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A Mad Love: An Introduction to Opera
There are few art forms as visceral and emotional as opera and few that are as daunting for newcomers. A Mad Love offers a spirited and indispensable tour of opera's eclectic past and present, beginning with Monteverdi's L'Orfeo in 1607, generally considered the first successful opera, through classics like Carmen and La Boheme, and spanning to Brokeback Mountain and The Death of Klinghoffer in recent years. Musician and critic Vivien Schweitzer acquaints readers with the genre's most important composers and some of its most influential performers, recounts its long-standing debates, and explains its essential terminology.
Today, opera is everywhere, from the historic houses of major opera companies to movie theaters and public parks to offbeat performance spaces and our earbuds. A Mad Love is an essential book for anyone who wants to appreciate this living, evolving art form in all its richness.
Today, opera is everywhere, from the historic houses of major opera companies to movie theaters and public parks to offbeat performance spaces and our earbuds. A Mad Love is an essential book for anyone who wants to appreciate this living, evolving art form in all its richness.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published September 18, 2018
58 people are currently reading
658 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
January 18, 2022
I learned a lot about opera overall, without anything too deep. I learned a bit of history, some differences in contemporary opera, different ways of staging productions, enduring problems, new challenges. That kind of thing. So it's fairly accessible, and I suppose now I'm a bit more informed. But I do wish it'd blown me away.
October 1, 2018
O Dolci baci, o languide carezze
I’ve never read a book about opera. Until now. And this nonfiction work astonished me. It is well written, easy to read and enjoy, full of informations and examples.
I didn’t know anything about opera before reading this book. I knew the story of Tosca just because I loved a musical about it, nothing more. I was fascinated by the music history and by the opera theatre, so I wanted to learn more about these subjects. I decided to request this arc from Netgalley and the publisher and I’m very about how this “personal experiment” turned out: I enjoyed the reading very much.
The books is written in chronological order, it’s full of notes and little explanations, the writing style is easy to follow and shows the passion of the author about the theme.
The history of opera starts in Mantua, an Italian city, with the Orfeo written by Monteverdi in honor of a small aristocratic audience that would be familiar with mythological stories and themes. Before seventeen century (1607 precisely), actors were not interested in singing their stories, they were accompanied by music and a chorus. Now the opera permitted to combine music and poetry to tell a story. The actors should sing and not only speak their lines. The Orfeo isn’t technically the first opera, but was the most famous at the moment.
In the first part of the book the author explains how the theater worked and how the opera began. The writer showes very well how the audience must accepted the strange choices of actors and scenes, magic and drama. The opera is cathartic, which means that people, after or during the show, changes ideas or has to read the reality with new eyes, because of the strong emotions felt in about two hours. In Ancient Greece dramas were cathartic as much as opera plays, and the important view of emotions’ impact were foundation to the theatrical experience and to the real meaning of the theatre itself. Without the audience’s emotions the actors wouldn’t know how their work was well done. With the opera, the emotions were expressed by songs and poetry in music: the sadness and the love were magnified.
The author then explains the differences between singers, women or men, castrati or white voices. There are also some informations about different time periods, really interesting and important to understand the different roles and realities of the actors.
Writing about opera means also writing about the themes and the stories of the different plays: the author does a great job in summarizing big narrations in few lines. So, the reader can enjoy the reading with more knowledge and passion.
A real interesting part is about the surreal aspects of the opera: there is a lot of quotes about this theme.
A heroine can sing passionately while dying of tuberculosis, or that people can fall in love a millisecond after meeting.
In opera, no matter how unlikely a situation or fantastical a character, he or she represents very human frailties, desires and emotions.
And then this:
Perhaps the only truly surreal aspect of opera is that an unamplified human voice can fill a large theatre with an intensity that seems to have been conjured by a magician’s wand.
I cannot agreed more.
After Monteverdi plays, the writer explains the works of great composers, as Mozart and Bizet.
Talking about this authors the writer introduces a lot of interesting facts about their lifestyles, their ideas, their different opinion about music, voice, storytelling impact and themes.
The history of opera is in front of our eyes, with the luxurious music and the amplified voices, the strongest emotions and the different characters.
Bellini, Rossini and Donizetti have a unique chapter, the second, most about the bel canto style. In the nineteenth century‘s chapter (the third) there is also an important part about Puccini and the giants of this period, as Wagner and Verdi. Really interesting the little informations about the “nationalism” of their works.
