Download or read book Saturday Afternoons at the Old Met written by Paul Jackson and published by Hal Leonard Corporation. This book was released on 1992 with total page 594 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: (Amadeus). In this first of three volumes, Paul Jackson begins a rich and detailed history of the early years of the Metropolitan Opera broadcasts, bringing to life more than 200 recorded broadcasts.
Download or read book Fritz Reiner Maestro and Martinet written by Kenneth Morgan and published by University of Illinois Press. This book was released on 2010-10-01 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This award-winning book, now available in paperback, is the first solid appraisal of the legendary career of the eminent Hungarian-born conductor Fritz Reiner (1888-1963). Personally enigmatic and often described as difficult to work with, he was nevertheless renowned for the dynamic galvanization of the orchestras he led, a nearly unrivaled technical ability, and high professional standards. Reiner's influence in the United States began in the early 1920s and lasted until his death. Reiner was also deeply committed to serious music in American life, especially through the promotion of new scores. In Fritz Reiner, Maestro and Martinet, Kenneth Morgan paints a very real portrait of a man who was both his own worst enemy and one of the true titans of his profession.
Download or read book Grand Opera written by Charles Affron and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2014-09-22 with total page 469 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Metropolitan has stood among the grandest of opera companies since its birth in 1883. Tracing the offstage/onstage workings of this famed New York institution, Charles Affron and Mirella Jona Affron tell how the Met became and remains a powerful actor on the global cultural scene. In this first new history of the company in thirty years, each of the chronologically sequenced chapters surveys a composer or a slice of the repertoire and brings to life dominant personalities and memorable performances of the time. From the opening night Faust to the recent controversial production of Wagner’s "Ring," Grand Opera is a remarkable account of management and audience response to the push and pull of tradition and reinvention. Spanning the decades between the Gilded Age and the age of new media, this story of the Met concludes by tipping its hat to the hugely successful "Live in HD" simulcasts and other twenty-first-century innovations. Grand Opera’s appeal extends far beyond the large circle of opera enthusiasts. Drawing on unpublished documents from the Metropolitan Opera Archives, reviews, recordings, and much more, this richly detailed book looks at the Met in the broad context of national and international issues and events.
Download or read book Start up at the New Met written by Paul Jackson and published by Hal Leonard Corporation. This book was released on 2006 with total page 664 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this new work, Paul Jackson examines the decade that saw the move from the old house uptown to the technological marvel at Lincoln Center. There Rudolf Bing's final six years give way to four seasons of management turmoil until 1976, when James Levine was named music director and took hold of the Met's artistic future.
Download or read book From Johnson s Kids to Lemonade Opera written by Victoria Etnier Villamil and published by UPNE. This book was released on 2004 with total page 362 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: American baritone Lawrence Tibbett created an overnight sensation at the Metropolitan Opera in 1925 when the audience stopped the performance of Falstaff to honor their compatriot for his exceptional talent. Tibbett's now legendary curtain call foreshadowed a startling new era for classically trained native singers who rarely received the public recognition or respect given to their European colleagues. In this absorbing work, Victoria Etnier Villamil chronicles the extraordinary time from 1935 to 1950 when American artists, who felt intensely inferior to foreign performers, journeyed from being unappreciated in their own country to standing without apology on stages at home and abroad. Drawing on exhaustive primary research and extensive interviews, Villamil tells the remarkable story of a generation of American opera singers whose profession, image, and art were forever altered by the upheavals of World War II, as well as sweeping cultural and technological changes. The author's in-depth look at these breakthrough years explores such defining factors as Edward Johnson's drive to "Americanize the Met" in his first seasons as general manager, the impact of the microphone on singers and singing styles, and the importance of radio and motion pictures in introducing classical music voices to wider audiences. Villamil also considers how travel restrictions imposed on European artists during the war unlocked opportunities for American artists, and the role of political and Jewish refugees in enriching music education and training in this country. In addition, the author discusses thoroughly the founding of the New York City Opera, the rise of regional and smaller opera companies, including the enterprising and popular Lemonade Opera, and advancements for African American classical singers. Brimming with entertaining anecdotes and colorful figures, both famous and little remembered, the fascinating book concludes with an examination of this crucial period's legacy for the American classical music scene in the 1950s and beyond. From Johnson's Kids to Lemonade Opera contains an invaluable appendix that provides biographical sketches of the over 250 opera and radio singers, as well as art song specialists, featured in this illuminating study.
