1 comments about The Ring of Words: An Anthology of Song Texts (The Norton Library).

1. I've read and studied from many books with translations of texts to lieder and song literature, but I can say that the layout of this book is what a singer needs. Phrase by phrase is made understandable and visually it helps to have the original on the left and the translation on the right, it helps me to memorize faster.
   The information about the composers who have handled these texts is most interesting and helpful in program planning. My students who are not fluent in German and French have found that they now can handle the subtleties of the songs and song cycles they are preparing.
   Cynthia Hansell-Bakiæ,opera singer, teacher Croatia

5 comments about The Complete Phantom of the Opera (Owl Books).

1. This book... I have no words on how amazing it is.
   
   When I rekindled my love for musicals, and of course, Phantom of the Opera made that happened... I had to get everything and learn everything about Phantom. So I found this book at the library and I went insane over it.
   
   Firstly, it gives a clear background history on Gaston Leroux--the writer and the creator of Phantom of the Opera. Then, it goes into another section when talking about the films it inspired. You'll be surprised and amazed when you see it and read about it. Not only that, it tells you some small tidbit facts on the actors and actresses of these movies.
   
   And then, my favorite part, it goes into the Lloyd Webber musical. And when I say "goes into" I mean it!! There are so many pictures of the Original London Cast it's phenominal! There ares ome behind the scenes pictures as well. I never seen so many pictures about Phantom sure in a book, ever.
   
   And when you think that's enough, there is a libretto of the stage production--including scrafito'ed pictures of the OLC copied in there as it was when the CD/Cassette first made it's debut.
   
   All in all, it's not clearly updated as it is now, there is mention of the movie and who they want in it. But otherwise, if you are a London Cast or simply a Phantom obsessionist, you MUST have this book. If you find it at a house sale, a junk pile, book sale... whatever... BUY IT. You will not be dissapointed!!



2. This a must have for any phans of the A.L.W. musical!!



3. Loads of beautiful photos and lots of info. I love it. We do need and expanded edition to cover the movie. This is for Phantom Fans.



4. I bought a copy of this book at a performance of The Phantom Of The Opera in 2000 and really love it. I tried to purchase a copy for a friend at the most recent performance we went to but it is no longer available and feel very lucky to have been able to find it here at Amazon. It tells of the Paris Opera House, Gaston Leroux, the original story and the movies. The reason I bought it is the last 100+ pages cover the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical and includes some incredible photographs. I was delighted when I got home and found it also includes the Libretto! I would encourage any fan of the musical to purchase a copy.



5. Excellent book !
   All of a good Phantom of the opera's fan needs to know about this classic musical masterpiece. History, true facts, anecdotes, first editions, the future.. No more words. Don't miss it !!

2 comments about The Barber of Seville and The Marriage of Figaro (Penguin Classics).

1. These two plays have been made very famous by the two operas by Rossini and Mozart. However the plays seem to be relatively unknown. Of the two plays "The Marriage of Figaro" is the better of the two. I would also like add a criticism of the movie Amadeus. In the movie Salieri comments on the ending of the opera based on the play in a way that seems to imply that Mozart deserves all the credit. In fact the opera is very faithful to the play. Mozart should get all the credit for the music of the Marriage of Figaro, but Beaumarchais deserves credit for the plot.

   But to get back to my point, these are two great plays that deserve to be better known. Figaro (the play) was controversial in its day as a satire about the rights of aristocrats but today the satire does not seem very harsh. Figaro the roguish main character who believes he is just as good as his master is one of the great literary characters. That is not just my opinion, it was also the opinion of the novelist Balzac.

   I would especially recommend this Penguin edition for the introduction which has a short biography of the adventurous life of Beaumarchais. It is a miracle he found the time to write these plays, but I am very glad that he did.




2. We are doing this in opera form this Spring, and it was very helpful to read the play, especially the Barber, to get the background necessary for a complete performance. The notes and the biography also added to my understanding of the play.

No comments about Opera: A History in Documents.

5 comments about The Book of 101 Opera Librettos: Complete Original Language Texts with English Translations.

1. My one problem with this anthology of librettos is that it lacks a libretto for Puccini's Turandot, one of my favourite operas-and one of the more popular ones(!).
   
   Otherwise, this is probably your best bet for a general collection of librettos, particularly for the price. The way it's set up is that there are four columns on each page, and each pair of columns is the original text and the English translation, which is probably the best way to set up a collection of this size without making it an ungodly amount of pages (don't worry, the print is big enough to read). Librettos are aranged alphabetically by composer.
   