After this immersion in German and Late Italian operas, the author explains the verismo or realism with Puccini and Strauss, as I said before. Slavic opera showed itself in these pages.
In Chapter five Strauss is more explicated and there were references to Gershwin and Shostakovich works.
The sixth chapter talks about XXI century opera, while the seventh explores the new problems of the opera in the contemporary world.
With passion and accessible words the author explains very well the uncommon world of the opera, amusing the reader and making the read enjoyable with interesting notes and funny stories about librettists and composers. Really good, I cannot recommend this book more. It was a surprise.
L'ora è fuggita, e muoio disperato!
E muoio disperato!
E non ho amato mai tanto la vita,
tanto la vita!
*I received a free digital copy of this book form the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*
I’ve never read a book about opera. Until now. And this nonfiction work astonished me. It is well written, easy to read and enjoy, full of informations and examples.
I didn’t know anything about opera before reading this book. I knew the story of Tosca just because I loved a musical about it, nothing more. I was fascinated by the music history and by the opera theatre, so I wanted to learn more about these subjects. I decided to request this arc from Netgalley and the publisher and I’m very about how this “personal experiment” turned out: I enjoyed the reading very much.
The books is written in chronological order, it’s full of notes and little explanations, the writing style is easy to follow and shows the passion of the author about the theme.
The history of opera starts in Mantua, an Italian city, with the Orfeo written by Monteverdi in honor of a small aristocratic audience that would be familiar with mythological stories and themes. Before seventeen century (1607 precisely), actors were not interested in singing their stories, they were accompanied by music and a chorus. Now the opera permitted to combine music and poetry to tell a story. The actors should sing and not only speak their lines. The Orfeo isn’t technically the first opera, but was the most famous at the moment.
In the first part of the book the author explains how the theater worked and how the opera began. The writer showes very well how the audience must accepted the strange choices of actors and scenes, magic and drama. The opera is cathartic, which means that people, after or during the show, changes ideas or has to read the reality with new eyes, because of the strong emotions felt in about two hours. In Ancient Greece dramas were cathartic as much as opera plays, and the important view of emotions’ impact were foundation to the theatrical experience and to the real meaning of the theatre itself. Without the audience’s emotions the actors wouldn’t know how their work was well done. With the opera, the emotions were expressed by songs and poetry in music: the sadness and the love were magnified.
The author then explains the differences between singers, women or men, castrati or white voices. There are also some informations about different time periods, really interesting and important to understand the different roles and realities of the actors.
Writing about opera means also writing about the themes and the stories of the different plays: the author does a great job in summarizing big narrations in few lines. So, the reader can enjoy the reading with more knowledge and passion.
A real interesting part is about the surreal aspects of the opera: there is a lot of quotes about this theme.
A heroine can sing passionately while dying of tuberculosis, or that people can fall in love a millisecond after meeting.
In opera, no matter how unlikely a situation or fantastical a character, he or she represents very human frailties, desires and emotions.
And then this:
Perhaps the only truly surreal aspect of opera is that an unamplified human voice can fill a large theatre with an intensity that seems to have been conjured by a magician’s wand.
I cannot agreed more.
After Monteverdi plays, the writer explains the works of great composers, as Mozart and Bizet.
Talking about this authors the writer introduces a lot of interesting facts about their lifestyles, their ideas, their different opinion about music, voice, storytelling impact and themes.
The history of opera is in front of our eyes, with the luxurious music and the amplified voices, the strongest emotions and the different characters.
Bellini, Rossini and Donizetti have a unique chapter, the second, most about the bel canto style. In the nineteenth century‘s chapter (the third) there is also an important part about Puccini and the giants of this period, as Wagner and Verdi. Really interesting the little informations about the “nationalism” of their works.
After this immersion in German and Late Italian operas, the author explains the verismo or realism with Puccini and Strauss, as I said before. Slavic opera showed itself in these pages.
In Chapter five Strauss is more explicated and there were references to Gershwin and Shostakovich works.
The sixth chapter talks about XXI century opera, while the seventh explores the new problems of the opera in the contemporary world.
With passion and accessible words the author explains very well the uncommon world of the opera, amusing the reader and making the read enjoyable with interesting notes and funny stories about librettists and composers. Really good, I cannot recommend this book more. It was a surprise.
L'ora è fuggita, e muoio disperato!
