History Through the Opera Glass

History Through the Opera Glass
Author: George Jellinek
Publisher: Pro Am Music Resources
Total Pages: 436
Release: 1994
Genre: Europe
ISBN: 9780912483900

(Limelight). This first-of-its-kind, highly entertaining, and carefully researched account reveals how nearly 200 operas by leading composers and librettists have portrayed the major events and personalities of more than 2000 years of history. In a continuous and absorbing narrative, the book sweeps from Roman times to 1820, with a cast of characters that includes Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra, Attila, Charlemagne, Henry VIII, Elizabeth I, Catherine the Great, Napoleon and hundreds more. All are seen as the figures historians generally perceive them to have been and as their on-stage counterparts, created and re-imagined by some of opera's greatest artists.

History Through the Opera Glass

History Through the Opera Glass
Author: George Jellinek
Publisher: Hal Leonard Corporation
Total Pages: 428
Release: 2000
Genre: Music
ISBN: 9780879102845

(Limelight). This first-of-its-kind, highly entertaining, and carefully researched account reveals how nearly 200 operas by leading composers and librettists have portrayed the major events and personalities of more than 2000 years of history. In a continuous and absorbing narrative, the book sweeps from Roman times to 1820, with a cast of characters that includes Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra, Attila, Charlemagne, Henry VIII, Elizabeth I, Catherine the Great, Napoleon and hundreds more. All are seen as the figures historians generally perceive them to have been and as their on-stage counterparts, created and re-imagined by some of opera's greatest artists.

Charles Garnier's Paris Opéra

Charles Garnier's Paris Opéra
Author: Christopher Curtis Mead
Publisher: MIT Press (MA)
Total Pages: 360
Release: 1991
Genre: Architecture
ISBN:

By making systematic use of the mostly unpublished Opera Archive, Mead fills in the missing links to previous investigations and unlocks the significance of this seminal masterpiece.

Historical Dictionary of Opera

Historical Dictionary of Opera
Author: Scott L. Balthazar
Publisher: Scarecrow Press
Total Pages: 564
Release: 2013-07-05
Genre: Music
ISBN: 0810879433

Opera has been around ever since the late 16th century, and it is still going strong in the sense that operas are performed around the world at present, and known by infinitely more persons than just those who attend performances. On the other hand, it has enjoyed periods in the past when more operas were produced to greater acclaim. Those periods inevitably have pride of place in this Historical Dictionary of Opera, as do exceptional singers, and others who combine to fashion the opera, whether or not they appear on stage. But this volume looks even further afield, considering the cities which were and still are opera centers, literary works which were turned into librettos, and types of pieces and genres. While some of the former can be found on the web or in other sources, most of the latter cannot and it is impossible to have the whole picture without them. Indeed, this book has an amazingly broad scope. The dictionary section, with about 340 entries, covers the topics mentioned above but obviously focuses most on composers, not just the likes of Mozart, Verdi and Wagner, but others who are scarcely remembered but made notable contributions. Of course, there are the divas, but others singers as well, and some of the most familiar operas, Don Giovanni, Tosca and more. Technical terms also abound, and reference to different genres, from antimasque to zarzuela. Since opera has been around so long, the chronology is rather lengthy, since it has a lot of ground to cover, and the introduction sets the scene for the rest. This book should not be an end but rather a beginning, so it has a substantial bibliography for readers seeking more specific or specialized works. It is an excellent access point for readers interested in opera.

Manxome Foe

Manxome Foe
Author: John Ringo
Publisher: Baen Publishing Enterprises
Total Pages: 501
Release: 2008-02-01
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1618246380

Startling Innovations. Cool Space Ships. Evil Alien Butt Blasted to Smithereens! Outpost Attack! Gateway HD 36951 lies in ruins. All survivors slaughtered. A single, truncated message sent back to Earth. Something very bad indeed is afoot, and the A.S.S. Vorpal Blade (reanuclear submarine converted to warp-drive space ship) is sent to investigate. But the ferocious, voracious enemy Dreen wait for no man (or other carbon-based lifeform), and the Blade and her crew are soon the only hope for an alien species pushed to the brink of extinction. Turn back and abandon a new ally or face a heavily-armed Dreen destroyer head on. For the Blade's rough-and-ready crew, it's no contest. And now, with an infusion of technical know-how from humanity's new ally, chaos itself has become a weapon! New York Times and USA Today multiple best-seller John Ringo joins with NASA and DOD consultant Travis S. Taylor ¾ author of Warp Speed and The Quantum Connection At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management). "If Tom Clancy were writing SF, it would read much like John Ringo." ¾Philadelphia Weekly Press on New York Times multiple best-seller John Ringo. "[T]his thoroughly enjoyable ride should appeal to techno-thriller fans as well as to military SF buffs." ¾Publishers Weekly on John Ringo and Travis S. Taylor's Into the Looking Glass.

