The Complete Opera Book

by Gustav Kobbé

Excerpt from The Complete Opera Book: The Stories of the Operas, Together With 400 of the Leading Airs and Motives in Musical Notation

Through the thoughtfulness of William J. Henderson I was asked to supply-material for The Complete Opera Book, which was missing at the time of Mr. Kobbe's death. In performing my share of the work it has been my endeavor to confine myself to facts, rather than to intrude with personal opinions upon a Work which should stand.

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Genres: Music, Reference, Nonfiction, Art, Classical Music

1016 pages, Paperback

First published November 27, 1918

About the author

Gustav Kobbé, M.A. was an American music critic and author, best known for his guide to the operas, The Complete Opera Book, first published (posthumously) in the United States in 1919 and the United Kingdom in 1922.

Reviews

[Sammy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Still the pinnacle of that 20th century staple, the descriptive opera book. Mostly rendered redundant in the 21st century by the combination of Wikipedia, TV and internet broadcast, and in-theatre supertitles, but there's a wonderful joy, a combination of nostalgia and curiosity, in finding something new within. I think the 1997 edition of this was the last (understandably so) but it really does pack in 400 years' worth of opera, with lengthy synopses, occasional musical extracts, and usefully information about productions on occasion. Worth it for anyone attempting to get into the artform, and pleasing still for those of us well-versed in it.

[Lisa (Harmonybites) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is, from what I've read, the definitive book on opera. As the flyleaf says, "Kobbe is to opera what Bartlett is to quotations." At least in whatever is the latest edition--I admit this one is somewhat dated, having been published in 1987. It covers the standard repertoire as well as some rarities from the first opera, Claudio Monteverdi's <>La Favola d'Orfeo in 1600 to that of composers still living at the time of publication: Birtwistle, Einem, Ginastera, Glass, Henze, Knussen, Ligeti, Penderecki, Reimann, Thomson, Menotti, Sallinen, Tippett, Wingrave. What I like so much about this book is not just that each opera has a discussion of the music and a synopsis of the story, but landmark productions are noted, so you'd know that up to 1987 at least, that famous singers in the title role of La Traviata include Patti, Melba, Tetrazzini, Ponselle, Schwarzkopf, Callas, Freni, etc.

[Dasagamabu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tratado recopilatorio y explicativo de la ópera desde sus inicios hasta principios del s. XX con sus principales autores, intérpretes y representaciones. Explica el argumento de cada ópera y enriquece la cultura del lector.

[Colie! · Rating 5 out of 5]

How do I love this book... I would sit in my dad's apartment and peruse the different stories, crack it open whenever we were talking about a composer and started wondering what other works they'd written, tried my best to sight sing just what Elektra's "Agamemmnon" sounded like. It's my nostalgia machine for my lifelong operalove.

[Alvaro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un gran clásico

Para saber de opera, Kobbé es uno de los mejores maestros, a pesar de ser un libro escrito hace ya casi un siglo, cuando muchos de los hoy considerados clásicos aún estaban produciendo las obras que admiramos hoy.

[Bill Daniels · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am an halfway Opera fan. I am unschooled. I turn to Kobbé's before I hear one.

[Les Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must have for opera lovers.