E muoio disperato!
E non ho amato mai tanto la vita,
tanto la vita!
*I received a free digital copy of this book form the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*
February 18, 2023
A invitation for non-musicians to fall in love with opera
My "currently reading" stack is so tall that it reaches above my desk from the floor. And, today, I just finished Vivien Schweitzer's wonderful little book after more than four years of reading. In that time, I've modified the book considerably with more than a dozen sticky tabs extending from pages of the book concerning operas I've been enjoying through those years, thanks to the availability of marvelous operas on Bluray.
Back in the autumn of 2018, when her book was favorably reviewed in The New York Times (she's a former Times writer), I asked for this for Christmas and began reading it as a way to step into an artistic realm that I barely had experienced in my six decades on the planet. Oh, I had attended a few operas, but had little appreciation for this realm. About that time, I also began watching episodes of Ramon Gener's marvelous series that streams on Amazon, called This Is Opera. Like Schweitzer's book, Gener's series is designed for the non-musician to discover this marvelous world.
I read Schweitzer and watched Gener very very slowly, because I would find an opera they both were recommending and then I would go out to find a great Bluray version, read about it in advance, watch any video "extras" and then immerse myself in the opera over a number of evenings. So, for four years, I have been trying to make up for my 60-some years of neglecting opera.
And, no, I'm no expert now, but I can highly recommend to others both Gener's marvelously creative video series and Schweitzer's book. Both are quite opinionated, which I think is fun. They make their arguments and dare readers and viewers to discover for themselves whether they are right or not.
This has been a great, memorable adventure and now that I've finally turned Schweitzer's last page, I felt I should recommend the book to others.
My "currently reading" stack is so tall that it reaches above my desk from the floor. And, today, I just finished Vivien Schweitzer's wonderful little book after more than four years of reading. In that time, I've modified the book considerably with more than a dozen sticky tabs extending from pages of the book concerning operas I've been enjoying through those years, thanks to the availability of marvelous operas on Bluray.
Back in the autumn of 2018, when her book was favorably reviewed in The New York Times (she's a former Times writer), I asked for this for Christmas and began reading it as a way to step into an artistic realm that I barely had experienced in my six decades on the planet. Oh, I had attended a few operas, but had little appreciation for this realm. About that time, I also began watching episodes of Ramon Gener's marvelous series that streams on Amazon, called This Is Opera. Like Schweitzer's book, Gener's series is designed for the non-musician to discover this marvelous world.
I read Schweitzer and watched Gener very very slowly, because I would find an opera they both were recommending and then I would go out to find a great Bluray version, read about it in advance, watch any video "extras" and then immerse myself in the opera over a number of evenings. So, for four years, I have been trying to make up for my 60-some years of neglecting opera.
And, no, I'm no expert now, but I can highly recommend to others both Gener's marvelously creative video series and Schweitzer's book. Both are quite opinionated, which I think is fun. They make their arguments and dare readers and viewers to discover for themselves whether they are right or not.
This has been a great, memorable adventure and now that I've finally turned Schweitzer's last page, I felt I should recommend the book to others.
September 16, 2025
pozycja idealna dla wszystkich, którzy chcieliby bliżej obcować z operą (lub też dla jej miłośników)❤️
ależ mi się to świetnie czytało! autorka w świetny sposób wprowadza nas w zawirowany świat opery - od jej początków, przez barokowy i romantyczny rozkwit, aż po teraźniejszość.
muzyczne i muzykologiczne określenia, których używa zawsze są bardzo dobrze wyjaśnione i nawet laik z łatwością połapie się w tym temacie - jak ja kocham takie popularno-naukowe teksty aaaaaa!!
świetna synteza historii operowego gatunku, wypunktowanie najważniejszych i sztampowych dzieł oraz popularyzacja muzyki operowej - to kwintesencja „Szalonej miłości”🎶
ależ mi się to świetnie czytało! autorka w świetny sposób wprowadza nas w zawirowany świat opery - od jej początków, przez barokowy i romantyczny rozkwit, aż po teraźniejszość.
muzyczne i muzykologiczne określenia, których używa zawsze są bardzo dobrze wyjaśnione i nawet laik z łatwością połapie się w tym temacie - jak ja kocham takie popularno-naukowe teksty aaaaaa!!