Opera and the Morbidity of Music

Opera and the Morbidity of Music
Author: Joseph Kerman
Publisher: New York Review of Books
Total Pages: 410
Release: 2008-04-08
Genre: Music
ISBN: 9781590172650

The death of classical music, the distinguished critic and musicologist Joseph Kerman declares, is “a tired, vacuous concept that will not die.” In this wide-ranging collection of essays and reviews, Kerman examines the ongoing vitality of the classical music tradition, from the days of Guillaume Dufay, John Taverner, and William Byrd to contemporary operas by Philip Glass and John Adams. Here are enlightening investigations of the lives and works of the greatest composers: Bach and his Well-Tempered Clavier, Mozart’s and Beethoven’s piano concertos, Schubert’s songs, Wagner’s and Verdi’s operas. Kerman discusses The Magic Flute as well as productions of the Monteverdi operas in Brooklyn and the Ring in San Francisco and Bayreuth. He also includes remembrances of Maria Callas and Carlos Kleiber that make clear why they were such extraordinary musicians. Kerman argues that predictions—let alone assumptions—of the death of classical music are not a new development but part of a cultural transformation that has long been with us. Always alert to the significance of historical changes, from the invention of music notation to the advent of recording, he proposes that the place to look for renewal of the classical music tradition in America today is in opera—in a flood of new works, the rediscovery of long-forgotten ones, and innovative productions by companies large and small. Written for a general audience rather than for experts, Kerman’s essays invite readers to listen afresh and to engage with his insights into how music works. “His gift is so uncommon as to make one sad,” Alex Ross has said.

Black Opera

Black Opera
Author: Naomi Andre
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Total Pages: 386
Release: 2018-05-04
Genre: Music
ISBN: 0252050614

From classic films like Carmen Jones to contemporary works like The Diary of Sally Hemings and U-Carmen eKhayelitsa, American and South African artists and composers have used opera to reclaim black people's place in history. Naomi André draws on the experiences of performers and audiences to explore this music's resonance with today's listeners. Interacting with creators and performers, as well as with the works themselves, André reveals how black opera unearths suppressed truths. These truths provoke complex, if uncomfortable, reconsideration of racial, gender, sexual, and other oppressive ideologies. Opera, in turn, operates as a cultural and political force that employs an immense, transformative power to represent or even liberate. Viewing opera as a fertile site for critical inquiry, political activism, and social change, Black Opera lays the foundation for innovative new approaches to applied scholarship.

Space Opera

Space Opera
Author: Catherynne M. Valente
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 304
Release: 2018-04-10
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1481497510

2019 HUGO AWARD FINALIST, BEST NOVEL The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy meets the joy and glamour of Eurovision in bestselling author Catherynne M. Valente's science fiction spectacle, where sentient races compete for glory in a galactic musical contest…and the stakes are as high as the fate of planet Earth. A century ago, the Sentience Wars tore the galaxy apart and nearly ended the entire concept of intelligent space-faring life. In the aftermath, a curious tradition was invented—something to cheer up everyone who was left and bring the shattered worlds together in the spirit of peace, unity, and understanding. Once every cycle, the great galactic civilizations gather for the Metagalactic Grand Prix—part gladiatorial contest, part beauty pageant, part concert extravaganza, and part continuation of the wars of the past. Species far and wide compete in feats of song, dance and/or whatever facsimile of these can be performed by various creatures who may or may not possess, in the traditional sense, feet, mouths, larynxes, or faces. And if a new species should wish to be counted among the high and the mighty, if a new planet has produced some savage group of animals, machines, or algae that claim to be, against all odds, sentient? Well, then they will have to compete. And if they fail? Sudden extermination for their entire species. This year, though, humankind has discovered the enormous universe. And while they expected to discover a grand drama of diplomacy, gunships, wormholes, and stoic councils of aliens, they have instead found glitter, lipstick, and electric guitars. Mankind will not get to fight for its destiny—they must sing. Decibel Jones and the Absolute Zeroes have been chosen to represent their planet on the greatest stage in the galaxy. And the fate of Earth lies in their ability to rock.