The Bel Canto Operas

by Charles Osborne (Author)

• Used

  Hardcover
  1994

  $3.29

  The great composers of the bel canto (literally, beautiful singing ) era of Italian opera were Rossini, Donizetti and Bellini. For many years their works, with certain notable exceptions, were kept off the stage due to the immense popularity of their successors, Verdi and Puccini. In the second half of the 20th century, however, bel canto has come back into fashion, partly as a result of the advocacy of a number of conductors and the emergence of singers with the necesssary style and technique. Charles Osborne, the author of guides to the operas of Verdi, Mozart, Puccini, Strauss and Wagner, in this book turns his attention to the bel canto composers. He discusses all of Rossini's 39 operas, Donizetti's 69, and Bellini's ten.

• Used

  Paperback
  1995

  $7.59

  This survey of the Bel Canto operas, an 18th-century form of opera with an emphasis on perfect technique and beautiful tone, describes the recent revival in their popularity after years of being overshadowed by later works by Verdi and Puccini. The text also provides a discussion of the operas by Rossini, Donizetti and Bellini.