świetna synteza historii operowego gatunku, wypunktowanie najważniejszych i sztampowych dzieł oraz popularyzacja muzyki operowej - to kwintesencja „Szalonej miłości”🎶
February 28, 2019
Ms. Schweitzer does an excellent job of providing a sweeping introduction to opera. While going mostly chronologically, she hits on major types of opera as well as delving into a lot of details about music, costume, sets, directing, and everything else that makes up opera. She also provides plot summaries, her reviews, background on famous composers and others in the opera scene, and keeps it all enjoyable and easy to read.
January 31, 2019
If you're familiar with opera, there won't be anything new for you here. But if you're just discovering this most theatrical of musical forms, this should prove a very useful book.
Lively, fresh, with up-to-date references as well as respectful nods to classic examinations of the art, this is a good basic overview that doesn't go into too much depth* but covers the tried and true pretty well in a manner that's straightforward and easy to understand without ever descending to condescension. Schweitzer, a pianist and critic who covered classical music and opera for the New York Times for a decade, has lots of viewing and listening experience under her belt and her enthusiasm for the art is palpable and contagious. If you love opera but have friends that just don't quite get it, this might be a good book to give them. And if you're newly initiated and already smitten but not quite sure what exactly it is that makes opera so powerful and addictive, this could be the book for you too.
*Don't expect to find any mention of Glinka, Borodin, Dvořák, Poulenc, Bartók, Ligeti, or Ravel. Even Massenet, Gounod, and Meyerbeer hardly rate a mention, and Verdi and Wagner share a rather skimpy chapter-a circumstance which might have had the two men tearing their hair out in real life.
Lively, fresh, with up-to-date references as well as respectful nods to classic examinations of the art, this is a good basic overview that doesn't go into too much depth* but covers the tried and true pretty well in a manner that's straightforward and easy to understand without ever descending to condescension. Schweitzer, a pianist and critic who covered classical music and opera for the New York Times for a decade, has lots of viewing and listening experience under her belt and her enthusiasm for the art is palpable and contagious. If you love opera but have friends that just don't quite get it, this might be a good book to give them. And if you're newly initiated and already smitten but not quite sure what exactly it is that makes opera so powerful and addictive, this could be the book for you too.
*Don't expect to find any mention of Glinka, Borodin, Dvořák, Poulenc, Bartók, Ligeti, or Ravel. Even Massenet, Gounod, and Meyerbeer hardly rate a mention, and Verdi and Wagner share a rather skimpy chapter-a circumstance which might have had the two men tearing their hair out in real life.
December 17, 2018
Dynamic, entertaining overview of the opera from its origins to the present. Full of anecdotes I didn’t know and was glad to learn. Made me jot down a list of new operas to see, including some of the modern ones. I’ll be paying attention to the operas I see with new considerations in mind because of this book. Heartily recommend.
August 9, 2019
Excellent overview of the history of opera with links to the music discussed found on Spotify. In addition to factual information, the author writes with passion about the magical moments and fascinating people found in opera.
December 16, 2019
Breezy and delightful intro to opera.
March 16, 2023
I'm not a fan of opera but I did enjoy learning the about the subject. The author did an excellent job of explaining the history of opera, the different types of opera, the composers and their methodology etc. I listened to several of the arias that the author mentions, especially the one featured in a scene from the Shawshank Redemption that I didn't remember. Interesting book especially if the reader has some knowledge of the technicalities of music (I do not) and has an interest in opera.
December 13, 2018
Perfect place to begin for a neophyte like me! Entertaining, informative, and focuses more on the big ideas behind the art form instead of a straight-up history. Highly recommend if you have any interest in learning about opera (I had next to none until I read the great review of this book in the NYT) and you know little.
April 24, 2019
A nice introduction to opera, with many leads on operas to try.
April 9, 2021
SZALONA MIŁOŚĆ. WPROWADZENIE DO OPERY”🫂
Vivien Schweitzer Wydawnictwo Czarna Owca
Macie ochotę poznać bliżej operę? Zagłębić się w jej zakamarki. Dzięki Vivien Schweitzer mamy taką możliwość. Poznajemy operę od czasu renesansu aż po XXI wiek. Przeczytajcie jak kiedyś to wyglądało, a jak wygląda to dzisiaj. Niesamowite dzieło. Dzięki autorce mam ochotę wybrać się do opery. Poznać bliżej emocje jakie ona wywołuje.
