This is the first general survey of Purcell's music for a generation, and is published to coincide with the 300th anniversary of Purcell's death.

An understanding of how the singing voice functions should be a prerequisite for all those who wish to teach singing. And fundamental to any safe and efficient teaching method is the recognition that the singing voice is a functional unit. Consequently, this second edition, like the first, describes the anatomy and physiology of breathing and phonation and examines the acoustical laws necessary for an understanding of resonation. It is designed primarily as a textbook for college vocal pedagogy courses. The updated edition includes more detailed illustrations and an expansion of the appendix on vocal misuse and abuse, including data on subglottic air pressure/air flow ratios, the phonatory mode known as belting, and the aging voice, especially as it is affected by hormonal changes in the body. With extensive bibliography.

Wagner's operas can be counted among the most important works of art of the nineteenth century. But Wagner was a composer around whom violent artistic, political, and literary controversies raged during his lifetime. Even today, Wagner's music seems to arouse either adulation or antipathy. In The Complete Operas of Richard Wagner, as in the first four volumes of his famous series on the great opera composers, Charles Osborne first describes the composer's life at the time he wrote each opera, thus providing a biographical thread which runs through the book follows it with a thorough examination of the libretto and its sources and lastly tells the story of the opera, which he links to the major musical features.This book is, in effect, a musical biography of Wagner, tracing his development from his first complete opera, Die Feen, to his last, Parsifal. It serves as an invaluable guide to the often perplexing Wagner oeuvre both for the regular opera-goer and the armchair listener.

The musical theatre of Stephen Sondheim probes deeply into the most disturbing issues of contemporary life. By challenging his audience with intricate music, biting wit, and profound themes, he flouts the traditional wisdom of the musical theatre. Tracing Sondheim's career from his initial success as lyricist for "West Side Story" and "Gypsy" to his most recent work - "Into the Woods" and "Assassins" - Joanne Gordon emphasizes not only the disturbing content of Sondheim's work, but his innovative use of form. In shows such as "A Little Night Music", "Sweeney Todd", and "Sunday in the Park with George", Sondheim's music and lyrics are inextricably woven into the fabric of the entire work.

Among the many introductions to opera, this is perhaps the best. J. Merrill Knapp, Professor Emeritus at Princeton University, divides his subject into two parts: In the first, he discusses the structure, production, theatrical conventions, and esthetics of opera; in the second, he features biographies of the major composers and cogent analyses of exemplary qualities in their works. "Opera should have a wide appeal," says Knapp in his Preface. "In the past too many sensible people have associated it with diamond tiaras, exclusive theater boxes, opening night social snobbery, and haughty prima donnas. For more understanding and knowledge are needed to get rid of these past impressions and to prove that opera is both within the comprehension of the ordinary person and worthy of high aspiration and serious study." This book will open ears and change minds. It is the ideal foundation for anyone curious about--or already in love with--the magical world of opera.

While Puccini wrote only twelve operas during a long life--three of them one-acters designed to be performed together--he has to be ranked today as the world's most popular composer of opera. His "La Boheme" and "Tosca" are more frequently performed in the major opera houses than works by other composers, and "Madame Butterfly" and "Manon Lescaut" rank not far behind. What is the explanation for Puccini's enormous success? How do his operas work as music and drama? What was he like to contemporaries such as Verdi, Toscanini, and Caruso? Charles Osborne, author of highly successful "Complete Operas of Verdi" and "Complete Operas of Mozart, " here analyzes the entire Puccini oeuvre--from "Tosca" and "Turandot" to the less-often performed "Edgar, La Fanciulla del West, " and "La Rondine." His fourfold approach--linking biography with musical, textual, and dramatic analysis--is especially valuable for Puccini, who revealed many of his personal contradictions in his music and whose sense of detail can be appreciated by close study of the scores and characters. For the legions of Puccini lovers everywhere, this guide to his life and work can serve as an ideal reference source and opera companion.

