Placido Domingo [Hardcover]

Cornelius Schnauber (Author), Susan H. Ray (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 5, 1997

Portrait of Placido Domingo.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Placido Domingo is one of the foremost singers of his generation, and there are many remarkable aspects to his career, from his early experiences as actor, accompanist, and arranger to his recent success as a conductor. A well-researched book dealing objectively with his life and career would be welcome indeed. Unfortunately, this translation of a 1994 German publication is not it. Schnauber, who teaches German literature at the University of Southern California and is a German diction coach for the Los Angeles Music Center Opera, does not claim to have written a biography but aims "to depict the artist and the man as a living and breathing individual active in today's cultural scene." He devotes most of the book to comparing Domingo's recordings to other Domingo performances rather than to those of other interpreters. Relying on a minimum of sources, he fails to create the excitement of the operatic world or to connect the singer to any of his famous colleagues. While it is always difficult to describe a voice, technical explanations here are especially confused and will leave most readers scratching their heads. Not recommended.?Kate McCaffrey, Onondaga Cty. P.L., Syracuse, N.Y.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

A peculiar mix of biography and analysis, focusing more on the noted tenor's vocal abilities as evinced in performance and recordings than on his life or personality. Schnauber is the German diction coach for the Los Angeles Music Center Opera, which may explain the disproportionate amount of space devoted to the German repertoire, hardly the singer's specialty. The author's involvement with the Music Center, for which Domingo has served as an artistic consultant since 1984, may also account for the emphasis on his work during the last decade. Though the late 1980s and '90s brought Domingo unparalleled commercial success and witnessed a number of superb performances, they also, as Schnauber notes, saw a slightly routine quality creep into some of Domingo's work, perhaps as a result of an increasingly crowded schedule. Despite his skewed perspective, the author makes some interesting points about the dark timbre of Domingo's voice, limited in range but warmly expressive thanks to finely honed technical skills. But this is discussed by Schnauber at a level of detail (``supraglottal cavities,'' etc.) that will make most readers' eyes glaze over. The author obviously admires Domingo's artistry, and he paints an appealing portrait of the 56-year-old Spanish-born tenor as a nice guy, but his nitpicking comparisons of various performances in the same role will interest only the truly obsessive. It would be unfair to blame translator Ray for the grindingly pedantic prose style, presumably a faithful equivalent of the German, but there's no excuse for such peculiar usages as ``interpretorial'' or ``inobtrusive.'' The brief biographical sections add little to what the tenor himself wrote in his autobiography (My First Forty Years, 1983); chapters on Domingo's work in video, folk music, and pop are similarly perfunctory. Definitely not for the casual fan, though serious opera lovers may be able to pluck some worthwhile insights from this plodding study. (illustrations, not seen) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Northeastern University Press (June 5, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1555533159
• ISBN-13: 978-1555533151
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,307,651 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Very Technical in scope, January 11, 2002

By 

operamaryc "operamarty" (DIAMOND BAR, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Placido Domingo (Hardcover)

I agree with the editorial review and even though I enjoyed the book it was very technical in nature. I did study voice for 15 years as a mezzo soprano so the technical was very interesting to me plus I'm a fan of Domingo and enjoyed the analysis of the author. However, unless you are a voice student or devoted opera lover, this could be a pretty boring book. Also, German operas have never been Domingo's specialty. I felt the author may be a fan as well and was seeking more time with his subject. Snowman's and Domingo's books are better than this one for general information and bio.