Vivien Schweitzer

This short history of opera is a natural for those who don't know much about the genre, and want to learn more. And it's not bad for experienced opera goers either, though among those readers there will doubtless be differences of opinion about her interpretation and her choices. Most of the book is a chronological history of opera, up and into the 21rst century. The last few chapters focus on staging and directorial issues, making it vividly clear how big a differences such choices can make. The one thing I wished for was something not possible in the audiobook format. She has prepared a playlist for the book on Spotify: how I wish it could have been integrated into the text. Maybe someday ----… (meer)