baritone biography stiffelio lammermoor

books:

3 reviews
Mary Jane Phillips-Matz

Northeastern, 2002

Puccini: a restless visionist and revisionist
Having sung in "Tosca" and "Madama Butterfly", my interest was piqued when I first heard about Mary Jane Phillips-Matz's wonderful new biography about Giacomo Puccini. Using his operas as chapter divisions, the author gives a firm basis on which to look at Puccini's life as he struggled with his music, his collaborators, his family, his publisher, his singers, Arturo Toscanini and himself. ...

Verdi: A Biography

3 reviews
Mary Jane Phillips-Matz

Oxford University Press, USA, 1993

What else would you need to know?
I have just finished reading this book. It was my intention to get the bits and pieces I have been taught over the years about Verdi together in order to teach a short course on him in January 2000. It has done so much more. If you're looking for a book that details the opera plots and offers translations of the librettos, this isn't it. But if you're looking for a great summary of what we ...

Lucia di Lammermoor: Libretto
Gaetano Donizetti, Salvatore Cammarano

The Metropolitan Opera Guild, Inc., NY, 1992

Opera in Three Acts. Based on the novel 'The Bride of Lammermoor' by Sir Walter Scott. English translation and Essay by Mary Jane Phillips-Matz. Language: Italian on left side, English on the right.

Rosa Ponselle: American Diva

1 review
Mary Jane Phillips-Matz

Northeastern, 1997

Ponselle's career in full detail
This book was very informative as to Rosa Ponselle's extraordinary musical career; but lacking was more of a story about her rise to fame,relationships with others, and a more personal look at Ponselle.

Leonard Warren: American Baritone (Opera Biography Series, No. 13)

2 reviews
Mary Jane Phillips-Matz

Amadeus Press, 2003

this isn't the book we expected or deserve
It seems American publishers today are reluctant to touch any opera singers aside from three aging tenors. Amadeus Press is the notable exception. Stars such as Astrid Varnay, Martha Modl, Hans Hotter, and James King have had to turn to German publishers. In that atmosphere we opera fans should be happy to get ANY biographies of great singers. And, regrettably, this is probably the only ...