Singers of Italian Opera: The History of a Profession - Hardcover

Rosselli, John

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0521416833 ISBN 13: 9780521416832

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 1992

Synopsis

Adelina Patti was the most highly regarded singer in history. She earned nearly $5,000 a night and had her own railway carriage. Yet a minor comic singer would perform for the cost of his food and a pair of shoes to wear on stage. John Rosselli's wide-ranging study introduces all those singers, members of the chorus as well as stars, who have sung Italian opera from 1600 to the twentieth century. Singers are shown slowly emancipating themselves from dependence on great patrons and entering the dangerous freedom of the market. Rosselli also examines the sexist prejudices against the castrati of the eighteenth century and against women singers. Securely rooted in painstaking scholarship and sprinkled with amusing anecdote, this is a book to fascinate and inform opera fans at all levels.

About this title

Review

'Give yourself a treat. Give yourself this book.' American Record Guide

'... a magnificent book.' The Times Literary Supplement

'... a storehouse of information, skilfully organised, attractively presented.' BBC Music Magazine

Book Description

Adelina Patti was the most highly regarded singer in history, and could earn nearly $5,000 a night, yet a minor comic singer would perform for the cost of his food and a pair of shoes to wear on stage. John Rosselli introduces all those singers, members of the chorus as well as stars, who have sung Italian opera from 1600 to the twentieth century.

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 1992
• ISBN 10: 0521416833
• ISBN 13: 9780521416832
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 288