Der Musik an den Welfenhoefen kam im 17. und 18. Jahrhundert eine uberregionale Bedeutung zu, wie die in diesem Band vereinten Beitrage unterstreichen. Insbesondere in Wolfenbuttel und Hannover wirkten bedeutende Musiker, darunter Michael Praetorius, Heinrich Schutz, Antonio Sartorio, Agostino Steffani und Georg Friedrich Handel. Beide Hoefe leisteten sich eine glanzende Hofhaltung, bei der neben Kunst, Literatur und Philosophie die Musik eine tragende Rolle zur Reprasentation der Herzoege spielte, von denen einige selber musizierten, Libretti schrieben oder komponierten. Als Liebhaber der venezianischen Oper und Bewunderer der Hoffuhrung von Ludwig XIV. brachten sie im ausgehenden 17. Jahrhundert von ihren Reisen nach Italien und Frankreich Musik und Musiker mit und etablierten im Norden eine geradezu europaisch gepragte Musikszene.

On Stage is a behind the scenes look at Vienna Opera House which shows everything that must be done before the curtain can be lifted and the prepared decorations that can be seen on stage so that the performance can start. The words 'stage machinery' describe only very inadequately the interaction of hundreds of people in highly skilled occupations: the flies, sinking, props... On Stage offers not only a glimpse behind the stage but also to mysterious places on, under and next to the stage, a preparatory drama that is as dramatic as the play itself. After Metamorphoses, Creation, ISBN 9783901753077, Celebration, Close-up, ISBN 9783901753190, Passion, Emotion and Glamour, ISBN 9783901753589. On Stage is the 8th volume in an encyclopedic series about the Vienna Opera House, conceived to grow by one volume per year until 2019, when the opera house celebrates its 125th anniversary.

Seit dem Welterfolg der Oper Wozzeck von Alban Berg ist Georg Buchner Teil der Musikgeschichte des 20. Jahrhunderts geworden. Zwischen 1925 und heute wurden 15 Buchner-Opern aufgefuhrt, darunter einige von bleibendem Wert. Der Band gibt einen Uberblick uber die Werke, problematisiert ihren Status als « Literaturopern und bringt Einzelanalysen der Stucke von Paul Dessau, Peter Maxwell Davies, Friedrich Schenker, Gottfried von Einem, Alban Berg, Manfred Gurlitt und Wolfgang Rihm. In zwei Beitragen wird die Geschichte der Buchner-Rezeption in der Literaturwissenschaft dargelegt. Die von der Fachwissenschaft entwickelten Buchner-Bilder zeigen Spuren der jeweiligen zeit- und geistesgeschichtlichen Kontexte, die sich auch in den Opern wiederfinden. Aus dem Inhalt: Uberblick uber die Buchner-Bilder der Literaturwissenschaft und die 15 Buchner-Opern-Einzelanalysen der wichtigsten Werke von Paul Dessau, Peter Maxwell Davies, Friedrich Schenker, Gottfried von Einem, Alban Berg, Manfred Gurlitt und Wolfgang Rihm-Gliederung des Bandes: Buchner-Rezeption-Leonce und Lena-Dantons Tod-Woyzeck-Das Leben der Dichter. « Ebenso konsequent wie spannend wird in den Beitragen die Frage der Verfasser-Standorte nicht nur erkannt und theoretisch reflektiert, sondern entfaltet wissenschaftspraktische Valenzen: Indem Autoren verschiedener Lebensalter und (politischer) Erfahrungswelten zu Wort kommen, erganzen sich die Beitrage zum Wissenschaftsdialog und der Band wird zum Forum ebenso engagierter wie offener wissenschaftlicher Diskussion. (Susanne Rode, Osterreichische Musikzeitschrift)

This behind-the-scenes look at the world of opera is filled with anecdotes, events, and trivia unknown to most of the general public that provide a different view of the principal protagonists of this musical and lyrical art. "Esta mirada entre bastidores del mundo de la opera esta repleto de anecdotas, sucesos y curiosidades poco conocidas para el gran publico que aportan otra vision de los protagonistas principales de este arte lirico y musical."

