La Boheme (Opera Classics Library Series) [Paperback]

Burton D. Fisher (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 27, 2005 | Series: Opera Classics Library

A comprehensive guide to Puccini's LA BOHEME, featuring insightful and in depth Commentary and Analysis, and a complete, newly translated Libretto with Italian/English side-by side.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

These small-format volumes devoted to individual operas are the first in a projected 200-volume series (with approximately four titles to be added each month). An expansion of the "Opera Journeys Mini Guide" series that the publisher launched last year, they include a brief synopsis, a story narrative with very brief music examples, commentary and analysis, a libretto, a discography, a videography, and a dictionary of opera and musical terms. Students and opera goers may find them attractive because of their reasonable price, their e-book availability on netLibrary, and the insightful commentary and analysis by Fisher (lecturer, Florida Intl. Univ.). A list of source materials, however, would have been useful; in portions of the Butterfly and Boh?me volumes, for example, Fisher seems to have relied to some extent on Julian Budden's articles in The New Grove Dictionary of Opera. Also, the discographies are rife with problems. Neither record labels nor formats are given, the editing is sloppy, names are misspelled ("Tuckers" for Tucker), many dates are incorrect, and some recordings are listed twice with different dates. In one case, a recording made in 1912 with singers who are surely deceased is dated 2001. An entry for a recording of Carmen reverses the women's roles, listing Gheorghiu as Carmen and Larmore as Michaela. Attractive format and engaging commentary aside, these volumes are compromised by their inaccuracies. Not recommended. [The ISBNs for the e-books are the same as those for the print versions. Ed.] Kate McCaffrey, Onondaga Cty. P.L., Syracuse, N.
- Kate McCaffrey, Onondaga Cty. P.L., Syracuse, NY
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

A new translation of Puccini's LA BOHEME, featuring each Italian paragraph above English translation, with many music examples. --This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Opera Journeys Publishing (July 27, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1930841485
• ISBN-13: 978-1930841482
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,725,440 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #100 in Books > Arts & Photography > Music > Theory, Composition & Performance > Sheet Music & Scores > Composers > Puccini

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Filled with howlers! Please withdraw & do better, August 17, 2007

By 

Harold Kirkpatrick (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: La Boheme (Opera Journeys Libretto Series) (Paperback)

I would like to recommend this because the series is beautifully produced and readable, and the musical examples illuminating. I just purchased the libretto of The Girl of the Golden West, in this series, which seemed to me well worth the money.

The librettists of La Boheme, Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, were not hacks, but accomplished playwrights. They didn't write colloquial Italian but a hightened poetic Latinate Italian prose that requires a certain attentiveness and learning on the part of the audience. In fact, it is in large part the ineffable poetry of the libretto of La Boheme that makes it so supremely moving. Unfortunately, the translation here is highly inadequate. If one is going to make wild guesses as to what words mean why have a libretto at all?

For example, "Importuna" does not mean "unfortunate" but "importunate" (troublesome). "La luna l'abbiam vicina" does not mean "We have the moon as our neighbor" but "we have the moon close by." "Scialgo da gran signore" does not mean "I climb a ladder" but "I squander like a great lord" (i.e., am as extravagant as a lord.") And so on.

In an opera where words matter, such errors are inexusable. Burton D. Fisher or whoever is responsible should at least use a dictionary for EVERY WORD and also consult other, more accurate translations (of which there must be hundreds) or consign the task of translation to someone who knows the language (and perhaps has a classical background) and have a native speaker double check it.

I gave the book 2 stars instead of one because the production is good. Please, publishers, withdraw this edition right away and do another, better one.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wow., February 23, 2006

By 

J. Butler "SirenaMusetta" (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: La Boheme (Opera Classics Library Series) (Paperback)

La Boheme in all its glory. Full libretto with history of the story and music excerpts...original Italian text beside English translation. Easy to follow, great translation. For anyone who loves this opera...or RENT for that matter--this is a must have, or at the very least, a must-read. This is a fantastic piece of literature and a landmark theatre piece. This book captures the spendor of the opera well.