Download or read book Operas in English written by Margaret Ross Griffel and published by Scarecrow Press. This book was released on 2012-12-21 with total page 1015 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Although many opera dictionaries and encyclopedias are available, very few are devoted exclusively to operas in a single language. In this revised and expanded edition of Operas in English: A Dictionary, Margaret Ross Griffel brings up to date her original work on operas written specifically to an English text (including works both originally prepared in English, as well as English translations). Since its original publication in 1999, Griffel has added nearly 800 entries to the 4,300 from the original volume, covering the world of opera in the English language from 1634 through 2011. Listed alphabetically by letter, each opera entry includes alternative titles, if any; a full, descriptive title; the number of acts; the composer’s name; the librettist’s name, the original language of the libretto, and the original source of the text, with the source title; the date, place, and cast of the first performance; the date of composition, if it occurred substantially earlier than the premiere date; similar information for the first U.S. (including colonial) and British (i.e., in England, Scotland, or Wales) performances, where applicable; a brief plot summary; the main characters (names and vocal ranges, where known); some of the especially noteworthy numbers cited by name; comments on special musical problems, techniques, or other significant aspects; and other settings of the text, including non-English ones, and/or other operas involving the same story or characters (cross references are indicated by asterisks). Entries also include such information as first and critical editions of the score and libretto; a bibliography, ranging from scholarly studies to more informal journal articles and reviews; a discography; and information on video recordings. Griffel also includes four appendixes, a selective bibliography, and two indexes. The first appendix lists composers, their places and years of birth and death, and their operas included in the text as entries; the second does the same for librettists; the third records authors whose works inspired or were adapted for the librettos; and the fourth comprises a chronological listing of the A–Z entries, including as well as the date of first performance, the city of the premiere, the short title of the opera, and the composer. Griffel also include a main character index and an index of singers, conductors, producers, and other key figures.
Download or read book The Oxford Handbook of Shakespeare and Music written by Christopher R. Wilson and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2022 with total page 1289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This compendium reflects the latest international research into the many and various uses of music in relation to Shakespeare's plays and poems, the contributors' lines of enquiry extending from the Bard's own time to the present day. The coverage is global in its scope, and includes studies of Shakespeare-related music in countries as diverse as China, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Russia, South Africa, Sweden, and the Soviet Union, as well as the more familiar Anglophone musical and theatrical traditions of the UK and USA. The range of genres surveyed by the book's team of distinguished authors embraces music for theatre, opera, ballet, musicals, the concert hall, and film, in addition to Shakespeare's ongoing afterlives in folk music, jazz, and popular music. The authors take a range of diverse approaches: some investigate the evidence for performative practices in the Early Modern and later eras, while others offer detailed analyses of representative case studies, situating these firmly in their cultural contexts, or reflecting on the political and sociological ramifications of the music. As a whole, the volume provides a wide-ranging compendium of cutting-edge scholarship engaging with an extraordinarily rich body of music without parallel in the history of the global arts"--
Download or read book American Opera Singers and Their Recordings written by Clyde T. McCants and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2004-08-06 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.
Download or read book Lily Pons written by James A. Drake and published by Hal Leonard Corporation. This book was released on 1999 with total page 396 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: (Amadeus). The popular opera star Lily Pons (1898-1976) was the reigning coloratura at the Metropolitan Opera from 1931 to 1959, and her career included several Hollywood films. She was as beautiful and charming as she was talented a combination that made her a true celebrity. This collection brings together the impressions of colleagues, critics and scholars about this much-beloved diva, with more than 100 rare photographs from Lily Pons' own archives, largely owned by Ludecke and her family. HARDCOVER.
Download or read book Leonard Warren American Baritone written by Mary Jane Phillips-Matz and published by Hal Leonard Corporation. This book was released on 2000 with total page 530 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: (Amadeus). The great baritone Leonard Warren was history's most notable interpreter of Verdi, making his mark in the title roles of Rigoletto , Macbeth and Simon Boccanegra . Warren's dramatic death over 40 years ago is famous: he collapsed and died onstage at the Met on March 4, 1960 in a performance as Carlo in La forza del destino . In this definitive biography, Mary Jane Phillips-Matz, author of an acclaimed biography of Giuseppe Verdi, offers an intimate portrait of a beloved opera star, based on hundreds of interviews. More than 100 rare photographs capture Warren in his great roles as well as in private moments. HARDCOVER.