   While I was disappointed to see it had not included Turandot, it does have some lesser-known operas that I still find beautiful (I was particularly surprised to see Mignon in it).
   
   Jessica MacMurray has a particular flair for creating translations appealing to the modern eye, and Allison Franzetti comes up with some wonderful plot summaries that appear at the beginning of each libretto.
   
   With a wonderful array of operas and near-perfect translations, 101 Opera Librettos certainly does live up to the boast on its cover that it is the most comprehensive one volume collection of unabridged opera lyrics ever published.



2. I like to read the librettos of the operas I am going to see each season before actually going to the performance. This book is a steal at the $price tag I paid. (Using rapid mathematics, that comes to This book is put out by Black Dog Publishers. I own every one of the Black Dog Opera Library issues (all 14 is it?) They are wonderful at giving you the libretto, the COMPLETE music on 2 cds, the history, the previous performers, etc. I wish they had more available. However, this book fills in nicely within my opera collection.

   This book is an excellent value with great content.




3. Not only does this have "puzzling omissions" (6 Massenet operas -- no Manon!), but it lacks at least one important opera libretto (Verdi's Falstaff) that, according to the cover of the book, is supposed to be included! The libretti that are included have many cuts and errors, and the translations are poor compared to what you get in an average CD insert. It's like they compiled the cheapest, laziest translations available and passed the savings on to you. This would get my lowest rating, except that the price is right and there is obscure stuff in here that may otherwise be hard to find.



4. The pros and cons of this book are both the natural result of what it really is: a collection of reprinted, out-of-copyright libretti from the 1900s and 1910s. These are the libretti you would have seen for sale if you'd attended the Met a hundred years or so ago, newly typeset but otherwise unchanged.
   
   This is good in that it lets us get 100 libretti cheap; there's no way the publishers would have been able to afford new translations of everything.
   
   On the other hand, this means that the selection is a bit odd. In general, only librettos from 1921 and before are going to be out of copyright, which explains why operas (like "Turandot") composed after that date can't be included. This also explains why operas such as "Cosi fan tutte", which was rarely if ever performed in most American opera houses, are absent--Cosi didn't really enter the American repertory until the 1950s Met production.
   
   In addition, the book can only present the versions of the operas as they were performed at American houses at that time. This means that the book omits materially traditionally cut by whatever house they got the libretto from (most likely the Met). If that house performed a Russian opera in Italian translation, you'll get an Italian and English libretto in this book as well. And the English translations themselves are generally fairly archaic and flowery, as was the style in American opera houses at the time.
   
   So if your needs are the same as an early 20th century opera attendee--getting a general idea of the story or a more-or-less accurate copy of the original-language libretto--then this is a good value. I find it a very useful resource just because it is so comprehensive. But if you're looking for a deep understanding of an individual libretto, or a quality modern English translation, you'll need to look elsewhere.



5. As both an opera singer and avid fan, I bought this book in hopes of having a handy translation for all operas I might be interested in, and a way to follow the Met afternoon broadcasts. The first time I turned to use it, I found out I'd been had! First, the IT DOES NOT ALWAYS INCLUDE THE ORIGINAL TEXTS, which is indicated prominently on the cover. For many operas not written in Italian, they provide Italian librettos (e.g. Eugene Onegin and La Fille du Regiment). So you cannot follow an actual opera with this text in some cases. (I did not check every one, but note that they do have some German libretti, so the libretti are not all in Italian.)
   
   Second, as noted by the voice teacher reviewer, these translations are not accurate, and sometimes laughably (and sadly) wrong. Finally, both the inclusions and exclusions are jarring - L'Africana (Meyerbeer) and Euryanthe (Weber) IN vs. Cosi Fan Tutte (Mozart) and Turandot (Puccini) OUT? So you don't always find the quite popular opera you are looking for in the book. A big waste of $$ and space - the size of a small ottoman. My guess is that this was patched together from sources that were not protected by copyright, or something of the sort, because who would want to copyright these translations?

No comments about Stories from the Opera.

3 comments about Complete Song Cycles.

1. This is the Dover edition of Franz Schubert's two song cycles on the poetry of Wilhelm Mueller -- Die Schoene Muellerin and Die Winterreise -- plus the collection of songs known as Schwanengesang, which is not a true cycle but rather a group of songs written by Schubert near the end of his short life (d. 1828), packaged as cycle posthumously by his publisher. If you are interested in art song, this plus a few other volumes -- for instance Schubert's Goethe Lieder, also available from Dover -- are an essential aid to enjoyment and understanding. One down side is that this is the usual Dover repackaging of an older source, and as such lacks things such as measure numbers and Deutsch catalogue numbers that would be useful to have. For the money, however, this is an essential value. English translations of the poems are included in the back of the volume.



