Music:

More Stories of Famous Operas

Written by Ernest Newman

Format: eBook
On Sale: June 5, 2013
Price: $15.99

This book contains the definitive treatment of the stories, texts, and music of Turandot, Gianni Schicchi, The Barber of Bagdad, Thaïs, Eugen Onegin, Prince Igor, The Golden Cockerel, Elektra, Orfeo ed Euridice, Lakmé, Les Huguenots, Così fan tutte, The Seraglio, Les Troyens, Don Pasquale, La Juive, Manon, Falstaff, Louise, Pelléas and... Read more >

Seventeen Famous Operas

Written by Ernest Newman

Format: eBook, 688 pages
On Sale: May 1, 2013
Price: $18.99

Read more >

Mawrdew Czgowchwz

Written by James McCourt
Introduction by Wayne Koestenbaum

Format: eBook
On Sale: May 9, 2012
Price: $15.95

Diva Mawrdew Czgowchwz (pronounced “Mardu Gorgeous”) bursts like the most brilliant of comets onto the international opera scene, only to confront the deadly malice and black magic of her rivals. Outrageous and uproarious, flamboyant and serious as only the most perfect frivolity can be, James McCourt’s entrancing send-up of the world... Read more >

A Night at the Opera
An Irreverent Guide to The Plots, The Singers, The Composers, The Recordings
Written by Sir Denis Forman

Format: eBook, 976 pages
On Sale: October 5, 2011
Price: $12.99

This slightly irreverent guide to opera summarizes the plots of 17 of the world's great operas, including Aida, La Boheme, and Carmen, and describes their characters, artists, and composers.


From the Hardcover edition. Read more >

Ticket to the Opera
Discovering and Exploring 100 Famous Works, History, Lore, and Singers, with Rec
Written by Phil G. Goulding

Format: eBook, 720 pages
On Sale: March 30, 2011
Price: $15.99

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... Read more >

Cinderella and Company
Backstage at the Opera with Cecilia Bartoli
Written by Manuela Hoelterhoff

Format: eBook, 304 pages
On Sale: December 15, 2010
Price: $14.99

A wickedly funny look at opera today--the feuds and deals, maestros and managers, divine voices and outsized egos--and a portrait of the opera world's newest superstar at a formative point in her life and career.
        In Cinderella & Company, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Manuela Hoelterhoff takes us on a two-year trip on the... Read more >

100 Great Operas And Their Stories
Act-By-Act Synopses
Written by Henry W. Simon

Format: eBook, 560 pages
On Sale: November 17, 2010
Price: $15.99

An invaluable guide for both casual opera fans and afficionados, this volume contains act-by-act descriptions of operatic works ranging from the early seventeenth century masterworks of Monteverdi and Purcell to the modern classics of Menotti and Britten. Written in a lively anecdotal style, entries include character descriptions, historical background, and much... Read more >

Verdi With a Vengeance
An Energetic Guide to the Life and Complete Works of the King of Opera
Written by William Berger

Format: eBook, 512 pages
On Sale: June 23, 2010
Price: $15.99

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... Read more >

Wagner Without Fear
Learning to Love--and Even Enjoy--Opera's Most Demanding Genius
Written by William Berger

Format: eBook, 464 pages
On Sale: June 16, 2010
Price: $14.99

Do you cringe when your opera-loving friends start raving about the latest production of Tristan? Do you feel faint just thinking about the six-hour performance of Parsifal you were given tickets to? Does your mate accuse you of having a Tannhäuser complex? If you're baffled by the behavior of Wagner worshipers... Read more >

Puccini Without Excuses
A Refreshing Reassessment of the World's Most Popular Composer
Written by William Berger

Format: eBook
On Sale: July 1, 2009
Price: $15.99

Puccini is the most beloved composer of opera in the world: one quarter of all opera performances in the U.S. are of his operas, his music pervades movie soundtracks, and his plots have infiltrated our popular culture. But, although Puccini’s art still captivates audiences and the popularity of such works as... Read more >

The Toughest Show on Earth

Written by Joseph Volpe and Charles Michener

Format: eBook, 320 pages
On Sale: February 19, 2009
Price: $12.99

The Toughest Show on Earth is the ultimate behind-the-scenes chronicle of the divas and the dramas of New York’s Metropolitan Opera House, by the remarkable man who rose from apprentice carpenter to general manager.

