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The Extraordinary Adventures of the Opera
Publisher
:
Les Belles Lettres
Parution date
:
2002
EAN
:
9782251442112
Description
Les aventures extraordinaires de l’opéra is a playful, informative, panoramic story of opera and its origins, successes, political implications, disasters, and colorful personalities. Nicolas d’Estienne d’Orves laces the work with many short anecdotes sure to amuse any reader. For example, after performing with her young rival, the aging legend Nellie Melba turns to her and casually remarks “That concert would have been truly horrendous if I hadn’t agreed to sing, don’t you think?” When a tenor performing Siegfried asked Toscanini to critique his performance, the great conductor unfortunately obliged: “I don’t know what to tell you, my poor friend. A bird, a dragon, and then you: there are so many beasts in this opera.” And perhaps the funniest of all, d’Orves describes a group of poorly informed extras in a performance of Puccini’s Tosca charging onto the stage, guns ready, before realizing that they didn’t know which character to shoot in the crucial scene; luckily, the tenor quickly ad-libbed a new verse when the guns were pointed at him “No! It’s her you must shoot!” These anecdotes and more, combined with Orves’ guiding, expert voice, make Les aventures extraordinaires de l’opéra a fascinating and enjoyable read.
Author
Estienne d'Orves : Nicolas d’Estienne d’Orves is a musical and literary critic at Le Figaro and Madame Figaro, as well as a novelist and short-story writer.
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