operas

An unabridged republication of the standard performance text of the 1885 script which formed the basis of the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta about a wandering minstrel who falls in love with the beautiful ward of the Lord High Executioner of Titipu.

Contains over 2,500 alphabetically arranged entries which provide information about opera characters, discussing their place in the plot, their relationships to other characters, and their influence on the outcome of the story; provides plot synopses of more than 270 operas; and includes essays by well-known personalities of the opera.

Illustrations and the song "Summertime" from the "Porgy and Bess" musical depict a family's routine summer day.

Illustrations and the song "Summertime" from the "Porgy and Bess" musical depict a family's routine summer day.

Mimi, a poor seamstress, and Rodolphe, a struggling playwright, fall in love. When Mimi attempts to help Rodolphe get his play produced, he suspects her of infidelity and she leaves him. Later, a severely ill Mimi returns to the now successful Rodolphe and dies.

Contains the complete text of the libretto with annotations in both English and Italian and a critical historical commentary. The text also includes the background of the composer, biographies of the principal singers and conductor. The two accompanying CDs contain the complete opera sung in Italian.

Madama Butterfly concerns the disastrous results of a young American naval officer's marriage to a pretty geisha.

As a hot-blooded young corporal in the Spanish cavalry stationed near Seville, Don Jose is ordered to arrest Carmen, a young, flirtatious Gypsy woman, for assaulting a co-worker. Greatly charmed by her, Jose allows her to escape. He deserts the army, kills two men on Carmen's account, and takes up a life as a robber and smuggler. He is insanely jealous of Carmen, who is unfaithful to him, and when she refuses to change on his behalf, he kills her and surrenders himself to the authorities.

Giuseppe Verdi's sentimental favorite is the story of Violetta, the self-sacrificing courtesan who sells her jewels to keep her younger lover living in bucolic bliss.