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Rating: 
Summary: a good book--if you're smart enough
Review: The book begins with a philosophical discussion of different styles of opera--comedy, tragedy, melodrama, verismo. I was completely lost during that chapter.The bulk of the book goes over the opera with a fine-tooth comb. I thought I knew the opera well, but through much of this discussion, I could not understand which passage in the opera the author was referring to. He gives musical examples, but not often enough. The discussion on the last 59 pages of the opera is interesting, however. He points out which contributions were from Puccini and which were from Alfano. If you don't know every word and every note of the opera, be prepared to hold this book in one hand and a score of the opera in the other hand.
Rating:
Summary: a good book--if you're smart enough
Review: The book begins with a philosophical discussion of different styles of opera--comedy, tragedy, melodrama, verismo. I was completely lost during that chapter. The bulk of the book goes over the opera with a fine-tooth comb. I thought I knew the opera well, but through much of this discussion, I could not understand which passage in the opera the author was referring to. He gives musical examples, but not often enough. The discussion on the last 59 pages of the opera is interesting, however. He points out which contributions were from Puccini and which were from Alfano. If you don't know every word and every note of the opera, be prepared to hold this book in one hand and a score of the opera in the other hand.
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