Few musical works loom as large in Western culture as Richard Wagner's four-part Ring of the Nibelung. In Finding an Ending, two eminent philosophers, Philip Kitcher and Richard Schacht, offer an illuminating look at this greatest of Wagner's achievements, focusing on its far-reaching and subtle exploration of problems of meanings and endings in this life and world.
Kitcher and Schacht plunge the reader into the heart of Wagner's Ring, drawing out the philosophical and human significance of the text and the music. They show how different forms of love, freedom, heroism, authority, and judgment are explored and tested as it unfolds. As they journey across its sweeping musical-dramatic landscape, Kitcher and Schacht lead us to the central concern of the Ring--the problem of endowing life with genuine significance that can be enhanced rather than negated by its ending, if the right sort of ending can be found. The drama originates in Wotan's quest for a transformation of the primordial state of things into a world in which life can be lived more meaningfully. The authors trace the evolution of Wotan's efforts, the intricate problems he confronts, and his failures and defeats. But while the problem Wotan poses for himself proves to be insoluble as he conceives of it, they suggest that his very efforts and failures set the stage for the transformation of his problem, and for the only sort of resolution of it that may be humanly possible--to which it is not Siegfried but rather Brunnhilde who shows the way.
The Ring's ending, with its passing of the gods above and destruction of the world below, might seem to be devastating; but Kitcher and Schacht see a kind of meaning in and throughthe ending revealed to us that is profoundly affirmative, and that has perhaps never been so powerfully and so beautifully expressed.

In Ticket to the Opera, Phil G. Goulding finally makes the magic and mystique of opera accessible to all. Here he offers a complete operatic education, including history, definitions of key musical terms, opera lore and gossip, portraits of famous singers and the roles they immortalized, as well as pithy introductions to the greatest operas of Europe and America and their composers. The book's centerpiece is what Goulding terms "the collection"--85 classics, among them Aida, The Marriage of Figaro, Carmen, and Madama Butterfly, that have been packing the world's opera houses for years. This entertaining, meticulously researched book also includes a fascinating chapter on American opera from George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess to Philip Glass's Einstein on the Beach and a discussion of the gems of twentieth-century opera featuring works like Leos Janácek's The Cunning Little Vixen, Alban Berg's Lulu, and Serge Prokofiev's The Love for Three Oranges.

Whether you're a curious neophyte, a music lover interested in branching out, or an aficionado eager to compare notes with a brilliant fellow opera buff, you'll prize Ticket to the Opera as an essential volume in your music library.

Everything you could possibly know about Verdi and his operas, from the brilliant and humorous author of Wagner Without Fear.

If you want to know why La traviata was actually a flop at its premiere in 1853, it's in here.  If you want to know why claiming to have heard Bjorling's Chicago performance of Il trovatore is the classic opera fan faux pas, it's in here.  Even if you just want to know how to pronounce Aida, or what the plot of Rigoletto is all about, this is the place to look.  From the composer's intense hatred of priests to synopses of the operas and a detailed discography of the best recordings to buy, it can all be found in Verdi with a Vengeance.  William Berger has given another improbable performance, serving up a book as thorough as it is funny and as original as it is astute, an utterly indispensable guide for novice and expert alike.    

This book is the first structured and complete research work undertaken on opera theatres across the entire Middle East and North Africa. Until now, no single study has looked at every theatrical and musical institute in these countries. Many of the opera theatres that are examined here have had very little written about them at all in Italian or English. This work fills this void in order to provide scholars and practitioners in the sector with the first reference work on the subject that will help our understanding of the evolutionary process that has led-and continues to lead-all the countries in the Arab world to equip themselves with an opera theatre.

