Dame Schwarzkopf (1915-2006) was a Flower Maiden in Wagner's "Parsifal" in her opera debut. As Marchallin in Strauss' "Rosenkavalier" she made history. This book is a homage to one of the greatest singers of the last century. Honored by Queen Elisabeth II, she not only posessed an unmistakable timbre, but also a bewitching beauty.This pictorial volume, on which the soprano collaborated right up until the time of her sudden death, contains hundreds of costume and portrait photographs from her private estate that together provide a lasting reflection of her personality and elegance. The core pictures were taken by the Viennese photographer to the stars, Lillian Fayer, who for many years was the trusted companion of Elisabeth Schwarzkopf.

Regina Mingotti was the first female impresario to run London's opera house. Born in Naples in 1722, she was the daughter of an Austrian diplomat, and had worked at Dresden under Hasse from 1747. Mingotti left Germany in 1752, and travelled to Madrid to sing at the Spanish court, where the opera was directed by the great castrato, Farinelli. It is not known quite how Francesco Vanneschi, the opera promoter, came to hire Mingotti, but in 1754 (travelling to England via Paris), she was announced as being engaged for the opera in London 'having been admired at Naples and other parts of Italy, by all the Connoisseurs, as much for the elegance of her voice as that of her features'. Michael Burden offers the first considered survey of Mingotti's London years, including material on Mingotti's publication activities, and the identification of the characters in the key satirical print 'The Idol'. Burden makes a significant contribution to the knowledge and understanding of eighteenth-century singers' careers and status, and discusses the management, the finance, the choice of repertory, and the pasticcio practice at The King's Theatre, Haymarket during the middle of the eighteenth century. Burden also argues that Mingotti's years with Farinelli influenced her understanding of drama, fed her appreciation of Metastasio, and were partly responsible for London labelling her a 'female Garrick'. The book includes the important publication of the complete texts of both of Mingotti's Appeals to the Publick, accounts of the squabble between Mingotti and Vanneschi, which shed light on the role a singer could play in the replacement of arias.

(Amadeus). This autobiography is the first full-length book in English on Nicolai Gedda, born in Sweden in 1925 but deeply influenced by his Russian-born stepfather, himself a singer with a renowned Russian emigre choir. A leading tenor throughout the latter half of the 20th century, Gedda is acclaimed both for the beauty of his voice and the rare intelligence with which he uses it; he is perhaps the most versatile of tenors, equally at home in opera and song, and the master of nine languages and a wide range of musical styles. These memoirs, written in collaboration with his wife, comment frankly on the events of his life and on the international music scene, revealing both his serious devotion to his art and his indifference to fame and celebrity. HARDCOVER.

Maria Callas (1923-77) was the greatest opera diva of all time. Despite a career that remains unmatched by any prima donna, much of her life was overshadowed by her fiery relationship with Aristotle Onassis, who broke her heart when he left her for Jacqueline Kennedy, and her legendary tantrums on and off the stage. However, little is known about the woman behind the diva. She was a girl brought up between New York and Greece, who was forced to sing by her emotionally abusive mother and who left her family behind in Greece for an international career. Feted by royalty and Hollywood stars, she fought sexism to rise to the top, but there was one thing she wanted but could not have - a happy private life. In Cast a Diva, bestselling author Lyndsy Spence draws on previously unseen documents to reveal the raw, tragic story of a true icon.

This book (hardcover) is part of the TREDITION CLASSICS. It contains classical literature works from over two thousand years. Most of these titles have been out of print and off the bookstore shelves for decades. The book series is intended to preserve the cultural legacy and to promote the timeless works of classical literature. Readers of a TREDITION CLASSICS book support the mission to save many of the amazing works of world literature from oblivion. With this series, tredition intends to make thousands of international literature classics available in printed format again - worldwide.

Author and voice teacher Gloria Bennett has taught Axl Rose of Guns N'Roses, Vince Neil of Motley Crue, Exene Cervenka of X, Steve Wynn of Dream Syndicate, Dexter Holland of The Offspring, and Anthony Keidis of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, among others. Her comprehensive and practical book, now in its second edition, offers a clear explanation of the voice as an instrument and proper vocal technique. Through examples, anecdotes and exercises, Breaking Through provides for both the novice and professional vocalist a vital sourcebook for maintaining and enhancing the quality of the voice. Topics covered include: pitch problems and solutions, evening your range, projection without strain, how to stay vocally healthy on the road, how to find a good vocal coach, and much more.

