The Times Opera Notes - Hardcover

Thicknesse, Robert

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 000712192X ISBN 13: 9780007121922

Publisher: Times Books, 2001

Synopsis

The Times Opera Notes is an accessible yet scholarly guide to over 90 mainstays of the British operatic repertoire, based on Robert Thicknesse’s popular column in The Times.

The Times Opera Notes has full coverage of major works by, among more than 30 others, Verdi, Wagner, Mozart, Puccini, Tchaikovsky, Handel and Strauss. Each opera has a description of the plot , principal characters and premiere details, along with a recommended recording.

Light relief within each entry is provided under the headings Not Many People Know That (Did you know that Puccini was arrested as a spy by the British authorities in Malta?) and Crush Bar Gambit (The Pearl Fishers as ‘an elaborate pathico-troilist fantasy, with an eternal triangle at its centre which is distinctly scalene’ anyone?), plus a smattering of topical cartoons.

Packed with essential information, The Times Opera Notes is undoubtedly an entertaining introduction to this most misunderstood of art forms.

About this title

Review:

An amusing, informative look at over 90 operas. -- The Lady, September 25, 2001

If you feel the need of a guide to steer you through a night at the opera, then this one is remarkably concise and condensed. -- The Tablet, October 20, 2001

Something quite original and almost wholly delightful -- Gramophone Magazine, December 2001

The plot summaries, the really useful part of the book, are . . . amazingly concise, accurate and informative. -- The Tablet, October 20, 2001

From the Publisher:

The author of The Times Opera Notes is Robert Thicknesse, a reviewer of opera for The Times, and writer of Opera Notes, the occasional column upon which the book is based.

In his introduction, Robert writes: "The object [of the book] is to entertain, and to give some modest idea of what makes these operas special: in its own way each is a high-point of human achievement. But there is more than one way of enjoying opera. If this book raises a laugh, encourages an interest in this most approachable of art forms, or even brings a wan smile to the lips of jaded aficionados, it will have served its purpose."

About this edition

• Publisher: Times Books
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 000712192X
• ISBN 13: 9780007121922
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 192