Możemy poznać najlepszych kompozytorów i najlepszych odtwórców ich dzieł. Która opera zapadła wam najbardziej w pamięć? A może macie swojego ulubionego kompozytora.
Niestety ja nie interesowałam się nigdy tą tematyką. Byłam może tylko raz czy dwa w operze. Dlatego ta książka tak bardzo przypadła mi do gustu. Chcę poznać emocje towarzyszące pisaniu jak i graniu. Ta książka pokazała mi jak bardzo na przestrzeni wieków zmieniło się postrzeganie opery. Każdej sztuce towarzyszą inne emocje. Każdy kto wchodzi w swoją rolę dokłada swoich emocji. To jest piękne.
Polecam tą książkę nie tylko fanom opery, ale również i laikom takim jak ja.
Poznajcie wzloty i upadki opery. Dla mnie bomba nie wiem jak dla was. Ja z całego serca polecam "Szalona miłość. Wprowadzenie do opery.". Nie czytałam jeszcze podobnej książki - w tym temacie. Chętnie za jakiś czas ponownie ją przeczytam.
Moja ocena 8/10
Do you want to get to know the opera better? Delve into its nooks and crannies. Thanks to Vivien Schweitzer, we have this opportunity. We get to know opera from the Renaissance to the 21st century. Read what it looked like in the past and what it looks like today. Amazing work. Thanks to the author, I feel like going to the opera. Get to know the emotions it evokes. We can meet the best composers and the best performers of their works. Which opera do you remember the most? Or maybe you have your favorite composer. Unfortunately, I have never been interested in this subject. I've only been to the opera once or twice. That's why I liked this book so much. I want to know the emotions of writing and playing. This book showed me how the perception of opera has changed over the centuries. Each art is accompanied by different emotions. Anyone accepting their role as a gift to their emotions. It is beautiful.
I recommend this book not only to opera fans, but also to laymen like me.
Explore the ups and downs of opera. Bomb for me, I don't know about you. I wholeheartedly recommend "Crazy Love. Introduction to Opera". I haven't read a similar book yet - on this subject. I would love to read it again in a moment.
Vivien Schweitzer Wydawnictwo Czarna Owca
Macie ochotę poznać bliżej operę? Zagłębić się w jej zakamarki. Dzięki Vivien Schweitzer mamy taką możliwość. Poznajemy operę od czasu renesansu aż po XXI wiek. Przeczytajcie jak kiedyś to wyglądało, a jak wygląda to dzisiaj. Niesamowite dzieło. Dzięki autorce mam ochotę wybrać się do opery. Poznać bliżej emocje jakie ona wywołuje.
Możemy poznać najlepszych kompozytorów i najlepszych odtwórców ich dzieł. Która opera zapadła wam najbardziej w pamięć? A może macie swojego ulubionego kompozytora.
Niestety ja nie interesowałam się nigdy tą tematyką. Byłam może tylko raz czy dwa w operze. Dlatego ta książka tak bardzo przypadła mi do gustu. Chcę poznać emocje towarzyszące pisaniu jak i graniu. Ta książka pokazała mi jak bardzo na przestrzeni wieków zmieniło się postrzeganie opery. Każdej sztuce towarzyszą inne emocje. Każdy kto wchodzi w swoją rolę dokłada swoich emocji. To jest piękne.
Polecam tą książkę nie tylko fanom opery, ale również i laikom takim jak ja.
Poznajcie wzloty i upadki opery. Dla mnie bomba nie wiem jak dla was. Ja z całego serca polecam "Szalona miłość. Wprowadzenie do opery.". Nie czytałam jeszcze podobnej książki - w tym temacie. Chętnie za jakiś czas ponownie ją przeczytam.
Moja ocena 8/10
Do you want to get to know the opera better? Delve into its nooks and crannies. Thanks to Vivien Schweitzer, we have this opportunity. We get to know opera from the Renaissance to the 21st century. Read what it looked like in the past and what it looks like today. Amazing work. Thanks to the author, I feel like going to the opera. Get to know the emotions it evokes. We can meet the best composers and the best performers of their works. Which opera do you remember the most? Or maybe you have your favorite composer. Unfortunately, I have never been interested in this subject. I've only been to the opera once or twice. That's why I liked this book so much. I want to know the emotions of writing and playing. This book showed me how the perception of opera has changed over the centuries. Each art is accompanied by different emotions. Anyone accepting their role as a gift to their emotions. It is beautiful.
