Charles Osborne
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This is the first full-length study of all of Verdi's operas. This work of the British music critic Charles Osborne covers Verdi's complete operatic oeuvre--including the missing choral works, songs, a string quartet, and the Messa da Requiem. The operas of Shakespeare's Falstaff and Othello show how the legendary composer added both depth and dignity to the Italian operatic repertoire. In this volume, every Verdi opera is explored from four points...
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While Puccini wrote only twelve operas during a long life--three of them one-acters designed to be performed together--he has to be ranked today as the world's most popular composer of opera. His La Bohème and Tosca are more frequently performed in the major opera houses than works by other composers, and Madame Butterfly and Manon Lescaut rank not far behind. What is the explanation for Puccini's enormous success? How do his operas work as music...
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Over the last 150 years, Wagner's operas have been parodied, translated into scores of languages - from Lettish to Catalan - reviled and revered. Audiences have been confronted with pre-Raphaelite Wagner, High victorian Wagner, art deco and high-tech Wagner. Charles Osborne's authoritative and perceptive text provides the historical framework and critical commentary for the productions highlighted in the illustrations, while his biographical dictionary...