Quotable Opera: Aria Ready for a Laugh? - Tapa blanda

Hours of amusement for anyone with even a smattering of operatic knowledge.--Ann Turner"Canadian Book Review Annual" (01/01/2005) Amusing and memorable.--Linda Piwowarczyk"Chicago Sun Newspapers" (12/11/2003) A collection of often outrageous quotes and critiques uttered by the opera elite, who gleefully skewer each other and the profession.--Gary Stevens"Vermont Chronicle" (12/03/2003) This is a truly funny little book. On just about every page there is something that will make the reader laugh out loud... This little book is highly recommended as an individual purchase for opera lovers, and maybe for those who do not like opera all that much.-- (01/01/2004) Humorous, unguarded comments of composers, conductors, critics, and singers of opera.--Teaching Music (04/01/2004) Filled with pithy quotes and stories.--Giftware News (01/01/2004)

Hundreds of major and minor quotes keyed to opera people highlight the wit, wisdom and lunacy of the opera world. Read what such celebrities as Verdi, Puccini, Wagner, Caruso, Ruffo, Chaliapin, Melba, Sills, Callas, Toscanini, Beecham and other more recent personalities have said about opera, themselves and each other. Add to that venomous quotes by critics, emotional outbursts by performers and some silly quotes from listeners, such as the southern society matron who told soprano Eileen Farrell, at a reception in her honour, "My dear, you reminded me so much of Kate Smith." Since Smith was a heavyweight radio singer with a lightweight voice and repertory, the comparison was so idiotic that Farrell blurted out, "Well, kiss my ass!" and stormed out. Austrian conductor Franz Schalk probably uttered the most emblematic words about opera life: "Every theatre is an insane asylum, but an opera theatre is the ward for the incurables." While living for years in many European opera centres, the Tanners accumulated a unique trove of opera lore. Sound And Vision published the first portion of that treasure in 1999 as "Opera Antics & Anecdotes".