2. If you are looking for an amazingly inexpensive way to augment your score library, Dover is the way to do it. The lack of measure numbers in many cases is not ideal, but to me, the savings more than makes up for it. When preparing for a rehearsal situation, it is relatively painless to take five minutes and number the measures myself. An inconvenience, to be sure, but spending $40 or more for an edition with measure numbers and rehearsal letters is the greater evil, as far as I'm concerned. I highly recommend this edition to vocal students, teachers, and anyone who simply wants to listen and read along to one of the greatest song-smiths ever to live.



3. This volume includes the three major Schubert song cycles. It's not as usable or legible as the old Peters edition, but it is much more available and cheaper. The music of course is pure heaven, from the world-famous "Serenade" to the grim and lovely ``Winterreise'' cycle to the "Swan songs" that end with perhaps Schubert's loveliest song of all, the "Taubenpost;" that was also the last song he wrote. You can hum them, sing them, strum them on your guitar or piano and you'll be a better human being. For low voice, with adequate English translations in the back of the book.

5 comments about Broadway Musicals: Show by Show: Sixth Edition (Broadway Musicals Show by Show).

1. This book has proven and indispensable part of my theatre library, and if you get it, it will become one for you as well. Want to know what date the original production of Show Boat opened on Broadway? This book will tell you. Who the original stars of Mexican Hayride were? That's in here, too. You will be able to find the answer to just about any question you could ever ask of Broadway's hit musicals. A perfect companion piece to Ken Mandelbaum's Not Since Carrie (which chronicles the flop musicals this book mostly excludes), and a wonderful way of tracking the history of the Broadway musical, Broadway Musicals: Show by Show is as comprehensive, helpful, and essential as reference books on Broadway come.



2. overall a nice book covering the Bway Musicals. I happened to purchase one for a friend who attends the theater (both Broadway and off-Broadway) religiously and she was very happy with the gift.



3. This was the required text book for a class in musical theater in college. I found it informative but lacked many details that I would have like to have known.



4. I purchased this book for my father. He is a music professor and teaches a course in Broadway Musicals. He just raved about how helpful it is to he and his students.



5. Let me begin this review by stating, that of all of the text books I have had after a six year stint in college, I have used this book the most. I have used this book to not only research shows for synopsis', but I've helped a local high school pick their yearly musical from this show for the past three years. I am sad that it only goes up the 1996 year, and have been awaiting a new version for a while now. But if you need a time frame, this book helps with giving you the year, directors, original cast, and a brief synopsis of the show itself. This helpful for any music director/show director, I highly recommend this book for anyone persuing musical theatre history.

4 comments about The Dog Who Sang at the Opera.

1. This book is magic. The story is charming and the illustrations are stunning. I have given the book to all my nephews and nieces and they love it.



2. Smug, self-centered, perhaps even spoiled wolfhound "Pasha" is a supercilious Russian Wolfhound bred in Europe, who proclaims herself "une reine" (a queen) and looks "down her long Russian nose" at Sluggo, a cheerful "mix"--all scruffy American cheer--who looks past Pasha's haughty comparisons. "'You're a mutt,' barked Pasha." "'But it's fun being related to lots of different kinds of dogs,' answered Sluggo."
   
   The narrative is particularly well written, with lots of dialogue, characterization, humor, and tension. Illustrator Erika Oller turns in a veritable tour de force, with illustrations that somehow capture the grandeur and sweep of an opera house. Her washes and shadings, contrasted with directional and suffused light, convey the almost mystical aura of live theater. Packed with scenery and singers, Ms. Oller shows that the stage is full of excitement, commotion, and even a little confusion.
   
   In a way, the dogs become symbolic of class and racial differences, of royal Europe and upstart America. The reader may notice that the two dogs' class and "breeding" distinctions find a match in the performers' costumes. Pasha identifies so much with the woman singing of her royal pedigree ("Everyone looks at me because I am beautiful. My beauty makes me a queen.") that she begins to sing. Her howls (and I quote: "Wa-hoo, woo-hooo... Wa-hoo-woo-hooo-woo...") elicit giggles from the audience and she is pulled rather un-royally off the stage. There's your headline about wanted and unwanted attention!
   
