John Hunt was born in Windsor and Graduated from University College London, in German language and literature. He has worked in personnel administration, record retailing and bibliographic research for a government agency and is on the lecture panel of the National Federation of Music Societies. In his capacity as Chairman of the Furtwangler Society UK, John Hunt has attended conventions in Rome, Paris and Zurich and has contributed to important reference works about Furtwangler by John Ardoin and Joachim Matzner. He has also translated from the German Jurgen Kesting's important monograph on Maria Callas. John Hunt has published discographies of over 80 performing artists, several of which have run into two or more editions.

Back in print in a new edition, The Opera Companion has established itself over the years as a classic reference book for opera lovers, whether devoted or casual. Synopses of 47 of the most frequently performed operas (18 composers) are given with key words to clue the listener in to the action and musical descriptions designed for those who cannot read music. A catalog of major operas lists composer, librettist, and date and place of first performance. It explains the techniques of opera in chapters on the overture, melody, aria, and recitative, with a description of the human voice as both an artistic and mechanical instrument. The book also includes a short history of opera, told chiefly in terms of the audience and its behavior, and offers a glossary to be read for enjoyment as well as information.

Winner of the 2007 Otto Kinkeldey Award from the American Musicological Society and the 2007 Deems Taylor Award from the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers. "Divas and Scholars" is a dazzling and beguiling account of how opera comes to the stage, filled with Philip Gossett's personal experiences of triumphant--and even failed--performances and suffused with his towering and tonic passion for music. Writing as a fan, a musician, and a scholar, Gossett, the world's leading authority on the performance of Italian opera, brings colorfully to life the problems, and occasionally the scandals, that attend the production of some of our most favorite operas.
Gossett begins by tracing the social history of nineteenth-century Italian theaters in order to explain the nature of the musical scores from which performers have long worked. He then illuminates the often hidden but crucial negotiations opera scholars and opera conductors and performers: What does it mean to talk about performing from a critical edition? How does one determine what music to perform when multiple versions of an opera exist? What are the implications of omitting passages from an opera in a performance? In addition to vexing questions such as these, Gossett also tackles issues of ornamentation and transposition in vocal style, the matters of translation and adaptation, and even aspects of stage direction and set design.
Throughout this extensive and passionate work, Gossett enlivens his history with reports from his own experiences with major opera companies at venues ranging from the Metropolitan and Santa Fe operas to the Rossini Opera Festival at Pesaro. The result is a book that will enthrallboth aficionados of Italian opera and newcomers seeking a reliable introduction to it--in all its incomparable grandeur and timeless allure.

Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone!

Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone!

This book is a facsimile reprint and may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages.

The contents of this anthology offer a broad historical introduction to the esthetics of opera, reflecting all the major periods and national styles. Ranging from the Florentine Camerata to the twentieth century, the documents give a first-hand view of the basic issues throughout opera s history and the controversies they have aroused. The selections are drawn from letters, essays, prefaces, and books and represent the views held by a wide variety of composers and librettists over the last 350 years, from Rinuccini to Corneille, Addison, Rameau, the French Encyclopedists, and Metastasio to such writers of the present century as Hoffmannsthal, Claudel, and Brecht."

First published in 1897, this was among the earliest works about Wagner and his works to come from outside Bayreuth and presented careful and probing analyses of both the poems and the music, touching for the first time on the essential themes and questions of Wagner's life and work, the use of the leit-motif and the universe of his creative work. Contains all of the original illustrations. A work explaining and interpreting Wagner and his music, which is extremely valuable for the French point of view which it presents. This title is cited and recommended by Books for College Libraries and the Catalogue of the Lamont Library, Harvard College.

The musical dramas of Richard Wagner have, for the last 150 years, thrilled and amazed listeners everywhere. In "Wagner Moments", author J.K. Holman has assembled 100 such moments, from the living and dead, famous and not so famous, from Charles Baudelaire to Placido Domingo, musicians and non-musicians. Mr. Holman edits these stories and asides, placing them in their biographical and historical context to the certain enjoyment of Wagner aficionados everywhere.

What's it like to grow up on a small farm in Illinois only to find yourself, some 20 years later, performing on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera House? And then to travel the world, singing in historic theaters from La Scala in Milan to Vienna, Paris, London, and beyond? Former Met star Sherrill Milnes tells all in this completely updated, first-time-in-paperback edition of his very successful biography.

Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone!

This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishings Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the worlds literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone!

This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishings Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the worlds literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone!

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishings Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the worlds literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone!

Description And Interpretation Of The Words And Music Of The Most Celebrated Operas.

Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone!

This is an intriguing look into one of the most important periods in the illustrious history of New York's Metropolitan Opera. "Start-Up at the New Met" looks at ten years between 1966 and 1976, which saw the move from its old home in up-town New York, to the Lincoln Centre - one of the most cutting edge and technologically advanced arts complexes in the world. It also looks at the last six years of Rudolph Bing's tenure as manager, who brought in stars such as Maria Callas, Placido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti. This fascinating volume looks at all the highs and lows, the backstage turmoil, the front of house controversy and the one hundred and forty performances of this important era in the history of, probably, the world's most revered opera company.