This book (hardcover) is part of the TREDITION CLASSICS. It contains classical literature works from over two thousand years. Most of these titles have been out of print and off the bookstore shelves for decades. The book series is intended to preserve the cultural legacy and to promote the timeless works of classical literature. Readers of a TREDITION CLASSICS book support the mission to save many of the amazing works of world literature from oblivion. With this series, tredition intends to make thousands of international literature classics available in printed format again - worldwide.

The first full-length treatment of the operatic querelles in eighteenth-century France, placing individual querelles in historical context and tracing common themes of authority, national prestige and the power of music over popular sentiment. In the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, French cultural life seethed with debates about the proper nature and form of musical expression, particularly in opera. Expressed in a flood of pamphlets, articles, letters and poems as well as in the actual disruption of performances, these so-called querelles were seen at the time as a distinctively French phenomenon and have been mined by scholars since for what they can tell us about French politics and culture in the revolutionary period. This is the first full-length treatment of the entire history of this phenomenon, from its beginnings in the last years of Louis XIV to the 1820s when the new musical challenges of Berlioz and Wagner put an end to this particular form of debate. Arnold analyses the individual querelles, showing how they reflected and played their part in wider political and cultural events. At the same time, hetraces themes common in varying degrees to them all - questions of authority, the issue of national prestige, and the relation of language to music. Where some scholars have characterised these disputes as simply politics by proxy, Arnold paints a more nuanced picture, showing that music itself was taken seriously beyond artistic circles because it was seen as having great, potentially limitless, power over popular sentiment and thus implicitly power to reform society and change the world. R.J. Arnold is an honorary research fellow at Birkbeck, University of London

A regiment of women warriors strides across the battlefield of German culture - on the stage, in the opera house, on the page, and in paintings and prints. These warriors are re-imaginings by men of figures such as the Amazons, the Valkyries, and the biblical killer Judith. They are transgressive and therefore frightening figures who leave their proper female sphere and have to be made safe by being killed, deflowered, or both. This has produced some compelling works of Western culture - Cranach's and Klimt's paintings of Judith, Schiller's Joan of Arc, Hebbel's Judith, Wagner's Brunnhilde, Fritz Lang's Brunhild. Nowadays, representations of the woman warrior are used as a way of thinking about the woman terrorist. Women writers only engage with these imaginings at the end of the 19th century, but from the late 18th century on they begin to imagine fictional cross-dressers going to war in a realistic setting and thus think the unthinkable. What are the roots of these imaginings? And how are they related to Freud's ideas about women's sexuality?

This comprehensive research guide surveys the most significant published materials relating to Giuseppe Verdi. This new edition includes research since the publication of the first edition in 1998.

The first book devoted to stage managing opera productions. Perfect for aspiring and professional stage managers looking to expand their skillset into another genre of production. Features experience and advice from a variety of stage managers.

Benjamin Britten's works for the stage developed from the traditional late nineteenth-century romantic opera structure of Peter Grimes to the experimental format of the church parables and of Death in Venice, his last opera. At the core of this development seems to have been Britten's intention to use the stage as a pulpit to express his philosophical views. This book explores an assessment of how these influenced his creative choices, mainly examining the composer's own writings, from his early involvement with left wing activism during the Thirties through to his more spiritually oriented objectives after the war, and offers alternative readings of two of Britten's most controversial works for the stage, The Rape of Lucretia and Death in Venice.

The role of affect in how people think and behave in social situations has been a source of fascination to laymen and philosophers since time immemorial. Surprisingly, most of what we know about the role of feelings in social thinking and behavior has been discovered only during the last two decades. Affect in Social Thinking and Behavior reviews and integrates the most recent research and theories on this exciting topic, and features original contributions reviewing key areas of affect research from leading researchers active in the area.
The book covers fundamental issues, such as the nature and relationship between affect and cognition, as well as chapters that deal with the cognitive antecedents of emotion, and the consequences of affect for social cognition and behavior.
This volume offers a highly integrated and comprehensive coverage of this field, and is suitable as a core textbook in advanced courses dealing with the role of affect in social cognition and behavior.

This abridged edition includes the full original text covering Caruso's life and death, plus a current discography.

