Opera for Dummies - Softcover

Pogue, David; Speck, Scott

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0764550101 ISBN 13: 9780764550102

Publisher: For Dummies, 1997

Synopsis

“Pogue is a wonderful teacher… He can teach anybody.”
— Gay Talese, bestselling author of Honor Thy Father

“Scott Speck is a great communicator of classical music…. Concert audiences and readers alike can’t help getting caught up in the joy of his subject.”
— David Styers, American Symphony Orchestra League

Opera is weird. Everybody wears makeup and sings all the time. Even when they’re singing your language, which is rare, you still can’t understand the words. Women play men, men play women, and 45-year-olds play teenagers. All the main characters seem to get killed off. And when somebody dies, he takes ten minutes to sing about it. Yet, for all its weirdness, an operatic experience is an experience in breathtaking beauty. When you hear a soprano float a soft high C, or a tenor singing a love song, or a full-throated chorus in the climax of a scene’s dramatic finale, you can’t help getting goosebumps.

Want to experience all that beauty for yourself, but don’t know where to begin? Opera For Dummies is an excellent place to start. Written by an acclaimed conductor and a musical director, this friendly guide tells you what you need to know to:

• Understand opera from the Baroque and Roman periods through today
• Interpret characters, orchestra, chorus, and other players
• Understand what’s happening, both on stage and off
• Choose the best seats
• Identify famous operas
• Build a great collection of opera recordings
• Locate opera sites and chat groups online

Whether you’re interested in attending a live opera, want to build a collection of recordings, or just want to be able to talk about opera intelligently, Opera For Dummies is for you. Among other things, you’ll explore:

• The words, the music, and the people who sing it
• The history of opera and the lives of the great composers
• Going to the opera — including tips for getting tickets, preparing for the opera, dressing for the opera, and more
• Musical and theatrical conventions used in opera
• In-depth synopses of the world’s most beloved operas

On the bonus CD you’ll find:

• More than 60 minutes of music compiled especially for the book
• A multimedia piece for PC or MAC

Wonder what it is about opera that can make a grown person cry like a baby? Find out in Opera For Dummies.

About this title

About the Author

David Pogue had a musical career on Broadway before he became one of the nation?s top technology gurus.
Scott Speck has conducted orchestras around the world and is coauthor of Ballet For Dummies. Together, they also wrote Classical Music For Dummies.

Includes lively summaries of 74 popular operas

"Scott Speck is a great communicator of classical music."
?David Styers, American Symphony Orchestra League

If you think opera is only for snobs, think again! This friendly guide brings opera down to earth, demystifying opera-speak, walking you through opera?s greatest hits, and explaining what all the fuss is really about ?unforgettable tunes, racy plots, eye-popping spectacles, and fat ladies singing their hearts out.

Discover:

• Opera lingo explained in plain English
• Opera?s top sopranos and tenors
• The story of opera over the centuries
• Fascinating summaries of famous operas
• Tips on attending an opera

All this on the enhanced audio CD:

• 60 minutes of opera highlights, including excerpts from EMI Recordings of . . .
  Mozart?s Don Giovanni, Verdi?s A Masked Ball, Puccini?s La Bohème, Wagner?s Tristan and Isolde, and Bizet?s Carmen
• Interactive features, including a history of opera with pictures and an excerpt from a Verdi score that you can follow as the music plays

Reviews

Though musicians and other music lovers continue to lament the lack of classical music enthusiasts, their concern may have diminished somewhat over the last 25 years. The "Hooked on Classics" recording series, Peter Schickele (a.k.a. P.D.Q. Bach), the Three Tenors, and the movie Shine are but a few of the media phenomena that have popularized classical music. Lately, some authors have taken a lighthearted approach to the genre, hoping to make it less intimidating; Barry Scherer's delightful Bravo! A Guide to Opera for the Perplexed (LJ 11/15/96) is an example not to be overlooked. It does appear, however, that with these two books from IDG's ever-expanding "For Dummies" series, classical music has finally arrived. Orchestrator, synthesizer programmer, music copyist, and vocal arranger Pogue and symphony conductor Speck have collaborated to make musical facts fun to peruse. In some cases, the information may seem oversimplified, but novices will come away with a fairly good idea of the important composers, the main periods of music, the instruments, the conductors, the artists, when to applaud at a concert or opera, and even what to wear to a performance. Icons throughout pinpoint tips, advanced information, listening guides, when to use the accompanying CDs, and stories to use in conversations. Both books are recommended for public libraries.?Kathleen Sparkman, Baylor Univ. Lib., Waco, Tex.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: For Dummies
• Publication date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0764550101
• ISBN 13: 9780764550102
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 356