bookshelf

OPERA IN AMERICA

Name: OPERA IN AMERICA
Author: John Dizikes
ISBN: 0-300-05496-3

A CULTURAL HISTORY

by John Dizikes ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 13, 1993

bookshelf

A smart, funny, splendidly written, and strikingly illustrated panorama of the New World's adoption of the Old World's most lavish and lively art form. Dizikes (American Studies/UC at Vera Cruz) offers a wealth of insight and history—American, theatrical, and musical—in this monumental labor of love, a thorough review of the roots and blossoms of the operatic experience in the US from the 18th century to the present day. The first American tour of legendary singing teacher Manuel Garcia and his talented offspring in the Barber of Seville; the history of opera in New Orleans and Chicago; the opera house owned by robber baron Jim Fisk (where Fisk planned to import Offenbach himself—a plan interrupted when Fisk was murdered by a jealous rival); the founding of the Metropolitan and its German seasons under the batons of the Damrosch clan; Caruso, Marian Anderson, Milton Cross, Maria Callas, Lincoln Center, and a noncondescending treatment of Stephen Sondheim's serious music dramas: The scope is comprehensive, and it's hard to imagine that there are many specialists, let alone general readers, who won't find things they didn't know or details they didn't previously appreciate. In such a heroic undertaking, questions and quibbles are bound to arise: To call A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum an opera is stretching it, and, as Dizikes approaches our own day, his ease of analysis becomes less sure. On the plus side, his view of opera in America isn't New York-centric, especially important because so many notable events in our operatic history happened outside that metropolis. In terms of information and entertainment per page, a bargain. Should attract and fascinate a wide audience, lovers of Americana as well as opera fans. (128 illustrations)

Pub Date: Oct. 13, 1993

ISBN: 0-300-05496-3

Page Count: 624

Publisher: Yale Univ.

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1993

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

bookshelf

NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

bookshelf

This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)

Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996

ISBN: 0-15-100227-4

Page Count: 136

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

bookshelf

TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

bookshelf

An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.