When the book was originally published in 1990, Gramophone magazine hailed it as "the most complete account of the tenor's life there is ever likely to be". Drawing on the personal recollections of the Caruso brothers, archival material preserved by the-family, and extensive research, the book is a rare tribute to the man and his vocal legacy.

(Amadeus). Emanuel Schikaneder (1751-1812) is known today only as the librettist of Mozart's The Magic Flute, yet he was also the most important theater director of his time, an actor, singer, producer, and a prolific dramatist.

This book considers the story of Nero and Octavia, as told in the pseudo-Senecan Octavia and the works of ancient historiographers, and its reception in (early) modern opera and some related examples of other performative genres. In total the study assembles more than 30 performative texts (including 22 librettos), ranging chronologically from L'incoronazione di Poppea in 1642/43 until the early 20th century, and provides detailed information on all of them. In a close examination of the libretto (and dramatic) texts, the study shows the impact and development of this fascinating story from the beginnings of historical opera onwards. The volume demonstrates the various transformations of the characters of Nero and his wives and of the depiction of their relationship over the centuries, and it looks at the tension between "historical" elements and genre conventions. The book is therefore of relevance to literary scholars as well as to readers interested in the evolution of Nero's image in present-day media.

The first biography of Richard D'Oyly Carte, this is a critical survey of the career of the impresario whose ambitions went beyond the famous partnership of Gilbert and Sullivan. Errors and misconceptions in current literature are challenged and corrected to give a truer portrayal of one of the most influential music theatre promoters in the nineteenth century.

Offers histories of music drama beginning with Wagner's Parsifal and then looking at works by Arnold Schoenberg, Richard Strauss, Luigi Dallapiccola, Luigi Nono and Hans Werner Henze. This book is both a telling of operatic histories 'after' Richard Wagner, and a philosophical reflection upon the writing of those histories. Historical musicology reckons with intellectual and cultural history, and vice versa. The 'after' of the title denotes chronology, but also harmony and antagonism within a Wagnerian tradition. Parsifal, in which Wagner attempted to go beyond his achievement in the Ring, to write 'after' himself,is followed by two apparent antipodes: the strenuously modernist Arnold Schoenberg and the aestheticist Richard Strauss. Discussion of Strauss's Capriccio, partly in the light of Schoenberg's Moses und Aron, reveals amore 'political' work than either first acquaintance or the composer's 'intention' might suggest. Then come three composers from subsequent generations: Luigi Dallapiccola, Luigi Nono, and Hans Werner Henze. Geographical context is extended to take in Wagner's Italian successors; the problem of political emancipation in and through music drama takes another turn here, confronting challenges and opportunities in more avowedly 'politically engaged' art. A final section explores the world of staging opera, of so-called Regietheater, as initiated by Wagner himself. Stefan Herheim's celebrated Bayreuth production of Parsifal, and various performances of Lohengrin are discussed, before looking back to Mozart (Don Giovanni) and forward to Alban Berg's Lulu and Nono's Al gran sole carico d'amore. Throughout, the book invites us to consider how we might perceive the aesthetic and political integrity of the operatic work 'after Wagner'. After Wagner will be invaluable to anyone interested in twentieth-century music drama and its intersection with politics and cultural history. It will also appeal to those interested in Richard Wagner's cultural impact on succeeding generations of composers. MARK BERRY is Senior Lecturer in Music at Royal Holloway, University of London.

L'incoronazione di Poppea is the most compelling of all early Italian operas and this has, in part, been responsible for the way in which it has become separated from its social and historical context. In this book, Iain Fenlon and Peter Miller show how an understanding of contemporary Venetian intellectual currents and preoccupations provides a key to the structure of the opera's libretto, the progress of the action and the points of emphasis in both the music and the text.

The extraordinary correspondence between the impresario Felice Giardini and his friend Gabriele Leone lies at the centre of this study of Italian opera in London in the eighteenth century. Hired by Giardini in 1763 to engage Italian performers for a season of opera and ballet at The King's Theatre, Leone was sued by the impresario when the performers he had recruited proved to be second rate. His response was to publish the letters and instructions that Giardini had sent to him, which feature the impresario's ten commandments for the novice foreign opera agent. These letters are transcribed and translated in this volume. As the authors reveal, the documents provide a vivid and detailed source of information about the world of eighteenth-century Italian opera, both in London and in Italy.