A versatile and prolific composer whose works dominated opera houses in the late 1830s and 1840s, Gaetano Donizetti (1797-1848) had an enormous influence on subsequent opera composers, including Verdi. Yet the texts of many of his operas pose numerous problems, partly due to the accumulation of changes made by generations of interpreters. With the renewed popularity of his operas, the need for a critical edition became keenly felt. This highly acclaimed edition does not aim to publish all his works, but should offer a variety of operas, from those still in repertory to a selection of titles that are especially significant for historical or musical reasons. The critical edition of "Maria Stuarda", based principally on the rediscovered autograph score, restores the two-act structure, the original opening chorus, a substantial part of the first finale, and Donizetti's original phrasing and orchestration. Appendices include an overture (1835) and original vocal variants. One of Donizetti's most brilliant comedies, "Il Campanello" was initially written as a farce with spoken dialogues, but was revised by the composer with recitatives and new pieces. Based on several newly examined sources, the critical edition presents both the original and revised versions. "La Favorite" was a huge success from the start and a mainstay of the Paris Opera for decades. Yet the version known in this century reflects a coarsely manipulated Italian adaptation of the original. The critical edition reconstructs the 1840 French version from autograph material that in many cases has been examined for the first time. Appendices include an alternate cabaletta in Act Three and contemporary vocal variants.

The subject-matter of Meyerbeer's second opera Wirt und Gast, or Aus Scherz Ernst (also called Alimelek), written in Munich in 1812, was taken from a tale in The Arabian Nights. The story of the man who would be sovereign, if only for one day, so frequently treated in the literature of all nations. The opera is an example of the Oriental or "Turkish" operas which were so popular in Germany during the second third of the eighteenth century. The orchestra includes, besides the strings, doubled wood-wind, and threefold percussion, only two horns, two trumpets, and one trombone. While Meyerbeer's contemporaries were puzzled by the far-fetched singularity of the Alimelik music, and the work had no success in Stuttgart and Vienna (6 January 1813; 20 October 1814), Weber had the insight to recognize its true significance. He produced it Prague on 20 October 1815, and praised the "active, alert imagination, the well-nigh voluptuous melody, the correct declamation, the entire musical attitude." He was also impressed by the instrumentation: "It is surprisingly combined, interwoven with great delicacy, and consequently demands almost the care of a quartet performance." Weber's enduring admiration meant that he again produced the work in Dresden years later (1820), when he pointed out how this early opera "bears witness to the composer's singular emotional capacity."This facsimile edition contains the composer's entire conception of the work, restoring material cut from the first performance. Meyerbeer shows astonishing maturity for a composer of twenty-one. Not only the psychic state of the leading characters, but also the conflict of the entire plot, is presented in concentrated style by the aid of recurrent themes. "The specifically romantico-psychological modification of the leading-motive is met with here for the first time, i.e., two years before Wagner's birth" (Edgar Istel).

This book presents a detailed investigation of the singing technique that is generally known as the "inhaling the voice" technique. In addition, it explores the usage of vowels in spoken and sung variants, offering advice to singers regarding how they can improve their pronunciation of vowels and consonants, so as to enhance their professional performance.

