanied by informative biographies. The artist/author, who is a veteran of the U.S. Navy and Foreign Service and retired attorney, has combined his dual interests in opera and painting to produce a book that will delight both opera buffs and the general reading public. Janos Gereben, music critic of San Francisco Classical Voice, wrote the following in his review published in Music News, Aug. 13, 2013: "Selecting the 50 from hundreds of stars was difficult, and Crawford is at his usual low-key, modest self, making his caveat [in the introduction to the book]: The world of opera is so rich in international talent that any compilation by a mere enthusiast must necessarily be arbitrary, incomplete, and reflect personal taste and one's experience with live performances and recordings...Most afficionados would also have a dozen other singers, not portrayed here, in their selection of eminent singers. Crawford's alphabetic collection runs from Marian Anderson to Fritz Wunderlich, she is portrayed as Ulrica in Un ballo in maschera, he as Valzacchi in Der Rosenkavalier. Sherill Milnes appears as Rigoletto, Rosa Ponselle looks regal as Norma, and Leonard Warren embodies the essence of Macbeth."
Download or read book Twentieth Century Opera written by George Whitney Martin and published by Hal Leonard Corporation. This book was released on 1999 with total page 732 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: (Limelight). Martin provides a guide to opera that is sweeping in its scope, thorough in its detail, and authoritative in its commentary. He recalls a century of achievement in an art form that today enjoys unprecedented popularity and that has been generously enriched by challenging works in many cases yet to be fully recognized of the modern era.
Download or read book The Female Voice in the Twentieth Century written by Serena Facci and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-03-01 with total page 157 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: By integrating theoretical approaches to the female voice with the musicological investigation of female singers’ practices, the contributors to this volume offer fresh viewpoints on the material, symbolic and cultural aspects of the female voice in the twentieth century. Various styles and genres are covered, including Western art music, experimental composition, popular music, urban folk and jazz. The volume offers a substantial and innovative appraisal of the role of the female voice from the perspective of twentieth-century performance practices, the centrality of female singers’ experimentations and extended vocal techniques along with the process of the ‘subjectivisation’ of the voice.
Download or read book The American Opera Singer written by Peter G. Davis and published by Doubleday Books. This book was released on 1997 with total page 688 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In America today, opera has never been more popular, and one reason for this is, no doubt, that American opera singers are fixtures on every leading opera stage throughout the world. In this lively and engrossing account, Peter G. Davis, music critic for New York magazine and a leading opera authority, tells the story of how these plucky, resilient and supremely talented American singers have transformed this venerable European-born art form and made it their own. Starting with opera's arrival in America in the early nineteenth century, Davis shows how American singers grew in sophistication and stature along with the country. From the nineteenth-century pioneers who crashed the gates of Europe's elite opera circles, to the glamorous singers of the early twentieth century who were also Hollywood stars and publicity magnets, to the highly professional singers since World War II who not only have gained European acceptance but now dominate the industry, this lively and highly readable account chronicles the extraordinary lives and adventures of these larger-than-life personalities. Included are Maria Callas, Beverly Sills, Richard Tucker, Leontyne Price, Marilyn Horne, Lawrence Tibbett, and a galaxy of others whose stories are as dramatic and compelling as the roles they sang on stage. Full of prima-donna antics, hilarious backstage anecdotes, and performance lore, "The American Opera Singer will delight anyone who has felt the magic of opera, and will provide a new canon of American singing sure to provoke spirited debate among aficionados. Trained as a musician and composer, Peter G. Davis has been writing about music for over thirty years in such publications as the "NewYork Times, The Times of London, High Fidelity, and "Opera News. He is currently music critic for "New York magazine and lives in New York City. Experience the artistry of America's supremely talented singers on RCA Victor Red Seal's "The American Opera Singer, a companion 2-CD set to this book, now available in record stores.
Download or read book Classical Singers of the Opera and Recital Stages written by Robert H. Cowden and published by Greenwood. This book was released on 1994-06-14 with total page 536 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Have you ever tried to find information on your favorite classical singer, past or present? If you have, you know the frustrations involved. Now, for the first time under one cover is a comprehensive listing of all known published and unpublished material of a biographical nature about classical singers of the opera and recital stages. No current reference work or periodical includes more than a fraction of the material found here. This book will save the reader countless frustrating hours tracking down sources by indicating exactly where to look. For anyone with a serious interest in classical singers, this new publication is a MUST. Quite simply put, there is nothing comparable available. If you own any or all of the current basic references on opera and singing, this represents a worthy and indispensable companion to each of them. Classical Singers of the Opera and Recital Stages is a comprehensive listing of biographical materials about 1,532 famous and not-so-famous vocalists. Materials from 30 languages and language variants are annotated including cross-references to 24 major dictionaries, encyclopedias, and reference works as well as 12 important periodicals. In addition to this body of information, 157 collective titles and 283 related books are also cross-referenced. It even includes references to works such as the American National Biography which is currently in publication. All of this material is organized into five easy-to-use coded categories, and the codes remain standard throughout the work. A special feature is a complete index to all vocalists accorded an entry in The New Grove Dictionary of Opera (1992). Some 323 classical vocal artists, who do not appear in Grove-Opera, are included here. Cowden's monumental reference lists thousands of sources for obscure artists as well as for the legendary ones from the 17th century to 1993. Each reader will find sources of information previously unknown thus saving countless hours tracking down biographical information about a particular artist. An indispensable supplement to even the most recent published reference works in the field of the vocal arts, Classical Singers of the Opera and Recital Stages should remain a standard work for years to come.
