Greatest stars of the opera: The Lives and Voices of Two Hundred Golden Years - Tapa blanda

Fully revised, updated and amplified (also with new pictures) to include the latest developments in the international opera world, Greatest Stars of the Opera passes under review, and divided into categories, tenors, sopranos, mezzo-sopranos, baritones and basses. In these pages, as on the stage, they seem almost to compete for the attention and interest of the reader, as the author spotlights, one by one, some of the greatest opera singers of the twentieth century. The book discusses the career, the vocal characteristics and repertoire of each singer, chosen according to his or her type of vocality (tenore lirico, lirico-spinto, drammatico etc.), and often includes interesting anecdotes and aspects of particular interest from the life and career of the artist. The photographs provide vivid and suggestive portrayals of the protagonists of this review, capturing the most significant aspects of each: from the physical beauty of Corelli, Ricciarelli, or Kabaivanska, to the magnetism of Callas, Shalyapin, or Gencer, from the cheerful geniality of Gigli or Pavarotti, to the elegance of Sobinov or Kraus and the candor of Bocelli, and revealing the full dramatic force of each singer in the most poignant moments of his or her performance: intimate glimpses of such greats of the opera stage as Gobbi, Christoff, Taddei, Horne and many more. The photographs, both black and white and color, are the result of a long and meticulous search in the archives of the world's major opera houses, from Rome to Milan, from Tokyo to Sydney, from Leningrad to New York, and many other cities the world over. An historical introduction, explanatory tables (including a rather interesting parallel between the careers of the artists of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries) and a glossary further enhance the text, together with the famous "Singing Lesson", faithfully transcribed from a Master Class held by the great tenor, Alfredo Kraus, in Rome in 1990.