   Pasha is dejected. However, Sluggo, a canine equivalent of the archetypal James Cagney figure, reassures her. Comforted, Pasha resumes her royal stance and deigns to say, "Spasibo..." "It's Russian for 'thank you. " Nonplussed Sluggo gets into his 1930's everyman (everydog?) vernacular: "You're welcome', answered Sluggo. "That's English for 'anytime.'" Pasha and Sluggo become friends, although Pasha retains some of her canine-centric ways about her. In yet another amazing Oller picture, Pasha lies listening--all dreamy-eyed--to Metropolitan Opera House broadcasts. "And as she listens, she remembers what a beautiful voice Manon had...for a human."
   
   West and Izen base their book on a truer-than -usual event that occurred on September 26, 1997. The authors were onstage as puppeteers during a Metropolitan Opera House staging of "Manon," and a dog really did begin to howl during the festival scene. "The Dog Who Sang at the Opera" closes with a newspaper article describing "Passion's" interruption of diva Renee Fleming, in which she is quoted as saying "I told the director, `it's the dog or me,'" and stating whether she couldn't decide whether this was the most humiliating or complimentary experience of the opera. Life imitates art! Fortunately, there is a letter (dated October 17, 1997) from Ms. Fleming printed on the penultimate page, in which she explains that not only was her "dog or me" proclamation said tongue in cheek, but that she is a dog lover from way back. "I thought Passion's high notes were at least as good--or perhaps even better--than mine." (Still, I had to love the seemingly imperious attitude of the opera, for there on the very last page of credits and other details is a legal disclaimer: "This book is not authorized, sponsored, or endorsed by the Metropolitan Opera.") This is a wonderfully told story, with a few quietly embedded lessons, and all of it glistens with the emotion and atmosphere of Ms. Oller's watercolors. Very highly recommended for all kids around elementary school age.



3. This is a great story with beautiful illustrations. Funny, charming, and entertaining for both children and adults. I bought this book for my 73 year old father who has a love of the opera and dogs. He loved it!



4. I have a Borzoi who has a Canine Good Citizen Certificate and is a SHARE (Special Human Animal Relationships) therapy dog. Soon we will be getting into the READ program for children in local schools where children with reading/learning problems read aloud to dogs. I bought this book for children to read to my Borzoi. It is a delightful story that captures the essence of the aristocratic Borzoi on a level that can be easily understood. Even if your child does not have a reading problem, I recommend this book for any child's enjoyment, as well as your own...

5 comments about A Night at the Opera: An Irreverent Guide to The Plots, The Singers, The Composers, The Recordings (Modern Library Paperbacks).

1. This book is the perfect gift for a new opera fan. It does a great job of describing each opera, including history and reviews, but in a language anyone can understand. Seasoned opera buffs will enjoy the light-hearted overviews and insights. Fabulous.



2. I see no reason to bore you with a longish disquisition on the merits of this entertaining book. (The reviewer 'Starmoth' has selected some nice bon mots from Forman's work, and he's reviewed it in a long review that outlines its strengths and weaknesses, such as they are, without inducing boredom.) Forman is both witty and insightful. He gives the reader useful information, as well as less useful information (e.g., when he tells us what to listen for, according to his tastes). But most of what he says is conveyed with humour and commonsense. Keep in mind that it is far too huge to serve as a guide; it requires a briefcase or backpack and not a pocket.
   
   Are there problems? Well, sometimes he's pretty flippant. And there are a considerable number of great operas -- not just ones I like but ones in the repetoire of all major opera houses -- that don't get treated. Perhaps these are not fair complaints. For one thing, Forman's flippant remarks are often entertaining and interesting. And for another, it IS his book, so who am I to complain about omissions, or about an author who states in his subtitle that it is an irreverent work?



3. An excellent source for budding opera buffs. Enjoyable, pithy, informative.



4. The author seemed to want to be cute and quotable rather than offer a reasoned perspective on opera. At times I felt he even became condescending in his attitude. This could have been a misguided attempt to counter the widely held opinion that opera is only for snobs, but people with that opinion wouldn't read his book anyway.



5. A decent, reasonably broad overall review of major operas intended for a lay audience. Forman's style, however, is a highly colloquial British English, which does not travel well across the Atlantic. I am American, but lived in the UK for a year in the 90s; I found the book's deliberately cute style difficult to follow, and I quickly became annoyed at what I perceived as the author's excessive efforts to convey his irreverance. Overall, a useful work that focusses on the author's impression of each opera's entertainment value; historical context and academic aspects of music and dance take a back seat.