Download or read book John Charles Thomas written by Michael J. Maher and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2015-01-24 with total page 233 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Buoyant, irrepressible and hot-tempered, John Charles Thomas captivated audiences worldwide with his incredible voice. The son of a minister, he studied voice at the Peabody Conservatory under the tutelage of Adelin Fermin, one of the few voice teachers in America capable of training Thomas in the French operatic style. By 1915, Thomas had become a leading performer on Broadway, and ten years later had embarked on a trans-Atlantic career in opera and concerts. At the height of his popularity from 1934 through 1946, he was a popular star of radio, phonographs, and the Metropolitan Opera, a favorite of both popular and classical audiences. His decision to leave opera and focus on his radio career during the Second World War cost him his reputation as a serious artist. The singer who introduced "Home on the Range" and launched many other American standards has been largely forgotten today. This thorough biography details Thomas's life and career. Beginning with his school days at the Peabody, it traces his Broadway career as the star of Step This Way and Maytime and his highly successful career as a concert, recording, and opera star. Appendices provide a discography of his recordings, a list of operatic appearances in Brussels and the United States, and the songs he performed on radio broadcasts from 1934 to 1948.
Download or read book O ma Carmen written by Victoria Etnier Villamil and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2017-06-19 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Qu'est-ce que c'est?" (What is it?) mezzo-soprano Celestine Galli-Marie asked when offered the title role in the 1875 premier of Bizet's new opera, Carmen. She was only the first in a long line of performers to ask. In the 140+ years since, each singer has crafted her own portrayal of the inscrutable Gypsy. The famous soprano Geraldine Farrar wrote: "Each one of us probably sees something that the others have not seen--or thinks she does--and that 'something' is her individual Carmen." This book explores the history of operatic portrayals of Bizet's elusive enchantress, tracing the development of vocal and dramatic interpretations from generation to generation around the globe.
Download or read book The Cleveland Orchestra Story written by Donald Rosenberg and published by Gray & Company, Publishers. This book was released on 2000 with total page 754 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How did a late-blooming midwestern orchestra rise amid gritty Big Industry to become a titan in the world of Big Art? This groundbreaking book tells the complete story of the people and events that shaped the Cleveland Orchestra into a classical music legend. It taps the most authoritative sources to show how decisions were made along the often bumpy road to artistic and financial success. Told with plenty of anecdotes and intriguing behind-the-scenes details.
Download or read book Encyclopedia of Radio 3 Volume Set written by Christopher H. Sterling and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2004-03-01 with total page 3166 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Produced in association with the Museum of Broadcast Communications in Chicago, the Encyclopedia of Radio includes more than 600 entries covering major countries and regions of the world as well as specific programs and people, networks and organizations, regulation and policies, audience research, and radio's technology. This encyclopedic work will be the first broadly conceived reference source on a medium that is now nearly eighty years old, with essays that provide essential information on the subject as well as comment on the significance of the particular person, organization, or topic being examined.
Download or read book Opera written by Guy A. Marco and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2002-05-03 with total page 1037 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Opera is the only guide to the research writings on all aspects of opera. This second edition presents 2,833 titles--over 2,000 more than the first edition--of books, parts of books, articles and dissertations with full bibliographic descriptions and critical annotations. Users will find the core literature on the operas of 320 individual composers and details of operatic life in 43 countries. All relevant works through to November 1999 have been considered, covering more than fifteen years of literature since the first edition was published.
Download or read book Music Radio written by Jim Cox and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2024-10-17 with total page 380 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Long before the invention of "talk radio," music was the heart and soul of radio programming--whether standing alone, filling in the time between features, or identifying to widespread audiences the shows coming on and signing off the air. Jim Cox's Music Radio encompasses the entire range of musical programming from the early 1920s to the early 1960s. Jazz, country, classical, gospel, pop, big band, western, and semi-classical forms are covered, as are the vocalists, instrumentalists and disc jockeys who made them available to listeners. Virtually all the major series and artists are explored in depth, and lesser known shows and performers are touched on as well. Some of the series included are The Bing Crosby Show, The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street, The Fred Waring Show, Grand Ole Opry, The Bell Telephone Hour, The Cities Service Concerts, Your Hit Parade, The Kate Smith Show, The Railroad Hour, and The Voice of Firestone.
Download or read book The Unknown Callas written by N. Petsal_s-Diom_d_s and published by Hal Leonard Corporation. This book was released on 2001 with total page 680 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: (Amadeus). In this award-winning biography, Petsalis-Diomidis closely examines Maria Callas's life in Athens from 1937 to 1945. These years have been largely absent from previous works about Callas, but were crucial to her professional and personal growth. The author examines her professional development, her studies, her concertizing, and her work with the Greek National Opera. He also recounts Callas's daily life, her friendships, her rivalries at the conservatory, and her personal life. Though it is a detailed historical biography, the writing and pace are novelistic. HARDCOVER.
