The Rough Guide to Opera

by Matthew Boyden

The Rough Guide to Opera is a unique handbook on the most thrilling of art forms, spanning four hundred years of music drama. The title features lively biographical sketches of some 150 composers from Claudio Monteverdi to Poul Ruders, animating the main events of their careers and revealing their social and musical context. Entertaining accounts of hundreds of operas both famous and neglected and comprehensive reviews of over a thousand CD's from recent digital releases to the best historical recordings. From historical figures like Caruso to contemporary stars like Bryn Terfel, Renee Fleming and Daniel Barenboim, discover the finest singers and conductors on record. Superb photographs, drawings, and CD cover images make this title an Opera-lover's essential.

Genres: Music

768 pages, Paperback

First published July 16, 2007

Reviews

[Monjamckay · Rating 5 out of 5]

I own this book and look up each opera before I go... it has history of the composers and the different histories and styles of opera from the first opera to today... And more importantly it has the stories so I can read them and know what is going on even if I look up from the subtitles... But this is not a book one would read for fun unless they are an opera buff

[Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

A surprisingly excellent overview of opera, opera history, performers and conductors including comprehensive recommendations for outstanding recordings.

[Alan Cooke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely essential for opera monomaniacs such as myself. This is a primary source of the raw meterial I mine to bore my wife half to death.