Verdi With a Vengeance: An Energetic Guide to the Life and Complete Works of the King of Opera-Wow! eBook

Verdi With a Vengeance: An Energetic Guide to the Life and Complete Works of the King of Opera book cover

Verdi With a Vengeance: An Energetic Guide to the Life and Complete Works of the King of Opera

Author(s): William Berger (Author)

Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Publication Date: September 12, 2000
Edition: First Edition
Language: English
Print length: 512 pages
ISBN-10: 037570518X
ISBN-13: 9780375705182

Book Description

Everything you could possibly know about Verdi and his operas, from the brilliant and humorous author of Wagner Without Fear.

If you want to know why La traviata was actually a flop at its premiere in 1853, it’s in here. If you want to know why claiming to have heard Bjorling’s Chicago performance of Il trovatore is the classic opera fan faux pas, it’s in here. Even if you just want to know how to pronounce Aida, or what the plot of Rigoletto is all about, this is the place to look. From the composer’s intense hatred of priests to synopses of the operas and a detailed discography of the best recordings to buy, it can all be found in Verdi with a Vengeance. William Berger has given another improbable performance, serving up a book as thorough as it is funny and as original as it is astute, an utterly indispensable guide for novice and expert alike.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Berger follows his successful Wagner Without Fear: Learning To LoveDAnd Even EnjoyDOpera’s Most Demanding Genius (LJ 10/15/98) with an equally engaging look at Giuseppe Verdi, the towering figure of Italian musical life in the 19th century. This overview of his life and work is not thorough but is thoroughly informed. Berger, a librettist and frequent commentator on National Public Radio’s At the Opera, provides a brief overview of the composer’s life and times and examines the connections between contemporary politics and Verdi’s creative output. There are scene-by-scene plot descriptions along with witty commentaryDhe describes Nabucco’s Abigaille as “one of opera’s most outstanding bitches, not so much in what she says as in the number of octaves she takes to say it.” A glossary and recommended recordings, films, and soundtracks are included. Informative and eminently readable for the novice and scholar alike, this book would not be out of place in academic libraries, yet its personal approach and accessibility make it an excellent choice for public libraries.DKate McCaffrey, Onondaga Cty. P.L., Syracuse
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

Praise for William Berger’s Wagner Without Fear:

“An engaging guide.”–The New Yorker

“Witty, knowledgeable, iconoclastic, and emphatically nonacademic…with a down-to-earth, gossipy approach that belies a keen intelligence…. Often outrageously funny.”–Library Journal

From the Inside Flap

ou could possibly know about Verdi and his operas, from the brilliant and humorous author of Wagner Without Fear.

From the Back Cover

Have you ever found yourself wondering who precisely Aida is, and why all the fuss? Are you embarrassed to admit that you’ve no earthly idea what Rigoletto is about? Perhaps you’ve wondered about the nineteenth-century political implications of the suicide in Ernani, or why Il trovatore could be the unacknowledged source of rock ‘n’ roll, or what exactly was the nature of the relationship between Alexandre Dumas and Marie Duplessis, the woman who inspired the role of Violetta in La traviata? Maybe you simply want to know why so many believe the world can be divided into two populations: those “who think that Don Carlos is the Greatest Thing That Has Ever Happened to Art”, and everybody else.

Whatever it is you could possibly want to know about Verdi — from the composer’s intense hatred of priests to historical sources for all the operas to a detailed discussion of what to expect from a performance — it is all in Verdi with a Vengeance. William Berger, inimitable author of Wagner Without Fear, has once again defied all odds by writing a book as indispensable for the newcomer as it is for the expert, a unique book that is as fascinating as it is helpful, as funny as it is smart.

About the Author

William Berger lives in New York City.

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