I recommend this book not only to opera fans, but also to laymen like me.
Explore the ups and downs of opera. Bomb for me, I don't know about you. I wholeheartedly recommend "Crazy Love. Introduction to Opera". I haven't read a similar book yet - on this subject. I would love to read it again in a moment.
April 8, 2023
First let me say I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I debated between four and five stars. However, a caveat: I listened to this on audio book and enjoyed the author's flawless pronunciation of Italian as well as the inflection and nuance she added to musical terms. I wonder if it might be a much drier read if read on a page.
As a singer who has seen my share of Musicals and an odd opera I wanted to learn more about Opera as it is an area I want to pursue, so the subject matter was of interest to me. I enjoyed learning about opera history, opera humor, opera politics and how opera became what it is today. I had two immediate reactions to reading this:
First, I immediately want to go out and watch all the operas mentioned that I have never seen (Puccini here I come!)
Second, I want to drag all my friends along and share all my newly gained insider info and fan information.
I realize this may not be the case if you do not like classical music, singing, composing, drama, staged productions or all of the above. However, if you DO like any of the above and you're NOT already an expert in opera history, this is the book for you!
As a singer who has seen my share of Musicals and an odd opera I wanted to learn more about Opera as it is an area I want to pursue, so the subject matter was of interest to me. I enjoyed learning about opera history, opera humor, opera politics and how opera became what it is today. I had two immediate reactions to reading this:
First, I immediately want to go out and watch all the operas mentioned that I have never seen (Puccini here I come!)
Second, I want to drag all my friends along and share all my newly gained insider info and fan information.
I realize this may not be the case if you do not like classical music, singing, composing, drama, staged productions or all of the above. However, if you DO like any of the above and you're NOT already an expert in opera history, this is the book for you!
January 14, 2024
Decent introduction to opera. For whatever reason, when I want introductions to a topic, I compare it to Gombrich's The Story of Art, and this book is certainly not that. My main issue with it is that it seems completely unorganized. It generally follows opera through the centuries, but there is no organization of thought or topic. It's much like a stream of consciousness.
It wasn't until the last or second to last chapter that she explains a little more about the relationship between the composer and the librettist. But she still doesn't spend much time on this subject. I was very interested in it, it seems worthy of a fuller treatment in a book like this.
Most of the book is discussing and providing synopses of the major important operas. More or less, it has helped narrow down for me the ones to try and see. It was also interesting to read about modern opera, to see that this art form is still alive and well. Who knows what operas being created today or even from that past that will be popular 50 years hence.
It wasn't until the last or second to last chapter that she explains a little more about the relationship between the composer and the librettist. But she still doesn't spend much time on this subject. I was very interested in it, it seems worthy of a fuller treatment in a book like this.
Most of the book is discussing and providing synopses of the major important operas. More or less, it has helped narrow down for me the ones to try and see. It was also interesting to read about modern opera, to see that this art form is still alive and well. Who knows what operas being created today or even from that past that will be popular 50 years hence.
June 5, 2025
DNF 65%. This book didn't grab me, and I only got as far as I did while lounging poolside in Tunisia. On the trip back and once home, I felt no draw to finish the book. So I let the Libby borrow expire.
My problem with this book was that of an expert attempting to write a 101 course. I can tell Schweitzer has a deep love and passion for opera, and it comes through with the writing. But that's exactly the problem. As someone not into opera, the paragraphs swooning over artistry reads as less than blank to me; it's actively disengaging. A book that bills itself as an introduction should not scare away people like me with a passing interest in the subject.
An introduction should be cursory by definition, and the more in-depth parts reserved for the higher-level courses. Schweitzer abandons the introduction conceit pretty quickly, and dives into the specifics of how some pieces and composers are maestros for X or Y reason. I couldn't help but start drifting off into space like when I was an undergrad in a required course that I didn't care about.
My problem with this book was that of an expert attempting to write a 101 course. I can tell Schweitzer has a deep love and passion for opera, and it comes through with the writing. But that's exactly the problem. As someone not into opera, the paragraphs swooning over artistry reads as less than blank to me; it's actively disengaging. A book that bills itself as an introduction should not scare away people like me with a passing interest in the subject.
