Once you have listened to Puccini there's no need to read about him.

books:


	• Puccini Without Excuses: A Refreshing Reassessment of the World's Most Popular Composer William Berger Vintage, 2005 - 480 pages average customer review:based on 7 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Once you have listened to Puccini there's no need to read about him.

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A decent introduction

I would only recommend this book to someone beginning to explore Puccini who was desperate for a guidebook. With the exception of the useful biography in the beginning there is not much in here that one could not discover on their own by listening to recordings of the operas.
I found most of the commentary shallow.
Potential buyers should know that most of this book is a summary of Puccini's major operas (Edgar is not included).
Part Three, "The Puccini Code" is quite disappointing. I had hoped I would gain some deeper appreciation for Puccini but I came away unsure that there was anything I did not discover on my own.

Sometimes, Berger could not help taking unwarranted strikes at Wagner. This is strange for someone who wrote a book about Wagner and certainly knows better than to resort to clichés about his operas. At one point he even suggests that racial purity is a theme in Wagner's opera. If there are arguments to be made here, they should be made and not stuck in, unjustified, in a book on Puccini. He levels a similarly unjustified charge of racism on some of Puccini's critics. Mispronouncing "Turandot" . . . "slightly racist."

My advice, save your money and buy recordings or tickets. Puccini's brilliance is there. You do not need Berger to hold your hand through the process.

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The author understands that opera is the greatest art form.

I am doing research for a program to be given during a Great Operatic Moments by Puccini concert with the Heartland Chamber Chorale and this book not only helped in preparation of this program, it was fun to read and well organized. Having heard many operas, including three where the singer was mute and walked the role while the voice came from the orchestra pit, I am familiar with many performances of Puccini. This book will enhance my next time at La Boheme (Lyric Opera, Chicago). I believe this is the book which will help anyone hear Puccini for the first time and delight the experienced listener. Funny and informative.

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An amazing, long-overdue book!

Finally, someone has validated Puccini's worth as a composer! While other attempts have been made at this, they tend to take an approach that is very objective and scholarly. While this is one way to approach an analysis of music, this book's straightforward, at times downright blunt, approach is a refreshing antidote to the overly cerebral tone of many other books. Puccini knew all the 'rules' of composition and chose to ignore or modify many of them in order to get to the raw emotions of his characters and audiences alike. It has long been my feeling that anyone who claims not to enjoy Puccini's works is either too caught up in academic snobbery or too afraid of his/her emotions to feel the beauty of his works. This book is a vindication for not only Puccini and his operas but for his fans and those who perform his works.

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Puccini with Many Excuses - Not That He Needs Them

William Berger has written a book for operatic neophytes (as he did in his previous books 'Wagner Without Fear' and 'Verdi with a Vengeance') who want to learn more about opera in general and about Puccini in particular, and yet who have little background with which to understand a full-length book about the life and works of a single composer. I am no operatic neophyte, but I learned much from this book and was completely engaged throughout, even when I was disagreeing with some of the author's points. Make no mistake, Berger has a charming, informal, chatty style that sweeps the reader up into Puccini's world. My only real complaint about the book is that Berger seems to protest too much about Puccini's worth. He takes up the cudgels against those pedantic critics and musicologists who cast aspersions on Puccini's artistic value. It strikes me that the neophyte is not all that interested in this battle in the first place and that this is a battle long since won anyhow. No matter, Berger gets in plenty of blows for Puccini, probably more than Puccini actually needs these days.

The book has several sections. After a somewhat tendentious introduction, we get a chatty yet informative life and times chapter which also includes a description of what was going on in the wider world of opera and classical music during Puccini's life. There are fascinating comments about, say, the relationship between Puccini and Toscanini in this section.

Then we get a chapter by chapter discussion of each of the mature operas, beginning with Manon Lescaut and ending with Turandot. Each opera's chapter has an exhaustive discussion of each scene of the stage action, followed by really quite wonderful ruminations on the musical and production issues of each scene. Berger's comments are generally witty and almost always spot on. He also manages to include some of the gossip extant about various productions, singers, stage directors and conductors.

Then comes a section called 'The Puccini Code' which focuses on the myth of Tosca (one of the weaker chapters in my opinion), 'what one might expect to see' in various productions, and a little coda called 'Puccinian Permutations' which comments on influences the various operas (and the Puccini style) have had on popular culture; think of 'Rent' and 'Moonstruck', for instance.

Finally, there is a section in which Berger discusses recordings of the major operas, with comments about various singers, conductors (and he pulls no punches here) as well as some mention of DVDs and videotapes. He ends this section with a listing and comments about important books on his subject. The book ends with a glossary of terms (helpful for the neophyte, certainly, but without a pronunciation guide, which he had earlier supplied for the names of the operas; that might have been helpful. Can you pronounce 'morbidezza' or 'Regietheater'?). The book contains a fairly full index. Editing and production values are quite good (although I suspect director Jean-Pierre Ponnelle and baritone Simon Keenlyside might have preferred their names be spelled correctly). The paperback's cover features a blow-up of a photo of the young Puccini taken from a 'musical celebrities cigarette card series.' (!)

I would recommend this book not only to the newcomer to opera but also to grizzled opera veterans who think they already know everything there is to know about Puccini.

Scott Morrison

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reviews: page 1, 2

Puccini is the most beloved composer of opera in the world: one quarter of all opera performances in the U.S. are of his operas, his music pervades movie soundtracks, and his plots have infiltrated our popular culture. But, although Puccini?s art still captivates audiences and the popularity of such works as Tosca, La Boh?me, and Madama Butterfly has never waned, he has long been a victim of critical snobbery and cultural marginalization.
In this witty and informative guide for beginners and fans alike, William Berger sets the record straight, reclaiming Puccini as a serious artist. Combining his trademark irreverent humor with passionate enthusiasm, Berger strikes just the right balance of introductory information and thought-provoking analysis. He includes a biography, discussions of each opera, a glossary, fun facts and anecdotes, and above all keen insight into Puccini?s enduring power. For anyone who loves Puccini and for anyone who just wonders what all the fuss is about, Puccini Without Excuses is funny, challenging, and always a pleasure to read.

INCLUDES:
_ Why Puccini?s art and its message of hope is crucial to our world today
_ How Anglo audiences often miss the mythic significance of his operas
_ The use of his music as shorthand in films, from A Room with a View to Fatal Attraction
_ A scene-by scene analysis of each opera
_ A guide to the wealth of available recordings, books, and videos

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