Customer Reviews

The Definitive Kobbe's Opera Book

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I started collecting books on Opera in the 1940s and 1950s. My Grandmother had a 1910 Victor Book of the Opera and I got for Christmas a David Ewen Book of the Opera. From there I eventually aquired the New York Times Guide etc. and finally The New Grove Dictionary of Opera. In four big volumes it covers all famous as well as obscure operas from it's birth in 1600. Not only does it contain operas but composers, singers, opera houses, librettists etc. I did not come across Kobbe's Book until rather late and have now added it to my collection. It is not a sustitute for the other books but contains much detail about the well known operas not available in other sources. For instance, I was listening to the new and wonderful ROH DVD of Faust with Terfel, Gheorghiu & Alagna and when it came to the Walpurgis Night scene there began a parade of four famous courtesans from history. I could name only two of them; Cleopatra and Helen of Troy. But could not remember the other two. Grove's didn't have it, Ewen didn't have it, The New York Times didn't have it. However The Definitive Kobbe had it; Lais and Phryne (both ancient Greece) How's that for trivia. As an avid collector of Opera trivia Kobbe's is a true treasure trove.

The pictured cover is identical to my 1987 version. I don't know if there has been a reissue. Here are some caveats about my '87 version: 1. There are no synopses of works by Campra, Cavalli, Haydn, Korngold, nor Vivaldi: just to name a few. 2. I find the decision to group operas into periods, in both the table of contents and throughout the book, rather ostentatious. Since I am not a music scholar, I use the Index, in the back,to speed up my searches. The larger 1997, black-cover edition is more to my liking because it has more current operas.

I received the book five days after I ordered it and it was , as described by the vendor, in very good conditions.

As I set this book upon a bed of newspaper and struck a match ...the most wonderful smell filled the air as the flames began to lap against the pages.

beware mortals...I now walk among you