Giacomo Meyerbeer, one of the most important and influential opera composers of the nineteenth century, enjoyed a fame during his lifetime hardly rivalled by any of his contemporaries. This ten volume set provides in one collection all the operatic texts set by Meyerbeer in his career. The texts offer the most complete versions available. Each libretto is translated into modern English by Richard Arsenty; and each work is introduced by Robert Letellier. In this comprehensive edition of Meyerbeer's libretti, the original text and its translation are placed on facing pages for ease of use. The eleventh volume presents the fourth of Meyerbeer's grands operas, and his final work. By 1860 long-imposed labor had started to tell upon the composer's health: he knew that he must concentrate on the "navigator project" which he had started twenty years earlier if he intended to finish it. Meyerbeer died on 2 May 1864, the day after the completion of the copying of the full score of this his last opera, Vasco da Gama. Minna Meyerbeer and Cesar-Victor Perrin, the director of the Opera, entrusted the editing of a performing edition to the famous Belgian musicologist Francois-Joseph Fetis, while the libretto was revised by Melesville. The original title of L'Africaine was restored out of deference to public expectation. Much of the music and action was suppressed, in spite of the strain this inflicted on the internal logic of the story.While L'Africaine is not lacking in the grandeur of statement and stirring climaxes for which the composer was so famous, there is a new intimacy, a new intensity of melancholic lyricism. Like its famous predecessors, it is basically an historical work, derived from the period of sixteenth-century Renaissance. The account of Vasco da Gama's voyage of discovery around the Cape of Good Hope and conquest of Calicut (1497-98) is subjected to a fictional treatment that raises many interesting issues. The framework is historical, but most of the characters and course of action are not; in fact the end of the opera, in the suicide of the heroine, suddenly leaves the terra firma of reality, and transports us into the mystical realms of the spirit. It is this mixture of modes that is central to the dramaturgy of L'Africaine, a confusion of history and fairytale, ancient certainties and challenging discoveries, in the creation of a new mythology. There is also originality in formal developments, with the great tenor scene in act 4 providing a new malleability in handling the constraints of shape and genre: recitative, arioso and cabaletta have a fluent integration in trying to explore the text more pointedly. L'Africaine was produced on 28 April 1865, a great posthumous tribute to its famous creators. The Ship Scene, the exotic Indian act, and the Scene of the Manchineel Tree exerted a fascination on audiences, and elicited new praise. The work full of melodic beauty and rapturous lyricism, began a triumphal progress through the world, beginning with the big stages of London and Berlin.

