(Amadeus). The great baritone Leonard Warren was history's most notable interpreter of Verdi, making his mark in the title roles of Rigoletto , Macbeth and Simon Boccanegra . Warren's dramatic death over 40 years ago is famous: he collapsed and died onstage at the Met on March 4, 1960 in a performance as Carlo in La forza del destino . In this definitive biography, Mary Jane Phillips-Matz, author of an acclaimed biography of Giuseppe Verdi, offers an intimate portrait of a beloved opera star, based on hundreds of interviews. More than 100 rare photographs capture Warren in his great roles as well as in private moments. HARDCOVER.

(Amadeus). The great baritone Leonard Warren was history's most notable interpreter of Verdi, making his mark in the title roles of Rigoletto , Macbeth and Simon Boccanegra . Warren's dramatic death over 40 years ago is famous: he collapsed and died onstage at the Met on March 4, 1960 in a performance as Carlo in La forza del destino . In this definitive biography, Mary Jane Phillips-Matz, author of an acclaimed biography of Giuseppe Verdi, offers an intimate portrait of a beloved opera star, based on hundreds of interviews. More than 100 rare photographs capture Warren in his great roles as well as in private moments. HARDCOVER.

What's it like to grow up on a small farm in Illinois only to find yourself, some 20 years later, performing on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera House? And then to travel the world, singing in historic theaters from La Scala in Milan to Vienna, Paris, London, and beyond? Former Met star Sherrill Milnes tells all in this completely updated, first-time-in-paperback edition of his very successful biography.

This book focuses on American opera singers and what their recordings say about their artistry. It is not a book about all American opera singers, since many who had important careers on stage, made few, if any, recordings. And many of those who did make recordings, did so prior to the introduction of electrical recording in 1925 (and the resulting advances in the reproduction of the human voice). Opera enthusiasts can only imagine the sound of Farinelli's voice or read what his contemporaries have written about it, but with almost any famous or near-famous singer of recent years, enthusiasts do not have to imagine. Their voices are available through the technology of sound recording. There are 53 entries, one each for 52 singers and a composite entry for a group of Hollywood vocalists. Each entry contains biographical information and is followed by a discography of operatic recordings to be used in conjunction with the critical commentaries. The entries are in alphabetical order by the singer's last name and provide critical analyses of key recordings and of the artists' gifts and limitations.

Who Should Sing "Ol' Man River"?: The Lives of an American Song tells the almost eighty-year performance history of a great popular song. Examining over two hundred recorded and filmed versions of Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II's classic song, the book reveals the power of performers to remake one popular song into many different guises.

In Ticket to the Opera, Phil G. Goulding finally makes the magic and mystique of opera accessible to all. Here he offers a complete operatic education, including history, definitions of key musical terms, opera lore and gossip, portraits of famous singers and the roles they immortalized, as well as pithy introductions to the greatest operas of Europe and America and their composers. The book's centerpiece is what Goulding terms "the collection"--85 classics, among them Aida, The Marriage of Figaro, Carmen, and Madama Butterfly, that have been packing the world's opera houses for years. This entertaining, meticulously researched book also includes a fascinating chapter on American opera from George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess to Philip Glass's Einstein on the Beach and a discussion of the gems of twentieth-century opera featuring works like Leos Janácek's The Cunning Little Vixen, Alban Berg's Lulu, and Serge Prokofiev's The Love for Three Oranges. Whether you're a curious neophyte, a music lover interested in branching out, or an aficionado eager to compare notes with a brilliant fellow opera buff, you'll prize Ticket to the Opera as an essential volume in your music library.