Puccini's operas are among the most popular and widely performed in the world, yet few books have examined his body of work from an analytical perspective. This volume remedies that lack in lively prose accessible to scholars and opera enthusiasts alike.

The performance history of each of Puccini's operas are reviewed and related to events in his life.

"Italian Literature before 1900 in English Translation provides the most complete record possible of texts from the early periods that have been translated into English, and published between 1929 and 2008. It lists works from all genres and subjects, and includes translations wherever they have appeared across the globe. In this annotated bibliography, Robin Healey covers over 5,200 distinct editions of pre-1900 Italian writings. Most entries are accompanied by useful notes providing information on authors, works, translators, and how the translations were received. Among the works by over 1,500 authors represented in this volume are hundreds of editions by Italy's most translated authors - Dante Alighieri, [Niccoláo] Machiavelli, and [Giovanni] Boccaccio - and other hundreds which represent the author's only English translation. A significant number of entries describe works originally published in Latin. Together with Healey's Twentieth-Century Italian Literature in English Translation, this volume makes comprehensive information on translations accessible for schools, libraries, and those interested in comparative literature."--Pub. desc.

Providing the most complete record possible of texts by Italian writers active after 1900, this annotated bibliography covers over 4,800 distinct editions of writings by some 1,700 Italian authors. Many entries are accompanied by useful notes that provide information on the authors, works, translators, and the reception of the translations. This book includes the works of Pirandello, Calvino, Eco, and more recently, Andrea Camilleri and Valerio Manfredi. Together with Robin Healey’s Italian Literature before 1900 in English Translation, also published by University of Toronto Press in 2011, this volume makes comprehensive information on translations from Italian accessible for schools, libraries, and those interested in comparative literature.

"Opera Coaching "is the first practical guide for pianists, singers, and opera producers to this important--and often neglected--career. The opera coach is a teacher who helps singers not only meet the physical and vocal demands of a score, but--like the dramatic coach--shapes their entire performance. The opera coach must have a wide knowledge, from a full understanding of human physiognomy and the human voice, to the many languages used in Western vocal music, to the entire expanse of the opera repertoire, from its roots in 17th century sung drama through today's most modern compositions. "Opera Coaching "covers all of these topics and more, making it the ideal resource for anyone interested in this fascinating career.

Giacomo Puccini is one of the most frequently performed and best loved of all operatic composers. In Il Trittico, Turandot, and Puccini's Late Style, Andrew Davis takes on the subject of Puccini's last two works to better understand how the composer creates meaning through the juxtaposition of the conventional and the unfamiliar -- situating Puccini in past operatic traditions and modern European musical theater. Davis asserts that hearing Puccini's late works within the context of la solita forma allows listeners to interpret the composer's expressive strategies. He examines Puccini's compositional language, with insightful analyses of melody, orchestration, harmony, voice-leading, and rhythm and meter.

(Amadeus). Think opera's just about starving artists, vengeful goddesses, randy noblemen, and adulterous lovers? Think again. In So When Does the Fat Lady Sing? , Michael Walsh, the former music critic for Time magazine, takes audiences on a wise and witty dash through 400 years of operatic history and culture. More a freewheeling dialogue between author and reader than a traditional quiz book, So When Does the Fat Lady Sing? poses irreverent and impertinent questions designed not so much to test knowledge as to inspire and entertain both expert and novice alike. Curtain up!

The Other Toscanini is the only book in English about the Argentine conductor and composer Héctor Panizza (1875-1967). Known all over the world by his Italian name —Ettore— the maestro was in fact born in Buenos Aires and developed an astonishing international career, becoming music director of, successively, Covent Garden, la Scala (where he conducted alongside Arturo Toscanini), Teatro Colón, and the New York Metropolitan Opera. At the Met between 1934 and 1942, he was in charge of the Italian repertoire and started the first radio broadcasts, whose recordings are his most well-known. He conducted widely in Europe and the Americas and devoted part of his energies to composing, recording, and organizing musical institutions. Now virtually forgotten, Panizza’s name is being revived in this definitive biography, which describes both his life and his legacy, strongly associated with that of the great Arturo Toscanini. The book also describes Panizza’s important accomplishments as a composer. In his native Argentina, he is known for the patriotic “Canción de la Bandera,” based on a text by Luigi Illica, Puccini’s librettist. But Panizza also wrote operas, orchestral works, chamber music, and songs, widely performed in their day and still worthy of frequent revivals.