An introduction should be cursory by definition, and the more in-depth parts reserved for the higher-level courses. Schweitzer abandons the introduction conceit pretty quickly, and dives into the specifics of how some pieces and composers are maestros for X or Y reason. I couldn't help but start drifting off into space like when I was an undergrad in a required course that I didn't care about.
September 13, 2025
"Opera, through singing, must make one weep, shudder, die."
-- Vincenzo Bellini
"Chi ha vissuto per amore, per amore si mori."
Puccini, Il tabarro
Some observers have wondered whether opera, with its artifice, is a good fit for the twenty-first century. But perhaps the unrealism of opera renders it the ultimate art form for this century -- an era of Photoshopped images in which people idealize their personal lives for public consumption on social media. Our era, with its digital disguises, is an unnatural one on so many levels. Yet despite its artificial elements, opera, with its un-airbrushed emotions, is also the antidote to artificiality: you're never unsure about what a character really feels. Opera -- and the power of the human voice -- provides the authentic and heart-wrenching catharsis so very much needed in our time.
June 20, 2021
Ms. Schweitzer is obviously an opera enthusiasts. She, also, is quite skilled at weaving opera in contemporary American culture rather than a dead art form. I love opera (and much live music in many genres) and I think Ms. Schweitzer has written a great resource for those new to exploring opera. The book is accompanied by a Spotify playlist of over 200 tracks so the reader can listen to many of the innovations Ms. Schweitzer discusses. My main criticism of the book is that Ms. Schweitzer focuses too much on the plots of the operas. She could have explored more of the musical innovations without getting too technical. I would have preferred more explanation of musical concepts. Nevertheless, the book is well written and easy and fun to read. For those who do not have a great exposure to opera, but are opera-curious, I think this is a great way to learn more.
October 12, 2018
I had to familiarize myself with this book for work, and ended up reading it all. Schweitzer does a great job of putting opera into larger cultural and historical contexts of its time, as well as sharing interesting anecdotes about composer, performers, and even directors. It is very accessible, and I learned a lot about the art form itself, and how it has developed over 4 centuries. She also went the extra mile to put together a 244 clip Spotify playlist to illustrate opera over time. Great for someone who knows nothing, or a a lot, about opera!
January 4, 2022
This book is pretty terrific—a brisk and compact (although information-packed) survey of the history of opera. Schweitzer covers its beginnings to now, touching on all of the important ideas, movements, composers, and works, as well as some of the productions, directors and singers that have made the biggest impact. She does it in down-to-earth, often humorous prose that breezes by. While many histories of opera can feel overly academic and fairly tedious, with endless discussions of music theory, this book breaks that down for the casual opera-lover or neophyte. Highly recommended.
April 7, 2021
A very good introduction to opera where it is good, for example, explanations for how the music is working in particular places or her well-informed critical judgments about contemporary operas. However, the book was often disappointing for me when instead we are essentially given a plot summary--that is easily obtainable elsewhere. The extensive Spotify playlist is a spectacular bonus!
March 19, 2022
If you know nothing about opera and want to dip your feet in, this is a perfect place to start. It’s a broad sweep through western opera history noting the essential operas along the way. It’s not definitive nor is it a deeper look into aspects of opera. The book does not claim to be anything more than an introduction to opera.
January 29, 2025
I didn't really know what to expect going into this. I thought it was a nice overview of Opera. I wish the author went more in-depth about the "mad" scenes, since that's what this is titled after. Since I study art and media, it wasn't the thick academic text that I'm normally used too. I will definitely be seeing the opera about the Palestinian Liberation Front.
April 27, 2020
An insightful short history of and introduction to opera. It does a fine job of explaining the history, discussing key works, and explaining to readers how certain elements work (including looking at some things in opera productions that did not).
January 16, 2023
Belatedly I was introduced to opera during the covid lockdown period, which made those years a little "shorter". I agree with this author that "Opera's unrealism" fits our "unrealistic" era rather well. The Spotify playlist she compiled is a charm; kudos.
July 31, 2020
Great read for someone who never saw an actual opera but grew up listening to opera singers. What a beautiful art form an opera is and it's only for the truly gifted and hardworking artists to make.
January 23, 2022
A very fine introduction to a potentially daunting subject!
March 24, 2022
A fabulous whirlwind introduction to opera. Definitely take the time to pause and listen to the recommended music playlist.
August 3, 2024
Really enjoyed it and also learned a lot
February 2, 2025
Nicely done, even though she defends Minghella’s horrible puppet Butterfly
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