The Times Opera Notes has full coverage of major works by Verdi, Wagner, Mozart, Puccini, Tchaikovsky, Handel, Strauss, and many others. Each opera has a description of the plot , principal characters, and premiere details, along with a recommended recording. Packed with trivia, topical cartoons, and essential information, The Times Opera Notes is undoubtedly an entertaining introduction to this most misunderstood of art forms.
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Did you know that Giordano wrote most of Andre Chénier in an undertaker’s shop surrounded by corpses? Or that a contemporary newspaper said of Verdi’s Rigoletto, “No chance of staying in the repertoire”? Or that Puccini was arrested as a spy by British authorities in Malta? These are just a few of the many hundreds of nuggets you will discover when delving into The Times Opera Notes, Robert Thicknesse’s hugely entertaining exploration of 92 mainstays of the operatic repertoire. Brimming with wit, yet thoroughly researched and replete with insights, each entry features a discussion of the music and the plot, principal characters, premiere details, plus a pithy résumé. If your enthusiasm has been suitably fired, a recommended recording completes the picture for each opera. A provocative and amusing guide to this most misunderstood of art forms.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Monday Night Opera-- "Dennis Miller" of Opera Commentators,
By Paul Perrea (USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Times Opera Notes: An Accessible Yet Scholarly Guide to Over 90 Major Operas (Hardcover)
Americans love British wit, and with this book you get more than you paid for.The expansive mind of Robert Thicknesse is not only enlightening, but entertaining. This book is for the novice opera-goer and the afficionado. Exhaustive, thorough, and inciteful this concise review of the 92 most important operas is a must for every true opera-lover, or those who think they might like a good laugh. Following in the tradition of serious British scholarship, with Solid music knowledge combined with sweeping and detailed knowledge of world history, psychology and sociology this book reminds one that what one learns from the critic is often more interesting than that from the creator. This book has brought to opera what Dennis Miller brought to Monday Night Football--football for people who think. But just as the Encyclopedia Britannica has a website to explain the esoteric references Dennis Miller makes every Monday night, one will have to recall some of their high school world history to really "get it". But the "Crush Bar Gambit" alone makes it more than worth its price. The whole world of musical reviews could use critics like this, and we hope there is more to come.
0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
pompous, reactionary and clumsy,
By tom davis (San Francisco CA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Times Opera Notes: An Accessible Yet Scholarly Guide to Over 90 Major Operas (Hardcover)
This exceedingly pompous critic is no match for the classics of the genre. Stick to Kobbe or Grove.
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