Rating: 
Summary: Paging Manuela Hoelterhoff
Review: "Molto Agitato" is a perfunctory, reasonably entertaining chronicle of the Metropolitan Opera's history. A bit cut and dry, the book manages to hold your attention without sparking much excitement. There's not much gossip here -- and what there is seems warmed-over (probably culled from other sources) and is presented in a leaden, flat-footed manner. There's none of the juice and (more importantly) the wit of Manuela Hoelterhoff's delicious "Cinderella & Co." Your time might be better spent re-reading that (or, better yet, discovering it for the first time) than slogging through "Molto Agitato." The main problem is Fiedler's poor writing skills. Some examples:
- While discussing German artists fired during World War I she states that artists such as "...Melanie Kurt, Margaret Ober [and others were replaced by] the French conductor Pierre Monteux and Roberto Moranzoni, an Italian conductor." Huh? Female singers were replaced by French and Italian conductors?
- Fiedler states that "In the fall of 1968, two extraordinary singers made their Metropolitan Opera debuts, only weeks apart. No one could have known then that Placido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti would go on to define opera for the next quarter-century." Only two pages later she writes "...two singers joined the Met roster in 1968 who, thirty years later, would still be singing and selling out the theater...Luciano Pavarotti and Placido Domingo..." Sloppy, unnecessary repetition.
- She refers on one page to "Cosi fan Tutte" (on the assumption that her readers are familiar with the piece) and then on the next to Mozart's "Cosi fan Tutte" (as if they've never heard of it!) Again, inexcusable sloppiness.
And the examples go on and on. What's up here? This is a major, not inexpensive Doubleday publication. Where were Fiedler's editors? Whole chapters -- like the one entitled "Star Power" -- come out of nowhere and lead nowhere, seemingly just plopped into place without the slightest forethought.
All in all, there is a rushed, routine feel to "Molto Agitato" that prevents it from being the truly valuable history that I'm sure Fiedler thought she was writing.
Rating: 
Summary: Everything you always wanted to know about the Met ...
Review: ...but were either afraid to ask or didn't know, you'll find right here in Johanna Fiedler's enjoyable, highly readable account of the Metropolitan Opera, past and present.Granted, there's not much dirt on the people involved, but enough to keep your interest. What really makes this a must read, though, is the inside info you won't find in any other books. For example, I had no idea that the Schuyler Chapin administration was the almost complete failure described by Ms. Fiedler (Head of the Met Press Department for many years, regular panelist on the Opera Quiz, and Arthur Fiedler's daughter), nor had I ever read this much inside info on James Levine, a man who's always prided himself on keeping his public and private lives seperate. I could go on, but let me just say that, whether you're an opera buff in particular, or just interested in classical music in general, you'll find "Molto Agitato" a fascinating read. I know I did. And I know I'll be re-reading it often.
Rating: 
Summary: concise opera gossip
Review: A sort of history book of the story of the NYC OPERA HOUSE. The real juice of this book is of the peronalities that performed at the opera house over the years. A great who's who even among the labor workers in the house.
Rating:
Summary: Informative but boring
Review: As a relatively new opera fan, I looked forward to reading this book. While it's interesting, it's very dry and fairly boring. There's not much new here. I'm just learning about opera and even I had heard many of the stories in this book. It's a good history of the Met, but not much more.
Rating: 
Summary: Sloppy research. The Met deserved better.
Review: Back when I used to spend more summer days on the beach than at work, this book would have been considered a perfect "beach book." Anyone interested in opera in general or the Metropolitan Opera specifically, will want to read what goes into the day-to-day workings of this city within a city. MOLTO AGITATO's subtitle says it all: "The Mayhem Behind the Music at the Metropolitan Opera." Fiedler is a witty, clever writer who keeps the pace going and although she has some obvious likes and dislikes among the stars and the office and backstage workers, she seemingly keeps her opinions on the back burner and tries, often successfully, to tell the facts. But, let's face it: the Met is a performing arts organization and, therefore every civilian who watches or listens to even one opera from the Met, becomes a financial and artistic critic. Conductor James Levine, one of the Met's treasures, and, in fact, one of the world's musical treasures, gets the lion's share of attention and adoration, but Fielder is "relatively fair" to more famous names like Marian Anderson and Placido Domingo, Cecilia Bartoli and Beverly Sills, Maria Callas and Enrico Caruso, et al. For snide laughs, start with the gossip surrounding the firing of Kathleen Battle; for grim adventure, there is the real murder of violinist Helen Hagnes; if you believe that the Met, to survive, has got to hire more experimental directors, read about John Dexter and his defeat at Lincoln Center; if you believe that the Met, to survive, must continue to hire more lavish directors, read about Franco Zeffirelli and his opera-as-spectacle policy; if you, like most, get your only opera experience from The Three Tenors, there are pieces on all three of them and an extra long chapter on the, arguably, most famous singer of all time, Luciano Pavarotti.
