The Rough Guide to Opera (3rd Edition) [Paperback]

Matthew Boyden (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1858287499 | ISBN-13: 978-1858287492 | Publication Date: June 1, 2002 | Edition: 3

"The Rough Guide to Opera" is a handbook on the most thrilling of art forms, spanning four hundred years of music drama. Features include: lively biographical sketches of some 150 composers, from Claudio Monteverdi to Poul Ruders, detailing the main events of their careers and revealing their social and musical context; entertaining accounts of hundreds of operas, both the famous and neglected, each with a clear synopsis and a lively essay; CD reviews, covering the latest digital recordings as well as dozens of classic historical sets; and a who's who of the finest singers and conductors on record, from historical figures like Caruso, Callas and Toscanini to present-day stars like Bryn Terfel, Renee Fleming and Daniel Barenboim.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

As an entry into the Rough Guide canon, Opera: The Rough Guide offers a slightly breezy approach to the art form, along with a touch of attitude and a tendency toward British idioms. Like its sibling Classical Music on CD: The Rough Guide, it gives brief biographies of composers, plot outlines of significant works, and recommendations for which recordings are best. Oddly, the book takes a number of strange stabs at politically incorrect figures of the past--comparing Wagner to Hitler because of their shared vegetarian eating habits--and makes some downright erroneous statements: Maria Callas was never a student of Rosa Ponselle at all, much less her "most famous student."

Most of the recordings recommended are fine, though there is a limit on how many compact discs are suggested for any given opera (the maximum seems to be three each), and the authors have a strong prejudice in favor of older recordings. These have the advantage of being generally cheaper and often offer great singing, but the sound is usually far superior on more recent releases, and accurate chorus work is a rarity on many vintage sets. Bearing that in mind, this is a useful volume for someone building an opera collection or learning more about the art form. It might be useful to consult this volume, along with other guides, before investing a lot of money in opera CDs. --Sarah Bryan Miller --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Matthew Boyden is one of Britain's most hard-hitting music writers. He also makes regular appearances on television and radio.

Product Details

• Paperback: 752 pages
• Publisher: Rough Guides; 3 edition (June 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1858287499
• ISBN-13: 978-1858287492
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.6 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #713,769 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Quirky and fun, June 7, 2000

By 

John Cragg (Delta(greater Vancouver), B.C Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Rough Guide to Opera (2nd Edition) (Paperback)

This is a very useful guide, improved in the second edition over the first. It gives informed and opinionated summaries of the history of opera and its major composers and works. It also has a useful glossary of terms, and potted summaries of major 20th century singers and conductors. Not complete, of course, (eg. Frederica von Stade mysteriously is not included among the singers, though her contributions to varioius recordings are always lauded.) It contains a remarkably extensive survey of 2oth century opera (one is up to the Russian late 19th c. composers by the mid point of the book). The groupings are sometimes strange -- bel canto is tacked onto romantic operas --but it gives one of the best short critical and informed discussions of how opera has evolved with which I am familiar. The evaluations both of composers and of the selected operas are necessarily short, but still informative though I am not sure that the plot summaries really add very much. These bits are a great deal better than the typical discussion one finds in the booklets accompanying recordings or the contents of the program notes of most live performances. The recording reviews do give an indication of why the author made the first picks he did and some indication of what other recordings are available. On individual recordings, about as informative as (say) the Penguin guide. There is a strong liking for old recordings and the singers one suspects of Boyden's youth, and of recent operas. Overall, it is a great deal of fun. One doesn't have to agree with it to learn from it and enjoy it.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Opera: The Rough Guide, February 28, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Opera (Rough Guides) (Paperback)

This is a guide of many strengths and weakness's, but certainly not the "definitive" guide, which is what they call themselves. The plot summaries, for example, give a good idea of what is happening is the opera, but leave out immense details.The musical analyses, and the many anecdotes are wonderful, though some may be put off by the book's evident preference for more modern music. The huge problem in this book is the set of performance reviews. First of all, they have outrageuous preferences for various musicians. Boehm, for instance, is so loved by them that they rate his Rosenkavalier above Karajan's, and his Salome above Solti's. They also loath such geniuses as Solti and Bernstein, and degrade their such legendary performances of theirs such as the former's "Ring", and the latter's "Fidelio". As if this were not enough, there reviews (sorry to say this) are full of mistakes! Some of the most conspicuous are saying that Elmensdorff recorded the first Tristan und Isolde (Richard Strauss did), that Solti recorded the first studio "Ring" (Moralt did), and calling Boehm's third Cosi fan Tutte his second. Over all this is an enjoyable guide, but don't believe everything you read!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Reference Book for the Great Operas, April 29, 2000

By 

David Gottner - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Rough Guide to Opera (2nd Edition) (Paperback)

This book has two great features going for it. There is a (brief) synopsis of probably every opera in the repretoire. Yes, they leave a lot out, but there's enough detail, I think, to prepare yourself before attending a performance or listen to a recording. Each synopsis is followed by the author's commentary, and a brief list of reviews on CD. (which is obviously highly subjective, so longer reviews would have been more appreciated. One paragraph is about enough to say, "this was a good/bad performance." Hardly enough to go on to choose a recording.) I wouldn't make a decision to buy (or not buy) a recording based on their recommendations, but at least you can get an idea of what is available.

The really great thing about the book are various stories about opera stars and productions, such as some hilarious performances of "Tosca" and "Otello". I just coulnd't stop laughing about those stories.

Their treatment of Wagner, I thought, was pretty balanced, portraying him as a composer of great music, but much less than a great man. However, their commentary on Parsifal was unfair, making it seem like a "pro-Nazi" work, which it emphatically is not.