Download or read book Exploring Twentieth Century Vocal Music written by Sharon Mabry and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2002-07-25 with total page 218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The vocal repertoire of the twentieth century--including works by Schoenberg, Boulez, Berio, Larsen, and Vercoe--presents exciting opportunities for singers to stretch their talents and demonstrate their vocal flexibility. Contemporary composers can be very demanding of vocalists, requiring them to recite, trill, and whisper, or to read non-traditional scores. For singers just beginning to explore the novelties of the contemporary repertoire, Exploring Twentieth-Century Vocal Music is an ideal guide. Drawing on over thirty years of experience teaching and performing the twentieth century repertoire, Sharon Mabry has written a cogent and insightful book for singers and voice teachers who are just discovering the innovative music of the twentieth century. The book familiarizes readers with the new and unusual notation systems employed by some contemporary composers. It suggests rehearsal techniques and vocal exercises that help singers prepare to tackle the repertoire. And the book offers a list of the most important and interesting works to emerge in the twentieth century, along with suggested recital programs that will introduce audiences as well as singers to this under-explored body of music.
Download or read book The 20th Century O Z written by Frank N. Magill and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-05-13 with total page 1418 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Each volume of the Dictionary of World Biography contains 250 entries on the lives of the individuals who shaped their times and left their mark on world history. This is not a who's who. Instead, each entry provides an in-depth essay on the life and career of the individual concerned. Essays commence with a quick reference section that provides basic facts on the individual's life and achievements. The extended biography places the life and works of the individual within an historical context, and the summary at the end of each essay provides a synopsis of the individual's place in history. All entries conclude with a fully annotated bibliography.
Download or read book Popular Singers of the Twentieth Century written by Robert H. Cowden and published by Greenwood. This book was released on 1999-07-30 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This guide to the biographical literature available on popular 20th-century singers covers nearly 1000 artists. Much of the literature cited is also cross-referenced to major biographical dictionaries, encyclopedias, and relevant periodicals. Entries not only list known publications associated with popular singers but also incorporate elements of analytical and descriptive bibliography. The artists included in this volume increasingly cross musical boundaries. The popular singer category, therefore, encompasses Broadway, Hollywood, cabaret, and operetta performers as well as recording artists. Scholars of popular music and popular music enthusiasts will appreciate the extensive research this work embodies. Divided among three sections, citations are arranged alphabetically and include information about literature published through 1997. An appendix of additional artists and an index complete the volume.
Download or read book Opera written by Franklin Mesa and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2015-05-07 with total page 477 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This encyclopedia includes entries for 1,153 world premiere (and other significant) performances of operas in Europe, the United States, Latin America and Russia. Entries offer details about key persons, arias, interesting facts, and date and location of each premiere. There is a biographical dictionary with 1,288 entries on historical and modern operatic singers, composers, librettists, and conductors. Fully indexed and with a bibliography.
Download or read book Confessions of an Opera Singer written by Kathleen Howard and published by Good Press. This book was released on 2019-12-10 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Confessions of an Opera Singer by Kathleen Howard is about the musings and dreams of an upper-class girl who was brought up with an early love of opera. Excerpt: "I WAS very young and I was engaged to be married. We had just lost our money in a rather dramatic fashion, and we were all doing what we could to supply the sudden deficit. My sister began to prepare herself to be a teacher, my brother left his boarding school and came home to go into a friend's office, and I—well, I accepted the hand and heart of the young man in our set with whom I had had most pleasure in dancing in winter and sailing in summer."
Download or read book The Cambridge Companion to Twentieth Century Opera written by Mervyn Cooke and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2005-12-08 with total page 430 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This Companion celebrates the extraordinary riches of the twentieth-century operatic repertoire in a collection of specially commissioned essays written by a distinguished team of academics, critics and practitioners. Beginning with a discussion of the century's vital inheritance from late-romantic operatic traditions in Germany and Italy, the text embraces fresh investigations into various aspects of the genre in the modern age, with a comprehensive coverage of the work of individual composers from Debussy and Schoenberg to John Adams and Harrison Birtwistle. Traditional stylistic categorizations (including symbolism, expressionism, neo-classicism and minimalism) are reassessed from new critical perspectives, and the distinctive operatic traditions of Continental and Eastern Europe, Russia and the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and United States are subjected to fresh scrutiny. The volume includes essays devoted to avant-garde music theatre, operettas and musicals, filmed opera, and ends with a discussion of the position of the genre in today's cultural marketplace.
Download or read book American Opera Singers and Their Recordings written by Clyde T. McCants and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2004-07-23 with total page 410 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book focuses on American opera singers and what their recordings say about their artistry. It is not a book about all American opera singers, since many who had important careers on stage, made few, if any, recordings. And many of those who did make recordings, did so prior to the introduction of electrical recording in 1925 (and the resulting advances in the reproduction of the human voice). Opera enthusiasts can only imagine the sound of Farinelli's voice or read what his contemporaries have written about it, but with almost any famous or near-famous singer of recent years, enthusiasts do not have to imagine. Their voices are available through the technology of sound recording. There are 53 entries, one each for 52 singers and a composite entry for a group of Hollywood vocalists. Each entry contains biographical information and is followed by a discography of operatic recordings to be used in conjunction with the critical commentaries. The entries are in alphabetical order by the singer's last name and provide critical analyses of key recordings and of the artists' gifts and limitations.