Daniel-Francois-Esprit Auber (Caen 29 January 1782- Paris 12/13 May 1871) is primarily remembered as one of the great masters of opera-comique, but also played a very important role in the development of Romantic ballet through the long danced interludes and divertissements in his grand operas La Muette de Portici, Le Dieu et la Bayadere, Gustave III, ou Le Bal masque, Le Lac des fees, L'Enfant prodigue, Zerline, and the opera-ballet version of Le Cheval de bronze. Auber also adapted music of various of his operas to create the score of the full-length ballet Marco Spada; it is quite different from his own opera on the subject. Additionally, several choreographers have used Auber's music for their ballets, among them Frederick Ashton (Les Rendezvous, 1937), Victor Gsovsky (Grand Pas Classique, 1949) and Lew Christensen (Divertissement d'Auber, 1959).La Muette de Portici (1828), choreographed by Jean-Pierre Aumer, is set against the Neapolitan uprising of 1647, and was performed 500 times in Paris alone between 1828 and 1880. The opera provides one of the few serious subjects the composer tackled, and one which critics found to have a persuasive dramatic content. An unusual aspect of the work is that the main character, a mute girl, is performed by a mime or a ballerina. The role of ballet in La Muette is important in setting the local scene, using dance episodes, whether courtly, and therefore Spanish-as in the guarucha and bolero in act 1, or popular, and therefore Neapolitan-as in the act 3 tarantella. Dance is also innate to the dramatic situation in the extended mime sequences for the mute heroine each with its own specially crafted music and character. The music responds to, and reflects, the vivid and imposing scenic effects (based on historical and pictorial research by the great stage designers and painters Ciceri and Daguerre). Le Dieu et la Bayadere (1830), set in India, was choreographed by Filippo Taglioni. Eugene Scribe, not only one of the most influential of opera librettists, but also a leading figure in the history of ballet, wrote the scenario for the danced part, which was fairly long and of artistic merit. In the ballet scenes of the opera, the choreographer, one of the most important exponents of dance in the Romantic period, was already experimenting with the ideas and style that were to characterize the creations of his prime, and of the Romantic ballet as a whole: an exotic fairy tale subject (often pseudo-Medieval or pastoral), and strange love affairs with supernatural beings, in the theatrical, musical and literary taste of the period. Above all, the Romantic ballet focused on the idealization of the ballerina, floating on the tips of her toes, a figure of ethereal lyricism. All the ballets by Filippo Taglioni were designed to display his daughter Marie's luminous artistic personality. The heavily mime-oriented role of the bayadere Zoloe was one of Marie Taglioni's createst triumphs. Gustave III (1833), based on the assassination of King Gustavus of Sweden in 1792, and also choreographed by Filippo Taglioni, was heavily influenced by the impact of the production of Robert le Diable, which saw a particular emphasis placed on sets and stage effects. The grand and historical nature of this opera is powerfully underscored by the two intercalated ballets. The first divertissement comes as early as act 1, and is in the nature of a grand historical pageant based on the life of Gustavus Vasa (1523-60), founder of the present Swedish state, before he gained the crown. There are two dances illustrating the prince's leadership of the populace of Dalecarlia on the campaign to gain freedom from Denmark. The second divertissement is the legendary masked ball of the title at which the king was assassinated in 1792. The spectacle provided by the Opera was sensational: the stage was illumined by 1600 candles in crystal chandeliers, and 300 dancers took part, all dressed in different costumes, and with 100 dancing the final galop. There are six numbers: three airs de danse (Allemande, Pas de folies, Menuet), two marches, and the famous final galop. Much time in Le Lac des fees, a tale of love between a human and a supernatural being, choreographed by Jean Coralli, is taken in elaborating the central depiction of popular festivity. Indeed, the requirements of grand-opera are realized with an original twist in the big act 3 depiction of the Medieval Epiphany celebrations, with its attempt at recreating the variety of genre and mood. There is a detailed description of the procession through the streets of Cologne, organized by the Medieval guilds, each preceded by its own standard, with choruses. It unfolds in several movements:-the chorus of students "Vive la jeunesse", the Fete des Rois with its Chant de Noel, the whole culminating in a big ballet sequence of four dances: 1) Valse des Etudiants, 2) Pas de Bacchus et Erigone, 3) Styrienne, and 4) Bacchanale. Scribe's stage directions provide vivid details and combine historically informed spectacle, pantomime and dance into a single artistic conception.L'Enfant prodigue (1850), based on the Biblical parable of the Prodigal Son, was choreographed by Arthur Saint-Leon. A special aspect of the opera is the dance sequence in act 2-No.10 Scene, containing 5 Airs de ballet, as part of the celebrations of the sacred bull Apis. There are some further danced passages in the opening part of act 3, where the formal operatic elements of prayer, drinking song, bacchanal, and lullaby are integrated with singing and dancing into an artistic whole, once again with reference to the venerable French tradition of the opera-ballet. Scribe's scenarios show that the formal dances are either enmeshed in the unfolding of the drama (act 2), or use dance an integral element in the thematic ramifications of the plotline (in act 3).Zerline, ou La Corbeille d'oranges (1851) was choreographed by Joseph Mazilier. Act 3 is dominated by the great princely festivities featuring eight dance movements (No. 15 Airs de Ballet and No. 16 Choeur (Valse), a pallid reminiscence of the great Masked Ball of Gustave in 1832. Auber reused much of the ballet music from act 3 of Le Lac des fees in this elaborate semi-allegorical masque that employs a variety of forms and fuses various types of danced entertainment, from classical pas de deux and formal ball through national dance, vaudeville and children's routines to carnival.Marco Spada, ou La Fille du bandit (1857) was choreographed by Joseph Mazilier. Scribe's libretto for the opera-comique Marco Spada which had been produced at the Opera-Comique in December 1852 with Auber's music, met the fundamental requirement of having two important female characters, and provided Scribe with the right opportunity to adapt his story to a scenario for dancing. So the opera-comique was transformed into a ballet-Auber's only full length one. The music was not an adaptation of the opera, but rather a composite score made up of the most striking numbers from several of Auber's works: Le Concert a la cour, Fiorella, La Fiancee, Fra Diavolo, Le Lac des fees, L'Ambassadrice, Les Diamants de la couronne, La Barcarolle, Zerline and L'Enfant prodigue. The original scenario required elaborate decor and stage machinery, which was a factor in this later revival of the work at the Academie de musique on 21 September1857. In 1857 Auber reworked the score of the opera-comique Le Cheval de bronze as an opera-ballet in four acts, adding recitatives, and extra ballet and ensemble numbers. The choreography was by Lucien Petipa. The divertissements consisted of 1) a seven-movement Pas de quatre in act 12) a four-movement Danse in act 33) and five-movement Pas de deux in act 4.This version of the opera has never been published.The 20th century saw Auber's music used for three significant ballet arrangements.Les Rendezvous is an abstract ballet created in 1933 with choreography by Frederick Ashton, the first major ballet created by Ashton for the Vic Wells company. It was first performed on Tuesday, December 5th, 1933, by the Vic Wells Ballet at Sadler's Wells Theatre. Premiered in Paris in the year 1949, Grand Pas Classique by Russian choreographer and ballet master Victor Gsovsky (1902 74) is a homage to classical dance. Based on musical extracts from the three-act ballet Marco Spada (1857), published by the composer as an offshoot of his opera by the same name, this pas de deux is a masterpiece of exquisite virtuosity. Divertissement d'Auber is set to excerpts from Auber's four most famous and dazzling operatic overtures. It is quicksilver, joyous music that inspired Lew Christensen's most brilliant and effervescent choreographic style. The work showcases the technique of classical ballet at its peak, with the form and movement of the choreography running the gamut of the dancer's virtuoso vocabulary. Divertissement d'Auber is a staple of Christensen's canon.

