An NYRB Classics Original Nixon in China and The Death of Klinghoffer played a crucial role in bringing opera back to life as a contemporary art form, and they have been popular—and, in the case of Klinghoffer, highly controversial—ever since they were first staged by the director Peter Sellars in the eighties and nineties. Both operas were conceived from the start as collaborations between composer and writer, and their power is due as much to the dazzlingly constructed and deeply felt libretti of the poet Alice Goodman as they are to John Adams’s music. Nixon in China is a story, at once heroic, comic, and unnerving, of men and women making history and of their different conceptions of what history is and what it means to makes it. Klinghoffer, by contrast, has at its center the tragedy of an innocent man condemned at the cost of his life to play a part in history. History Is Our Mother, which takes its title from a line sung by the title character in Nixon in China, brings Goodman’s two libretti together for the first time in book form. Included alongside Goodman’s no less inspired translation of Lorenzo Da Ponte’s famous libretto to The Magic Flute, these vivid dramas of character and searching meditations on fate are here revealed as among the most original, ambitious, and accomplished poetic achievements of our time.

Discusses eighty-three popular operas available on compact disc and includes character analyses, plot summaries, historical information, humorous commentary, and short biographies of composers, conductors, and artists

Act-by-act summaries of one hundred outstanding operas accompany notes on their production, arias, and literary background

One of the most successful musicals of all time, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “The Phantom of the Opera” has been running for 20 years on Broadway and on London’s West End. It has dazzled more than 100 million people in 22 countries, and went on to become a major feature film. This pictorial companion is the definitive account of the award-winning masterpiece. It traces the Phantom legend from its origins in historical fact through numerous artistic incarnations to the present-day theater production and film. Arranged in three parts, the first introduces the reader to Gaston Leroux’s classic story, while the second part offers a unique insight into the acclaimed theater production, with backstage photos and commentary from the director, designers, and crew. The final section, which contains the original screenplay, looks at the making of Joel Schumacher’s film, introducing the cast and featuring exclusive photos and interviews. A splendid celebration of a classic story and its many incarnations. This ravishing volume features the complete original screenplay and more than 150 color images from both the film and theater productions worldwide. Now in an elegant and affordable smaller-format edition.

English National Opera Guides are ideal companions to the opera. They provide stimulating introductory articles together with the complete text of each opera in English and the original. Rossini is one of the great operatic composers, an innovator within the whole concept of what was appropriate for serious as well as comic opera. Moses is a score which he revised for Paris, ten years after it had been composed for Naples; the result shows the evolution of his dramatic taste over a crucial decade?from the neo-classical sublime to spectacular Romantic grand opera. The Barber has been a consistent favorite with the public and performers since it opened, and Marco Spada analyses how its stylish comedy has been misunderstood. Other essays throw light on the working conditions of the opera industry in Rossini's Italy, on Balzac's delightful novel concerning Moses and on the exceptional challenge of performing this type of music to a high standard.

A visual history of opera describes its modest beginnings as a re-creation of classical Greek drama, to its peak in the seventeenth century, to its modern incarnations, in an account that is complemented by reference biographies, a glossary of terms, and a listing of opera house openings and premieres. Reprint.

The author shares how, as a promising soprano studying at a celebrated academy, she was diagnosed with a dire pulmonary condition and had to undergo two double-lung transplants, and how she later reclaimed her life and rebuilt her career.

Step behind the glory-and-glamour enchantment of grand opera with this candid look at life in the opera world. Life in Opera: Truth, Tempo, and Soul is a collection of encounters with great stars and personalities that shape and enhance the opera universe of today. In Part I - The Interviews, the conversations take center stage. From their earliest sparks of passion for opera to the exploration of their voices, from the unflinching devotion to their art to the development of personal philosophies about singing and life, the singers open the door to their world with uninhibited frankness. The administrators discuss the paths that led them to become the protectors and nurturers of this art form. The conductors confirm the complex roles they play, while the film directors and fashion designers describe their exciting contributions to opera. Interviews include Placido Domingo, James Levine, Peter Gelb, Joseph Volpe, Renee Fleming, Ramon Vargas, and over twenty others. In Part II - Author's Corner, join the author on her surprising journey through the opera world as she recounts the unconventional and at times amusing path where she met and came to know the stars of the lyric universe.

The English National Opera Guides were originally conceived in partnership with the English National Opera and edited by Nicholas John, the ENO's dramaturg, who died tragically in an accident in the Alps. Most of the guides are devoted to a single opera, which is described in detail—with many articles that cover its history and information about the composer and his times. The complete libretto is included in both the original language and in a modern singing translation—except where the opera was written in English. Each has a thematic guide to the most important musical themes in musical notation and each guide is lavishly illustrated. They also contain a bibliography and a discography which is updated at each reprint. The ENO guides are widely regarded as the best series of their kind and excellent value.

Chailley, a professor of music history at the Sorbonne, reveals the coherence of the opera and the hidden significance of its characters and situations. The author relates each of these elements to the esoteric tradition from which they emanate and to Mozart's own involvement with the Masonic brotherhood.