Rating:
Summary: MORE THAN GOSSIP
Review: Back when I used to spend more summer days on the beach than at work, this book would have been considered a perfect "beach book." Anyone interested in opera in general or the Metropolitan Opera specifically, will want to read what goes into the day-to-day workings of this city within a city. MOLTO AGITATO's subtitle says it all: "The Mayhem Behind the Music at the Metropolitan Opera." Fiedler is a witty, clever writer who keeps the pace going and although she has some obvious likes and dislikes among the stars and the office and backstage workers, she seemingly keeps her opinions on the back burner and tries, often successfully, to tell the facts. But, let's face it: the Met is a performing arts organization and, therefore every civilian who watches or listens to even one opera from the Met, becomes a financial and artistic critic. Conductor James Levine, one of the Met's treasures, and, in fact, one of the world's musical treasures, gets the lion's share of attention and adoration, but Fielder is "relatively fair" to more famous names like Marian Anderson and Placido Domingo, Cecilia Bartoli and Beverly Sills, Maria Callas and Enrico Caruso, et al. For snide laughs, start with the gossip surrounding the firing of Kathleen Battle; for grim adventure, there is the real murder of violinist Helen Hagnes; if you believe that the Met, to survive, has got to hire more experimental directors, read about John Dexter and his defeat at Lincoln Center; if you believe that the Met, to survive, must continue to hire more lavish directors, read about Franco Zeffirelli and his opera-as-spectacle policy; if you, like most, get your only opera experience from The Three Tenors, there are pieces on all three of them and an extra long chapter on the, arguably, most famous singer of all time, Luciano Pavarotti.
Rating:
Summary: interesting in the beginning.......
Review: I am not an Opera lover to the extent that several of the other reviewers are so my review is not as harsh. I would have loved to give this book 4 stars but it was getting a little old by the end. For me, it was full of interesting and sometimes humorus stories that I had not heard before. However, by the end of the book, the political stories were old and repetative. I would have enjoyed more saucy stories about the people of the met and less about how the rich patrons fought with the management. For so many people, that's not exciting - that's life. SO I say it's a good read if you're a moderate opera fan but you may want to find a used version.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting history
Review: I enjoyed this book, thought it interesting from historical standpoint especially regarding the administration of the Met. I also didn't know about the dire financial problems over the years. However, those expecting alot of gossip and dirt on the stars are going to be disappointed as there really isn't much other than a few ego trips and the poor diva behavior of Marton and Battle, known already in the opera world. I found the board member stuff new to me as I don't read the NY Times that closely over the years. Levine and Volpe became more interesting after reading the book and I can only hope for many more years of success in spite of some really incompetent management over the years. Obviously, running this show is not an easy job and it seems the author respects Volpe's abilities. If he retires, maybe this is a job for Rudy!! If you like the art form and the Met it is worth a read.
Rating:
Summary: delightful
Review: I gave Molto Agitato to my wife for Christmas, then picked it up and read it in three days. It's a delightful romp through 100-plus years of the Metropolitan Opera. The folks on the opera newsgroup enjoy trashing it, but the nits they pick are mostly trivial. They also say that Ms Fielder has merely rehashed other books for the early history of the Met, but since I haven't read those, it was all news to me, with the single exception of the Vanderbilt sandpile filled with jewelery. Similarly, the new stuff was mostly a revelation, and only the story of Kathleen Battle in the back seat of her limo, telephoning her agent so that he could telephone the driver and tell him to tune the air conditioning, was a repeat to me. By today's standards, Molto Agitato is brilliantly edited, with few or no typographical errors or solecisms. I'd give it 5 stars except that it is clumsily organized. Any author would have problems making a coherent whole out of 100 years and dozens of personalities, but every once in a while Fieldler changes subjects so quickly or leaps out of her chronology so drastically that it's a bit bewildering. Even the ending, to me, was flat: a performance about to begin, about which we hear nothing further. But this is the best book I've read so far, and it will serve until those smart guys on rec.music.opera write about all the nits they know.
Rating:
Summary: Sloppy research. The Met deserved better.
Review: I know a lot about the history of the Met, and any journalist with access to a library card could have checked name spellings, debut and farewell dates and roles sung at the Met. The innacuracies in this book exceed my ability to list them all! The author has Joan Sutherland retiring in 1984 (it was 1989). They have her cancelling a production of SEMIRAMIDE, which in fact was taken away from her when she cancelled ABDUCTION, giving them over a year's notice. They list singers singing roles they never gave at the Met. The date inaccuracies are legion. If you want half warmed-over gossip with no relation to actual reality, this is the book for you.
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