Joseph Volpe gives us an anecdote-filled tour of more than four decades at the Met, an institution full... Read more >

Opera and the Morbidity of Music

Written by Joseph Kerman

Format: Hardcover, 384 pages
On Sale: April 8, 2008
Price: $27.95

The death of classical music, the distinguished critic and musicologist Joseph Kerman declares, is “a tired, vacuous concept that will not die.” In this wide-ranging collection of essays and reviews, Kerman examines the ongoing vitality of the classical music tradition, from the days of Guillaume Dufay, John Taverner, and William Byrd... Read more >

The Toughest Show on Earth

Written by Joseph Volpe and Charles Michener

Format: Trade Paperback, 320 pages
On Sale: October 9, 2007
Price: $17.00

The Toughest Show on Earth is the ultimate behind-the-scenes chronicle of the divas and the dramas of New York’s Metropolitan Opera House, by the remarkable man who rose from apprentice carpenter to general manager.

Joseph Volpe gives us an anecdote-filled tour of more than four decades at the Met, an institution full... Read more >

The Toughest Show on Earth
My Rise and Reign at the Metropolitan Opera
Written by Joseph Volpe

Format: Hardcover, 320 pages
On Sale: May 2, 2006
Price: $25.95

A fascinating, anecdote-filled behind-the-scenes look at more than forty years of the highlights, successes, and day-to-day inner workings—all about productions, the divas, and backstage dramas—of New York’s Metropolitan Opera House, by Joseph Volpe, the only general manager to have risen through the ranks.

This book is the story of Volpe’s years... Read more >

Puccini Without Excuses
A Refreshing Reassessment of the World's Most Popular Composer
Written by William Berger

Format: Trade Paperback, 480 pages
On Sale: November 8, 2005
Price: $18.00

Puccini is the most beloved composer of opera in the world: one quarter of all opera performances in the U.S. are of his operas, his music pervades movie soundtracks, and his plots have infiltrated our popular culture. But, although Puccini’s art still captivates audiences and the popularity of such works as... Read more >

The King and I
The Uncensored Tale of Luciano Pavarotti's Rise to Fame by His Manager, Friend and Sometime Adversary
Written by Herbert Breslin and Anne Midgette

Format: Trade Paperback, 334 pages
On Sale: October 11, 2005
Price: $19.00

Now in paperback, the scandalous international sensation: brash, candid, and utterly hilarious, Luciano Pavarotti’s longtime manager tells all.

The name “Luciano Pavarotti” is as central to the world of opera as high C’s and dueling sopranos. Pavarotti has had, quite inarguably, the most successful career in the history of the operatic profession... Read more >

The King and I
The Uncensored Tale of Luciano Pavarotti's Rise to Fame by His Manager, Friend and Sometime Adversary
Written by Herbert Breslin and Anne Midgette

Format: eBook
On Sale: October 19, 2004
Price: $16.99

Luciano Pavarotti’s longtime manager and friend tells all. All.

The King and I is the story of the thirty-six-year-old business relationship between Luciano Pavarotti and his manager, Herbert Breslin, during which Breslin guided what he calls, justifiably, “the greatest career in classical music.” During that career, Breslin moved Pavarotti out of the... Read more >

Molto Agitato
The Mayhem Behind the Muisc at the Metropolitan Opera
Written by Johanna Fiedler

Format: Trade Paperback, 448 pages
On Sale: September 9, 2003
Price: $18.95

If the opera world is full of “intrigue, double meanings, and devious dramatics,” then no place exemplifies this more than the world-famous Metropolitan Opera, where politics, ambition, and oversized egos have traditionally taken center stage along with some of the world’s richest music. Drawing on her fifteen years as its press... Read more >

Molto Agitato
The Mayhem Behind the Music at the Metropolitan Opera
Written by Johanna Fiedler

Format: eBook
On Sale: September 9, 2003
Price: $16.99

If the opera world is full of “intrigue, double meanings, and devious dramatics,” then no place exemplifies this more than the world-famous Metropolitan Opera, where politics, ambition, and oversized egos have traditionally taken center stage along with some of the world’s richest music. Drawing on her fifteen years as its press... Read more >