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Opera: A Crash Course
Is the word opera always preceded by the word soap to you? Have you an uneasy suspicion that La Donna e Mobile does not really mean ‘my girl’s got a cellphone’? If you are a bathroom Meistersinger with plenty of aria action but no recitative to speak of, Opera – A Crash Course is for you.
* absolutely no previous musical knowledge required
* tortuous plots decoded
* brief lives and great works of all the major composers
* operatic language translated
* directory of divas and maestros
* crib sheet of genres
Opera - A Crash Course is designed to to help you penetrate the miasma of social snobbery that envelops opera everywhere except Italy, where it was born and where every postino can rip an aria off his chest just like Pavarotti. It's refreshingly composed history, with a counterpoint of helpful leitmotivs (plot slots, biographies, opera-speak), and a timeline to connect the absurd, passionate, dramtic virtual world of opera with the dull, old reality planet the rest of us live on. Read this and you will never again wonder what Cosi fan Tutte actually means, how many Nibelungen there are in the Ring, or why a 17-stone consumptive dying at 100 decibels can bring a sob to the throat. And you will find out how to comport yourself in an Opera House.
***
Stephen Pettitt is a trained music buff who writes for heavyweight British broadsheets such as the Sunday Times and the Financial Times and magazines including Opera and Gramophone. He broadcasts frequently on radio and has sat in judgement on many musical competitions as well as writing a book on Handel for beginners. From Monteverdi to Maxwell Davies, he is your man. Attenzione.
* absolutely no previous musical knowledge required
* tortuous plots decoded
* brief lives and great works of all the major composers
* operatic language translated
* directory of divas and maestros
* crib sheet of genres
Opera - A Crash Course is designed to to help you penetrate the miasma of social snobbery that envelops opera everywhere except Italy, where it was born and where every postino can rip an aria off his chest just like Pavarotti. It's refreshingly composed history, with a counterpoint of helpful leitmotivs (plot slots, biographies, opera-speak), and a timeline to connect the absurd, passionate, dramtic virtual world of opera with the dull, old reality planet the rest of us live on. Read this and you will never again wonder what Cosi fan Tutte actually means, how many Nibelungen there are in the Ring, or why a 17-stone consumptive dying at 100 decibels can bring a sob to the throat. And you will find out how to comport yourself in an Opera House.
***
Stephen Pettitt is a trained music buff who writes for heavyweight British broadsheets such as the Sunday Times and the Financial Times and magazines including Opera and Gramophone. He broadcasts frequently on radio and has sat in judgement on many musical competitions as well as writing a book on Handel for beginners. From Monteverdi to Maxwell Davies, he is your man. Attenzione.
144 pages, Paperback
First published April 6, 1998
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 16, 2024
It's taken me ages to finish this, mostly because the font - especially for the snippets that run along the top of each page - is so very tiny I was getting regular eye-strain at night. Opera buff and wit Stephen Pettitt knows his stuff, and the bite-sized articles are perfect for an introduction for the uninitiated. He makes it really fun and interesting (visually, too). I would score this higher but the eye strain really was an issue.
January 5, 2021
A good and witty intro to the opera genre. Only gripe I have is that the different fonts picture etc actually make it more difficult than easier to read and definitely to remember.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews