A History of Opera

by Carolyn Abbate, Roger Parker

Why does opera continue to attract new audiences at a time when the stream of original works that was once its lifeblood has dried to a trickle? Carolyn Abbate and Roger Parker answer this question in their modern retelling of the history of opera, examining its evolution over several centuries and its continued appeal to generations of audiences. Integral to this nuanced and engaging narrative is the ongoing exploration of the tensions that have sustained opera over four hundred years: between words and music, character and singer, the surreal and the believable. As this pair of experts argue, though the genre 's most popular and enduring works were almost all written in a distant European past, opera continues to change the viewer physically, emotionally, and intellectually with its enduring power.

Genres: Music, History, Nonfiction, Art, Classical Music, Research, Academic

624 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 2012

Reviews

[Denise · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book manages to rather fail on a lot of levels. As a straight-forward introduction to the magnificent messy beast that is 4 centuries of opera, it really fails, it’s meandering, it gets caught up in navel-gazy circlejerks in the middle of historical narratives that would annoy any first-time opera history reader, it devotes lavish attention to fluffy purple musical description at seemingly random moments and for random pieces, and it is very imbalanced, it devotes a ton of time to Mozart and two whole chapters to Wagner, but sort of casually hand-waves over most anyone else. It’s also dry as toast. The content is also largely on the superficial level so it’s not a natural next-step book for an experienced operatic reader either. Rather a book without a home.

But for all that I still kinda liked it. The authors will occasionally take a break from wandering around being boring to make these really smart observations on opera that you’ve never heard before, and then you think it was worth it to half-skim to find that sort of thing. In the very last chapter they get into some dangerous non-historical territory and present their theories as to why so few new operas are catching on with today’s opera goers, which I largely disagreed with, but it’s interesting to read all the same.

Worth a read if you are already well-versed in opera history and have good skimming abilities, otherwise, skip.

[J.M. Hushour · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty much to go-to for opera fans or those who, like me, often scratch their heads with a whafuck?! whenever the genre is mentioned within earshot.
Knowing little of opera, I was fully prepared to have my mind changed and every musical value I have to be challenged, theologically and philosophically. The two authors do the genre a great service. The history is dense, thick, but never boring. Sure, there are some long-winded bits on particular operas that are more disengaging because they're so spoilery, and some of the more musicological sections will be a bit thick for layfolk, but they do a swell job setting out the evolution and development of opera, hitting all the highlights and stressing greatly what has changed, what has stayed the same, and, most importantly, what it all means! Their goal is to heighten the appreciation of the form and they certainly do that, it's just a minor slog to get there. I would've appreciated a lengthier section on modern stuff and there are weird omissions (no Prokofiev??! Come on!) but forgivable in the greater scheme of things.
In fact, I feel well-armed now to go and actually watch some goddamn operas!

[Rick · Rating 2 out of 5]

Early assessment. These two people are not gifted writers. They leave too much of the verbal underbrush that is common in academic writing: weak sentences that purport to convey authority. E.g. "The important thing to notice here is..."

Their ideas are interesting; it's too bad they don't have confidence in them.

Later assessment (05/16/13): I had to put this on hold because it is so freaking boring. It's not a history so much as a series of marginally insightful essays about opera arranged in more or less chronological order. Not a good source for (a) foundational knowledge about opera (too scattered); (b) a cultural history of opera (both writers are terrible historians, the rather excellent discussion of castrati notwithstanding); (c) greater aesthetic understanding of the form (the essays are too superficial).

[Aggrey Odera · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sprawling, brilliantly written history of the last 400 or so years of opera.

Beginnings:

Operas were preceded by intermedi - songs and instrumental music added before or after the acts of a play. These were most common in the Florentine courts of the Medicis.

Claudio Monteverdi was arguably the first opera composer. His “Orfeo” (1611)- first staged in the Duke’s court at Mantua, is contested as an actual opera. But his “The Coronation of Poppea" (1642-43) - staged in Venice under theatrical conditions that mirror how contemporary opera is done, is widely acknowledged to be the earliest opera. Poppea was the first time that the conflict between recitative - moments when the plot, as written in the libretto, could be advanced, and arias - operatic singing to showcase virtuosity, began to be resolved.

Other greats during this early period - generally a generation after Monteverdi- included Francesco Cavalli, whose work Giasone (1649) was based on the story of Jason and the golden fleece; Antonio Cesti; Stefano Landi, whose 1632 work “Sant Alesio” (Saint Alexis), a Catholic themed opera, was written to a libretto by the future pope Clement IX

In France, there was Jean-Baptiste Tully, an expatriate Italian who became the most important person in French opera in the 17th century. Tully created the French Language serious opera (Tragedie Lyrique), which did not present concerns of verisimilitude like Venetian opera. In France at this time, concerns about verisimilitude abounded: people in real life did not sing when engaging with each other; issuing commands, falling in love etc. what the fuck was this thing opera, then? This had led to a disgust at the Venetian favouring of elaborate Arias over the more realistic and plot driving recital cantando. French opera at the time was also heavily mixed up with ballet.

In Germany, Dafne (1627), a now lost work by Heinrich Schütz was controversially argued to be the first work of German opera, and therefore Schültz as the father of German opera.

In England, the preferred form of drama were Masques, or the so-called “Semi-operas”, in which music did not bear the full burden of dramatic narration, and could be reserved for special scenes such as those featuring the supernatural. The leading lights of the English stage at this time were such men as Ben Johnson, whose masque, "Lovers Made Men" (1617) was sung after the Italian manner (Stile Recitativo); William Davenant, whose "The Siege of Rhodes" (1656), is said to be the first full length English opera; Henry Purcell, whose "Dido & Aeneas" (1689) is one of the more famous examples of early English language operas.

By the end of the 1600s, opera had made its way to several German speaking lands, France, Italy, Spain and England, and in most of these places, had been tweaked to fit local tastes, musical conventions and/or propaganda purposes.

Opera Seria:

At the end of the seventeenth century, star singers were the most prized people in opera - more so than composers (who were thought even lower than librettists). For the first time in history thus, women (working as sopranos) could become independent and even wealthy through their work. These women earned more than anyone else in opera, their only competition being the castrati (Only in 1903 were Castrati banned from the Sistine Chapel choir!). The most prominent castrato, one of the best operatic singers ever, was Carlo Broschi, aka Farinelli. Alessandro Moreschi (1858-1922), is often said to be the last (famous) castrato

During last decades of the 17th century, there were Italian attempts to domesticate the “exoticism and irrationality” of Italian opera in order to “bring it with greater conformity to the rules that had governed spoken drama in the later sixteenth century”. Many of these reforms cleaved to a “classical” idea of opera; a reclaiming at a lost elitism about opera becoming “too popular”. The critics championing reforms were such men as Cristoforo Ivanovich and Giovanni Crescimbeni.

Reform was finally brought by the Arcadians in Rome (led by Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni), who brought forth the opera seria.

The original opera seria is generally derided in Operatic history - Joseph Kerman’s famous book “Opera as drama” (1956) called the time between Monteverdi and the emergence of Mozart, the “dark ages”. However, reformed opera seria was hugely popular in courts all over Europe. It was reduced basically to the recitative (almost a spoken declamation) and the aria, through which one of the characters underwent a moment of reflection. Most of the minor characters were thus done away with. The operas were characterised by “unremitting moralising and seriousness of purpose”.

Opera seria, then, became more formulaic, more predictable, less flamboyant - but it ultimately became the most prestigious form of opera. Remarkably, the roster of prominent opera seria composers during its heyday is largely forgotten (no one now cares about Gasparini, Pollarolo or Ziani, for example). The most famous opera seria composer during his day was Alessandro Scarlatti (1660-1725). But who most endures as the greatest opera seria composer? He wasn’t even Italian:

Goerge Frederic Handel (1685-1759)

Handel’s Agrippina (1709-1710) was a huge hit in Venice during the 1710 season. In 1711, Handel moved to London and lived there for the rest of his life. His successive works became the hallmarks of opera seria. Rinaldo (1711), his first London Opera, essentially came to define opera seria. Giulio Cesare -Julius Caesar (1725); Orlando (1733) - an Orpheus like journey into the underworld; Alcina (1735); all Handelian operas marked by long distinctive multiple solo arias, usually by all major characters, in order to display virtuosity, continued this Handelian dominance.

There were however money problems at this time for Handel’s theatre, even as opera seria lampooners made a killing. In 1728, for example, John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera scored a huge success, in part through its Hogarth-like lampoon of the extravagances of opera seria. Public opera was always on financial edge, and by the early 1740s, Handel had given up opera completely, deciding to concentrate on English language oratorios. Messiah is perhaps his most famous oratorio

Handel’s operas were not revived for nearly 200 years, but now, 300 years later, revivals are in full bloom. Some of Handel’s contemporaries are also benefiting from this spirit of revival. While Alessandro Scarlati’s sixty odd operas are not being performed, those of Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) are back in vogue.

Discipline:

In 1762, a new Orfeo came about, Orfeo ed Euridice (Libretto by Ranieri de Calzabigi; music by the eminent German composer Christoph Willibad Gluck). Gaetano Guadagni, an alto-castrato who looked typically male, was the star of Orfeo. Gluck’s further acclaimed work included Iphigenie en Aulide (1774); Alceste (1767); and Iphigenie en tauride (1779). Gluck and his librettists demonstrated that neoclassical fervour could go hand in hand with a desire to curb operatic excesses. Years later, Gluck was to become one of Mozart’s operatic father figures. Echo et Narcisse (1779),Gluck’s last opera, was a failure. It led him to leave Paris to finish his days in Vienna. Gluck’s great rival was the Italian Niccolò Piccini (1728-1800).

In the 18th century, there were rumblings of revolt against the pecking order. These rumblings came both from literary-theatrical as well as practical perspectives. Until then, sopranos and castrati, seen as much more important than composers, were compensated much higher.

French tragedy lyrique had a lot to play in disciplining Italian opera seria. Tragédie Lyrique was characterized by “elaborate, slow recitatives accompanied by full orchestra passed into brief formal arias; ornament was thought vulgar, at least those roulades of the extravagant, free-flowing Italian kind (there was plenty of small-scale decoration to melodic lines). Castrati were regarded with a shudder, and never got in the door.” Jean-Philippe Rameau’s (1683-1764) “Hippolyte et Aricie (1733)” was the hallmark of tragédie lyrique.

Opera Buffa and Mozart’s Line of Beauty:

Mozart’s first opera, Bastian und Bastionen (1768) was a singspiel written when he was 12. Soon followed La Finta Giardiniera - the feigned gardener (1775) a buffa; Idomeneo (1781), which displays Mozart’s greatest debt to Gluck; Die Entführung aus dem Serail - The abduction from the seraglio - 1782; Le Nozze di Figaro (1786) a buffa, with its sharp anti-aristocratic edge, even though produced in Vienna, during the reign of Joseph 2; Don Giovanni (1787), a buffa, one of his most famous operas; La Clemenza di Tito (1791), a seria; Die Zauberflöte (1791), a singspiel - whose libretto was later rewritten and renamed “Kederich” in 1832 by “Anton Wilhelm Florentin von Zuccalmaglio (1803–69)”; and Cosi fan Tutte (1790), a buffa.

At this time, Vienna was again opera’s capital. Three kinds of opera dominated: 1. Seria - the domain of old money and the ruling classes; 2. buffa (still patroned by the ruling classes) funny, comic operas; 3. Singspiel - German language opera with spoken dialogue rather than recitative; closer to vernacular theatre thus more appealing to the lower classes.

One modern consensus about Mozart’s comic operas has been that they involve rich sonic worlds that are beyond mere farce, just as his best libretti – the three written by Lorenzo Da Ponte – have deeply serious elements alongside silly ones. Da Ponte’s contributions to Mozart’s success should not be underestimated at all (He wrote the Librettos to Figaro, Don Giovanni and Così fan Tutte)

Many of the earliest comic operas have not survived, but one that did, and more surprisingly still, is performed to this day, is La Serva Padrona (The Housemaid takes charge, 1733) by Giovanni Batista Pergolessi (1710-1736). In its day, La Serva was enormously popular all over Europe. After it was performed in Paris in the early 1750s, it became the stimulus for prolonged polemic debate about the respective values of Italian and French opera, the Querelle des Bouffons – War of the Comedians.

Later, Carlo Goldoni (1707–93)” and “Baldassare Galuppi (1706–85)” brought a shift in opera buffa by experimenting with two changes:
1. They made important distinctions between serious and comic characters in terms of the way they expressed themselves operatically, adding a third type, so-called mezzi caratteri – mixed characters. The serious characters would continue with their ornate ‘da capo’ arias and high-flown sentiments; the comic characters tended towards simpler, more direct forms – arias that might even alter in tempo and metre if the mood shifted.
2. They expanded the number and extent of ensembles, particularly those at act endings, which might now have included action within fixed numbers, and which boasted a whole series of semi-independent musical movements following one another as rapidly as the action demanded.

A good example of this new kind of opera buffa is Golden and Caluppi’s "Il Filosopfo di Campagna" (The Homespun Philosopher, 1754).

Singing and Speaking before 1800:

In the eighteenth century, composers from the German states and the Austrian empire wrote operas in Italian and French. One important difference sets apart the dominant forms of eighteenth-century French and German comic opera from Italian opera buffa (at least in its later and more elevated forms) though, and that is the presence of spoken dialogue.

French comic opera was, at this time, typically seen as the opposite of or the alternative to tragédie lyrique. German-language opera, on the other hand, had virtually no serious tradition; it thus came very early to comedy, and remained during the eighteenth century largely comic, even farcical. It was generally called Singspiel, a word that puts singing and ‘play’ into one.

Comic opera evolved in the eighteenth century as a pendant – often an overtly ironic pendant – to serious opera: a less expensive and simpler form whose production involved fewer demands. Singspiel, for instance, particularly in the north German provinces, was often produced in public theatres by actor-impresarios. In Paris, the acting talents of the singers were as important as their vocal talent. And, as in Italian opera buffa, there were no castrati. Their training made them too expensive to waste on comedy, and they were anyway indelibly associated with the fundamental artificiality of opera seria.

The German Problem:

Beethoven’s (1770-1827) Fidelio marked the beginning of the so-called “German problem”. Leonore, the heroine in Fidelio, was the first important dramatic soprano in German opera, and as such bore many daughters.

A new Antagonism:

At this time, symphonic composition was typified by Beethoven; operatic composition by Giancarlo Rossini (1792 - 1868), marking a new antagonism between Italy and Germany. By 1860, German and Italian music had taken on fixed and opposing identities, identities that were even then easy to parody as grave, important and world-historical on the one (German) side, and light, melodic and pleasurable on the other (Italian).

Faits Historiques:

The revolutionary turmoil of the 1790s had stimulated French operatic activity in a way that later revolutions would not, at least overtly. So-called faits historiques, vast open-air allegorical stagings of revolutionary deeds, were a primary means of state propaganda in the first years after 1789.
During this time, the surge in opera comique produced several composers who influenced Beethoven - Etienne Mehul, Luigi Cherubini etc. The oratorio-like manner and grand symphonic gestures of Don Fernando’s final scene in Fidelio, for example, which may now seem so utterly Beethovenian and Germanic, are cousins of the French-Revolution-inspired choral hymns to liberty that were a commonplace of Cherubini’s opera.

The German Response:

German xenophobia was at an all high at this time - anyone bilingual was immediately suspect. This xenophobia was nurtured in the trauma of the Napoleonic invasions and occupations of the German states, and in the subsequent imposition of the Napoleonic code, which enfranchised various residents considered alien, including the Jews. Mozart’s Zauberflöte, especially after his death, is seen as the originating work of serious opera in German that, despite the Singspiel remnant of spoken dialogue, aspired to grandiose, even transcendental status, a way to mark Germanness as capable of holding its own.

Der Freischütz:

Undine (1816, E.T.A. Hoffman’s opera) represents the archetype for German Romantic operas with supernatural plots. The setting is normal – a self-contained human society with its small emotions and tightly knit family structures – but the visitors from outside, the violent invaders of this safe space, are not. Continued in comment...

[rowan · Rating 3 out of 5]

mixed feelings. very cool subject matter. interestingly written. way too much about like one guy and then skip over everyone else from that time period and then move on to talk about another time period just from one perspective. id be able to let that slide if you had a lower word count but you really had so much time to talk. i wish they would write so many really in depth books about music theory and history and have them at the library. i read this book because the library has just about no books on this topic. perturbing. need to be in a weird college library and real all the books asap

[Randall Wallace · Rating 3 out of 5]

Before records or radio, you bought transcriptions which you played with friends or alone on piano. The opera La Traviata alone had a whopping 400 known transcriptions of different excerpts published. As a Lord of the Rings fan, I read that in a Wagner opera “a magic ring was forged and cursed; that Siegfried won the ring in mortal combat; and that the curse spells disaster for Siegfried.” Sound familiar? It gets better. “Young Siegfried” in 1851 shows “how the magic ring was forged by a dwarf and cursed in the first place (Das Rheingold). Cut and paste, and bingo – the heart of Tolkien’s LOTR clearly taken lifted straight from Wagner. Carolyn then gives you the notes of the famous Tristan chord by Wagner: F B D# and G# - I expecting the heavens to open up but realized it was just a normal minor seven flat-five chord - common to any 1950’s jazz standard. This book gives great background, mentioning all the important operas and composers. It’s value to me was revealing operas I didn’t know but should, and giving me better historical perspective.

[Nathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I should probably put this on the abandoned shelf, as I barely made it 2/3s through (and it took 12 months to get that far), but I've spent enough time on it that I feel I can make enough of a judgement.

This is, unfortunately, a bit of a slog. I felt continually disappointed at how many hours I was putting into it and barley making any progress. The authors are terrifically boring writers, regardless of their rich knowledge of opera. Unfortunately their enthusiasm does not translate well to the page. And consequently the facts don't stick to my memory. Ultimately I feel like I've retained very little that I read in the first ~300 pages of this book. So, what's the point in carrying on? From now on I will use it merely as a reference guide.

[Edzy]

A survey of opera in the last 400 years, from Monteverdi to the present. One important caveat--it really is still too short at 567 pages. Ideally this book should be at least 700 pages long. Absent is any study of baroque opera seria other than Handel's; nothing but the most cursory mention of Vivaldi, whose operatic works are undergoing a steady revival.

Abbate and Parker tend to ignore fringe repertory, but their survey is outstanding on mainstream oeuvre, especially the central works of canonical opera composers like Wagner and Richard Strauss, whose Ring and Der Rosenkavalier are analyzed in some detail. Musicological notations are kept to a minimum, helpful for a non-specialist like me.

[Gaby · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you already know a lot about opera this is not the book for you, but if you are still in the learning process this book is good option. It has some pretty boring section, that I wish I could just skip, especially on the operas of the twentieth century. The writers are experts on 19th century opera that is easy to notice, since they spent way too much pages there. The way they explain the operas is sometimes heavy and hard to follow. Nevertheless this book is worth reading.

[Two Readers in Love · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very engaging overview of opera for a novice opera lover like myself. I came away with a better understanding of the few operas I have seen so far, and -- even better -- notes on many operas that this book introduced me to that are now on my "must-see" list.

[PaulaB · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's not a bad book at all.The idea is good but way too superficial, the introduction was interesting (especially on the reflexion on how opera had been experienced throughout the centuries). I like the idea that the book is divided into 30 pages essays, though there's barely any analysis, which is quite disappointing. If you like the academic writing style this is for you. Otherwise you will be bored quite easily. It's a series of heavily detailed historical essays on the some of the most famous opera composers. There's barely any contextual or conceptual analysis explaining anything, it makes the content of this book a bit dull. Another problem, as mentioned is the amount of details. Authors want to show the great extend of their operatic knowledge (which is interesting) but do only name dropping or should I say aria dropping.
Early in the book Handel's revival is mentionned, especially among the younger generations, it could have been interesting to analyse it but the boomer like approach just wonders, states and does not think.
Unfortunately I only rate 2 stars as I had to put the book on hold after 200 pages.
Finally, I think the book missed his goal as the authors refused to take a thematic approach and by weakly linking all chapters together.

(apologies for the bad grammar etc I've wrote this early in the morning after an insomnia episode where I had great hopes to read this book)

[Gregg Lines · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this history very much. My intentions were to get a basic feel for the development of opera and to learn more about its key proponents. My favorite chapters were probably the ones addressing Monteverdi, Verdi, and Wagner. Admittedly some of it can get tough to get through; for example taking sidetracks into the depths of one particular opera, libretto, etc. However, on the other hand I appreciated it at times as a way to get a good idea about substantial works without reading entire librettos or having seen each opera.

Not for casual readers, but you don’t have to be an expert in music or opera to enjoy (although basic music theory background helps).

[Justin Evans · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really more a history of operas and the (almost only) men who write them, and so, for me, rather too dry. I was hoping for much more, well, operatic drama, social history, cultural history, even economic history. It's not bad, per se, it's just not a history of opera as anything other than a collection of musical works. As other reviewers mentioned, they have occasional great ideas, and there's some interesting theorizing in there, but after Mozart is becomes much less interesting. It's a shame.

[Denise · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant, informative, passionate, in precise language. This book is a real treat for every music lover. You have to have some stamina though to go through 567 pages but they are worth the effort. It is available in a very good german translation as well but you should enjoy the original, the authors try and succeed not to become stuffy although their subject matter can become heady! Very well done, thank you!

[Jeff Kerestes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Exhaustive and well-written, A History of Opera puts context behind the composers and works that define the genre. While successful in covering the most well-known operas, most interesting was the coverage of crucial works that aren't present in contemporary repertory. Unless you're very familiar with music theory, there are extended portions of the book that will be difficult to follow. It's a great (albeit long) introduction overall.

