Mattia Battistini (1856-1928) is considered by many to be among the finest examples of the bel canto singing style. His unique vocal abilities and strong stage personality made him the most famous singer of his time, with a career spanning nearly 50 years in the most revered opera venues in Europe. Mattia Battistini: King of Baritones and Baritone of Kings covers the singer's entire career, from his first performance in Rome in 1878 to his final concert 50 years later.Jacq...

Chronicling the landmark events in Beethoven's life, this book enhances understanding of the composer's character, inspiring a deeper appreciation for his work.George Alexander Fischer illuminates the composer’s difficult childhood, his struggle to maintain friendships and romances, his ungovernable temper, his obsessive efforts to control his nephew’s life, and the excruciating decline of his hearing. This absorbing narrative provides a comprehensive account of a momentous life, as...

In this uplifting memoir, the acclaimed singer reflects "on life, the arts, and spirituality . . . Inspiring" ( Booklist).Jessye Norman is one of the world's most admired and beloved singers—and her life story is as moving and dramatic as the great operatic roles she has performed on stage.Born and raised in Augusta, Georgia, she studied the piano and sang the songs of her childhood, never dreaming that this passion for music might lead to her life...

First published in 1878. Chapters cover: Bach, Handel, Gluck, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Chopin, Web, Mendelssohn, and Wagner.

Over the course of his career, Pavarotti never lost his enthusiasm for performing, and he devoted his last years to singing for charities and humanitarian causes - until sudden ill-health made it impossible for him to continue to appear on stage.

A dazzling study of the operas Verdi adapted from Shakespeare- and a spellbinding account of their creation.In Verdi's Shakespeare, Pulitzer Prize winner and lifelong opera devotee Garry Wills explores the writing and staging of Verdi's three triumphant Shakespearian operas: Macbeth, Othello, and Falstaff. An Italian composer who couldn't read a word of English but adored Shakespeare, Verdi devoted himself to operatic productions that aut...

This 2004 Companion is a collection of specially commissioned essays on one of the most influential opera composers in the repertoire. The volume is divided into four parts, each exploring an important element of Rossini's life, his world, and his works: biography and reception; words and music; representative operas; and performance. Within these sections accessible chapters, written by a team of specialists, examine Rossini's life and career; the reception of his music in the nineteenth ...

An exploration of the lives and works of Verdi and Wagner as well as their respective legacies to the present day, written by a noted cultural critic.This is the first book to compare these two composers and cultural heroes, both of whom were born in 1813 and achieved huge national and inter- national renown in their lifetimes. Yet not only did they never meet, but the differences between them—in music, culture, environment, significance, and legacy—were profound.

A half century after his death in 1960, Swedish tenor Jussi Björling remains one of the most beloved singers in the world. He spent forty-five of his forty-nine years performing in public, rapidly conquering opera-house and concert stages on both sides of the Atlantic. Along the way, he left a vast recorded legacy that continues to enchant lovers of vocal music and inspire young singers. In this ground-breaking book, Stephen Hastings analyzes more than four hundred of the great tenor's rec...

Beethoven and Rossini have always been more than a pair of famous composers. Even during their lifetimes, they were well on the way to becoming 'Beethoven and Rossini' – a symbolic duo, who represented a contrast fundamental to Western music. This contrast was to shape the composition, performance, reception and historiography of music throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The Invention of Beethoven and Rossini puts leading scholars of opera and instrumental music into dialogu...

Giacomo Puccini (1858–1924) is the world's most frequently performed operatic composer, yet he is only beginning to receive serious scholarly attention. In Giacomo Puccini and His World, an international roster of music specialists, several writing on Puccini for the first time, offers a variety of new critical perspectives on the composer and his works. Containing discussions of all of Puccini’s operas from Manon Lescaut (1893) to Turandot (1926), this volume ai...

She was not the 'black sheep' of her family, as often claimed, but a heroic rebel. Friedelind Wagner (1918-1991), Richard Wagner's independent-minded granddaughter, daughter of Siegfried and Winifred Wagner, despised her mother'sclose liaison with Adolf Hitler and was the only member of the Wagner clan who fled Germany in protest. Although Winifred warned her that the Nazis would 'exterminate' her, should she continue her open opposition, she travelled toLondon and published articles pillo...