"Poliuto", throughout a convoluted history including French renditions and official censorship, has undergone numerous unauthorized alterations and additions. This critical edition of the full score finally presents the opera in the form originally conceived by the composer and present in his autograph score. Also included is an appendix containing the Overture written for the Paris version and a replacement cabaletta for the soprano.

A versatile and prolific composer whose works dominated opera houses in the late 1830s and 1840s, Gaetano Donizetti (1797-1848) had an enormous influence on subsequent opera composers, including Verdi. Yet the texts of many of his operas pose numerous problems, partly due to the accumulation of changes made by generations of interpreters. With the renewed popularity of his operas, the need for a critical edition became keenly felt. This highly acclaimed edition does not aim to publish all his works, but should offer a variety of operas, from those still in repertory to a selection of titles that are especially significant for historical or musical reasons. The critical edition of "Maria Stuarda", based principally on the rediscovered autograph score, restores the two-act structure, the original opening chorus, a substantial part of the first finale, and Donizetti's original phrasing and orchestration. Appendices include an overture (1835) and original vocal variants. One of Donizetti's most brilliant comedies, "Il Campanello" was initially written as a farce with spoken dialogues, but was revised by the composer with recitatives and new pieces. Based on several newly examined sources, the critical edition presents both the original and revised versions. "La Favorite" was a huge success from the start and a mainstay of the Paris Opera for decades. Yet the version known in this century reflects a coarsely manipulated Italian adaptation of the original. The critical edition reconstructs the 1840 French version from autograph material that in many cases has been examined for the first time. Appendices include an alternate cabaletta in Act Three and contemporary vocal variants.

G. Schirmer is proud to announce the publication of a set of five concert arias from Harbison's powerful new opera The Great Gatsby, based on F. Scott Fitzgerald's famous novel about the dark side of the American Dream. The Great Gatsby was commissioned and premiered by the Metropolitan Opera, where these arias were performed by Dawn Upshaw, Jerry Hadley and Lorraine Hunt Lieberson. "Everyone was Here" is Gatsby's aria.

(Vocal). G. Schirmer is proud to announce the publication of a set of five concert arias from Harbison's powerful new opera The Great Gatsby, based on F. Scott Fitzgerald's famous novel about the dark side of the American Dream. The Great Gatsby was commissioned and premiered by the Metropolitan Opera, where these arias were performed by Dawn Upshaw, Jerry Hadley and Lorraine Hunt Lieberson. "Where is the Old, Warm World" is Daisy's aria.