# Favorite Books on Opera



## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

The Verdi-Boito Correspondence
Callas (Ardoin/Fitzgerald)
Mawrdew Czgowchwz
The Last Prima Donnas (Rasponi)


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## Meyerbeer Smith (Mar 25, 2016)

For a start...

A Song of Love and Death (Peter Conrad)
The Splendid Art of Opera (Ethan Mordden)
The Good Opera Guide (Sir Denis Forman)
The Experience of Opera (Paul Henry Lang)
Opera as Drama (Joseph Kerman)
A Short History of Opera (Donald Jay Grout)
Ticket to the Opera (Phil Goulding)


French Opera: A Short History (Vincent Giroud)
Dictionnaire des opéras (Félix Clément)
The Urbanization of Opera (Anselm Gerhard)


Charles Osborne’s books on Mozart; Verdi; bel canto (Rossini, Donizetti, Bellini); Wagner; Strauss; Puccini
James Harding on Massenet; Gounod; Bizet

Rossini (Richard Osborne)
Donizetti and His Operas (William Ashbrook)

Meyerbeer
•	The Operas of Giacomo Meyerbeer; Meyerbeer Studies; An Introduction to the Dramatic Works of Giacomo Meyerbeer (Robert Letellier)
•	Meyerbeer Reader (ed. Letellier)
•	Meyerbeer et son temps (Henri Blaze de Bury)
•	Diable ou prophéte ? (Sergio Segalini)

Fromental Halévy (Ruth Jordan)

Berlioz
•	Hugh MacDonald
•	David Cairns’ biography

Julian Budden’s studies of Verdi

Massenet
•	La Belle Époque de Massenet
•	Massenet: A Chronicle of His Life and Times (Demar Irvine)
•	Massenet: L’homme – le musicien (Louis Schneider)

Richard Strauss (Michael Kennedy)


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## Star (May 27, 2017)

For an overall guide the Rough Guide to Opera takes some beating. Racily written and informative.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

Just to mention one:


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

This is a great one for fans of Bellini:









https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bellini-Li...18267861&sr=1-1&keywords=galatopoulos+bellini

N.


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## Taplow (Aug 13, 2017)




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## Taplow (Aug 13, 2017)

NickFuller said:


> For a start...
> 
> A Song of Love and Death (Peter Conrad)
> The Splendid Art of Opera (Ethan Mordden)
> ...


Thanks for this lovely list. Lots to explore here.


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## Meyerbeer Smith (Mar 25, 2016)

Taplow said:


> Thanks for this lovely list. Lots to explore here.


My pleasure! I'm by no means a Wagnerian, but I'll add:

Bryan Magee: Aspects of Wagner
M. Owen Lee: Wagner's Ring; Turning the Sky Round

And William Berger's books on Wagner, Verdi, and Puccini (Without Fear / Tears / Excuses)


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## Taplow (Aug 13, 2017)

Speaking of Wagner, I just recently purchased this. Looking forward to getting into it:










Roger Scruton: The Ring of Truth
Overlook Press, 2017
ISBN	1468315501, 9781468315509


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## JosefinaHW (Nov 21, 2015)

Taplow said:


> Speaking of Wagner, I just recently purchased this. Looking forward to getting into it:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


A bit of a digression but I'm very excited about this author's thoughts: I just bought several of Roger Scruton's books and I'm beginning with _Beauty: A Very Short Introduction._


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## Eramire156 (Sep 28, 2017)

NickFuller said:


> For a start...
> 
> A Song of Love and Death (Peter Conrad)
> The Splendid Art of Opera (Ethan Mordden)
> ...


Nice to see so many books on Meyerbeer listed, great list.


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## Reichstag aus LICHT (Oct 25, 2010)

A particular favourite of mine is Deryck Cooke's magnificent (albeit sadly unfinished) book on Wagner's Ring, _I Saw the World End_. I also enjoy Winton Dean's books on Handel's operas, as Taplow has already mentioned. Finally, although I believe it's currently out of print, I have a great fondness for _Opera on the Beach_ by Philip Glass and Robert T Jones.


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