Editorial Reviews:
?Pogue is a wonderful teacher? He can teach anybody.?
? Gay Talese, bestselling author of Honor Thy Father ?Scott Speck is a great communicator of classical music?. Concert audiences and readers alike can?t help getting caught up in the joy of his subject.?
? David Styers, American Symphony Orchestra League Opera is weird. Everybody wears makeup and sings all the time. Even when they?re singing your language, which is rare, you still can?t understand the words. Women play men, men play women, and 45-year-olds play teenagers. All the main characters seem to get killed off. And when somebody dies, he takes ten minutes to sing about it. Yet, for all its weirdness, an operatic experience is an experience in breathtaking beauty. When you hear a soprano float a soft high C, or a tenor singing a love song, or a full-throated chorus in the climax of a scene?s dramatic finale, you can?t help getting goosebumps. Want to experience all that beauty for yourself, but don?t know where to begin? Opera For Dummies is an excellent place to start. Written by an acclaimed conductor and a musical director, this friendly guide tells you what you need to know to: - Understand opera from the Baroque and Roman periods through today
- Interpret characters, orchestra, chorus, and other players
- Understand what?s happening, both on stage and off
- Choose the best seats
- Identify famous operas
- Build a great collection of opera recordings
- Locate opera sites and chat groups online
Whether you?re interested in attending a live opera, want to build a collection of recordings, or just want to be able to talk about opera intelligently, Opera For Dummies is for you. Among other things, you?ll explore: - The words, the music, and the people who sing it
- The history of opera and the lives of the great composers
- Going to the opera ? including tips for getting tickets, preparing for the opera, dressing for the opera, and more
- Musical and theatrical conventions used in opera
- In-depth synopses of the world?s most beloved operas
On the bonus CD you?ll find: - More than 60 minutes of music compiled especially for the book
- A multimedia piece for PC or MAC
Wonder what it is about opera that can make a grown person cry like a baby? Find out in Opera For Dummies.
Opera is growing--in the size of its audience, in the number of companies, in general interest--and is attracting a lot of attention among younger, more visually oriented people. But opera can be intimidating to the uninitiated: it's sung in foreign languages and has odd little customs (such as women singing the parts of young boys, and hefty middle-aged singers portraying teenaged lovers) that may be disconcerting at first. But opera needn't be at all intimidating, thanks to the miracle of supertitles (like subtitles, but projected above the stage), the advent of generations of singers who work at staying in shape, and the appearance of reference works like Opera for Dummies that are designed to remove the snobbery and mystery from opera. If you don't mind the flippant tone, IDG Books' Opera for Dummies makes an excellent guide for those who are new to this splendid art form. All of opera's details are explained clearly and without pretension; there's a lot of useful information packed into its 358 pages. The package includes an enhanced compact disc (listen to it in your stereo's CD player or in your computer's CD-ROM drive), with more than an hour of operatic excerpts from classic EMI releases. The illustrations, while not lavish, are adequate. There are, however, a few glaring errors in this book that demand correction: Scott Speck and David Pogue confuse the opera chorus with the supers (the "extras" who march in armies, wait on tables, and never, ever sing), and--even worse--maintain that soloists and choristers are two entirely separate breeds. In fact, there's not a soloist alive who has never done chorus work--and choristers frequently do solo work as well. These are rather foolish mistakes for a pair of acclaimed experts to make in a book that wants to be taken as a basic guide to opera.
Customer Reviews:
Displaying 1 to 5 of 19 total reviews (Page 1 of 4):
 Great book for opera *newbies*
As you see in many of the other reviews, this is a great guide that will introduce you to opera without overwhelming you. I am new to opera, and this book gave me what I was looking for - a great understanding of opera terms, a history of the composers, and best of all, a scene-by-scene overview of 70+ operas (I didn't even realize there were that many operas!). The writing is informal, easy reading, and full of witty comments and references to the modern era. And don't forget the music CD (which I only played on my car stereo, not on my computer). The music and singing is really gorgeous, and a real treat when paired up with what you learn in the book.
If you are just stepping into the wacky, wonderful world of opera, you can't go wrong this book and CD combo to jumpstart your learning. Entertaining and different!
This book has a different "dummies" approach to opera, which is very entertaining. This is excellent, easily readable and very comprehensive. The "50 big cahunas" gives a good introduction to these operas. Not What You'd Think...
This is a great book. But there's nothing "dumb" or "for dummies" about it. Any person who is bright and has a sense of humor and who is just beginning to be interested in opera will find this funny, clever, irreverent book to be fascinating. Plus, the included CD is of high quality and has a great selection of tracks.In sum, this book (while being not as hefty or as chock full of information as competing introduction-to-opera guides) is an intelligant, useful, user-friendly welcome to the universe of opera. The genuine passion of the authors shines through, a trait not found in many of the more traditional guides. All in all, "Opera for Dummies" is not at all for dummies, and is a "must-have" item for the opera beginner.  Would have earned 5 stars except for the crass commercialism
Pogue and Speck provide a wonderful, humorous, and accessible text in "Opera for Dummies." I just wish they or IDG (publishers) would stop pumping the "free CD" on every page. Readers don't need reminding, after the dozenth time, that a CD is included with the book ... besides at [$$] (retail) for book and CD, it's NOT free, we paid for it. Also the multiple reminders of their "Classical Music for Dummies" is nearly as annoying. That said, I found the book highly entertaining and educational. A Great Intro To Opera For Those With Open Ears
Open your heart and open your ears. In today's society, when it comes to youth and music, opera is seldom mentioned. Nevertheless, there is still a great number of young opera lovers, thanks to the efforts of great opera singers who are younger- such as Renee Fleming and Samuel Ramey (a baritone who has the MTV touch). Opera is a very old, noble and artistic theatrical musical drama. This Intro is a fascinating inside look at opera singers and the plots of many operas, including the bigger, brand name operas- Tosca, Aida, La Traviata, La Boheme. I don't necessarily think that this is the Bible for opera beginners, there are many other sources for which one can appreciate opera, such as films and books on tape. But this is a very good introduction, with witty dialogue and with a keen connosseurship of the art form. Among the list of tenors that are highly regarded, and mentioned in this book, are Placido Domingo, Jon Vickers and Nicolai Gedda (all great tenors), and sopranos Beverly Sills, Joan Sutherland, Renee Fleming, and mezzo sopranos Cecilia Bartoli and Grace Bumbry. I don't believe they even mentioned Maria Callas, who was a turning point bot in opera recordings and performance. Nevertheless, a very interesting book. More Customer Reviews:
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(19 reviews)