[Caleb M. Powers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really wish I had the time to keep reading this one, but the research must press on, and the rest of the book wasn't relevant to that research. The book had a great introduction to opera in general, and I enjoyed the first chapter as well, about its early history. Really fascinating stuff presented in an engaging manner.

[N. N. Santiago · Rating 3 out of 5]

'How can people like opera when it's so artificial? I mean, singing when in real life someone would be speaking? Crazy! Especially that ridiculous opera seria stuff!!'

[Rohit · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fabulous history even for a non-core opera audience. Questions - why has it survived for so long isn't yet clear?

[Eline · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic read. Truly enlightening and enjoyable through and through.

[Joyce · Rating 4 out of 5]

plenty to chew on, although maybe not geared towards a total beginner such as myself, all the actual discussions of notes flew right over my head.

[Maciej Adamczyk · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars, rounded down. Some great analysis of some great operas, mixed with some scorchingly awful takes. Oh well.

[Maria Borges · Rating 5 out of 5]

I knew barely anything about opera, yet I loved it. The writing is easy to read, with many fascinating things to learn and interesting insights to consider.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

There’s no doubt about it, this book was a long slog for me. I had to skim parts that weren’t interesting to me. But having said that, there were many parts that were very interesting and educational—the early history of opera’s place in society, the different cities’ influence on the art form (I’m looking at you, Paris), and the evolving craft of operatic structure and storytelling. I especially liked the discussion of a few of Wagner’s operas—perhaps because I haven’t spent much time with them, and because they were very different than their predecessors.
Three stars for the effort required, but plus one for the monumental effort from the authors.

[Courtney · Rating 2 out of 5]

I bought A History of Opera over a year ago because I work for an opera company and I thought I might as well learn more about opera itself. This was a slow read for me. Have I enjoyed other music history books more than this one? Yes. Was it a bad book? No.

There was a lot more music analysis in A History of Opera than I thought, but I should've expected that because music history always involves at least some music analysis. I did like learning a bit more about the opera giants that I've heard so much about in school and work, such as Mozart, Verdi, and, of course (unfortunately), Wagner. I also liked that the book encompasses the very beginning of opera's formation to the present-day struggles of composers writing new operas and the museum culture of opera. I would have liked a bit more storytelling regarding the actual history of opera, but overall it was an okay read.

If you love music history and music analysis/theory and are interested in opera, you will enjoy A History of Opera.

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was really great. Although I was a little let down by their diagnosis of the demise of new operas, maybe I wanted a more interesting answer than "opera is expensive and the new ones aren't as popular." They brought up some interesting issues - e.g. one composer mentioning that there's a 2 million dollar investment being placed on him but he's writing something he's never written before, and about how the tradition ended a hundred years ago so there's no guideline on how to write a modern opera. It wasn't really elaborated on though. Overall, it was a history book that I got excited enough about that I read the last 150 pages yesterday, which is imo pretty amazing. Planning to reread it in 5 years when I'm familiar with all the music they're talking about.

[kacey · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Writers on opera tend to fall into two mutually hostile camps: the mind people and the body people, the Kermans and the Koestenbaums. Abbate and Parker are in possession of minds AND bodies, and alive to pleasures rational as well as sensual. Their take on opera is generous – singers and audiences and directors claim their attention and people their pages, alongside composers and librettists – and their prose is gorgeous, combining scholarly precision with the ardor of true lovers. Their history is elegiac: their beloved genre, they acknowledge, is dying, living off its past. But what a past it is, and the book pays it fitting tribute: it sings." - Richard Taruskin

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this was a fun romp through the history of opera. The authors write with a nice sense of humor, and do a nice job of emphasizing important themes, such as the difficulty of dealing with spoken word. They also do a wonderful job of comparing and contrasting operatic trends with modern entertainment trends, and make an argument that similarities are more than coincidental. I found it hard to go through the book without turning to my CD collection and a friend's collection to play and re-play some of the discussed operas, many of which I enjoyed from a new perspective.

[Abe Fabella · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very pleasurable reading about a fascinating subject. Accessible enough for the layman as well as stimulating for the seasoned scholar. A beautiful ode to one of the greatest achievements of Western civilization. Bravissimo!

[Russell Chee · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is very odd. It's simultaneously very superficial and also rather inaccessible, a series of essays about some operas instead of a coherent narrative about the opera.

Still, anyone who enjoys music seriously will find much of interest here.

[Nathan Kendrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book but was a little let down by how dismissive it was of opera written in the second half of the 20th century. Composers such as Gian Carlo Menotti weren't even mentioned!