Maria Callas: A Musical Biography (Amadeus) Paperback – Audiobook, March 1, 2010

I noticed the track number and names of the songs on the CD go as the book describes...but the songs actually played are different!For example, the second song according to the book AND the CD track name is "L'amour Est Un Oiseau Rebelle"...but in reality the song played is "Una Voce Poco Fa"!All songs except the first are wrong.Is it only my copy that has that problem??Anyway I made the list of the actual songs played in case anyone has the same issue.1. Gluck - J'ai Perdu Mon Eurydice (Orphee Et Eurydice)2. Rossini - Una Voce Poco Fa (Il Barbiere Di Siviglia)3. Meyerbeer - Ombra Leggiera ("Sahdow Song," Dinorah)4. Gounod - Je Veux Vivre Dans Ce Reve ("Waltz Song," R Et Jl)5. Saint-Saens - Printempts Qui Commence (Samson Et Dalila)6. Saint-Saens - Mon Coeur S'ouvre A Ta Voix (Samson Et Dalila)7. Massenet - Pleurez, Pleurez Mes Yeux (Le Cid)8. Massenet - Adieu, Notre Petite Table (Manon)9. Spontini - O Nume Tutelar (La Vestale)10. Bellini - Ah Non Credea Mirarti (La Sonnambula)11. Donizetti - Il Doce Suono Mi Culpi Di Sua Voce ("Mad Scene," Lucia Di Lammermoor)12. Donizetti - Spargi D'amaro Pianto ("Mad Scene," Lucia Di Lammermoor)13. Bizet - L'amour Est Un Oiseau Rebelle ("Habanera," Carmen)14. Bizet - Pres De Remparts De Seville ("Seguidilla," Carmen)

I have probably read all biographies written about Callas and this is the finest, never judging her personal life and stressing why she was the most complete singer of our times. Listening to the recordings while reading the comments makes it yet more valuable for the ones that never heard her and for those who have listened her art many times.

Robert Levine is an authority on opera and lavishes some of his skill and insight on one of the most outstanding opera stars in history. The biography of Ms. Callas is short and highly readable, covers the most important aspects of her life, and offers much insight into her personality and the important role it played in her rise and decline. One comes away with the feeling that this is a balanced study, not without some human sympathy but not partisan or tendentious either. Levine mainly lets the evidence speak for itself, which is about as much as anyone can do in a work of this length. Unfortunately, as others have noted, the editing is sloppy and leaves much to be desired. Some sentences are just incoherent or incomplete. The word "ignored" appears as "gnored" in one place. In a discussion of Callas' 1965 return to the Met, we are told that Robert, Edward, and Jacqueline Kennedy were in the audience the first night. Later in the book, Edward is omitted and John Kennedy is said to have been there, even though he had obviously been dead for 2 years by that time. One hopes the book may be revised one day to permit the correction of such egregious errors.The real treasures of this volume are the photos, of which there are many, and the 2 CD's with almost 3 hours of music, coupled with Levine's valuable and fascinating commentary. For anyone looking to understand the uniqueness and power of Maria Callas' singing, Levine has performed a major service. He provides enough background about the opera and the aria being sung that one can understand Ms. Callas' motivation and approach. He also points to particular passages by the timings where they occur in order to explain what she is doing at that point and why it makes sense, dramatically. This level of commitment to teaching about the singer is really remarkable. If you want to understand why Ms. Callas changed the world of opera forever, this book is an excellent place to start.

This is a difficult book to comment on: having 2 CD's with Callas performances and commentary from a respected critic is marvelous, but.... One of the Big Issues in Callas' career was the way she let her voice go to pot, yet the CD tracks are not sequential, the listings do not give dates of the performances, and not all the performance notes do either. The biographical section is frequently padded, and the photographs often do not correspond with the time (or events) being described. As with most books nowadays, the publisher ran SpellCheck on the text, but no one edited it, so there are misspelled words and mis-written sentences. The CD's, though, are very much worth the price of the book, and the musical commentary is helpful. The biographical section offers no new information, but is a concise and readable summary.

The two CDs alone make this a wonderful buy; but the text is a marvelous complement to it as well!

Both the book & CD's arrived by the end of April, a very prompt delivery time, in excellent condition. The book gives an insight into, not only her professional career, but also her private life. The information contained therein is very enlightening and the author has also given a summary of each aria on each of the discs. A must buy for all who have heard of La Divina Maria Callas.

No se trata de una biografía al uso, aunque se cubren también los detalles más importantes de su vida, sino más bien de una apreciación y análisis de su arte, a través del pormenorizado análisis de un amplio número de grabaciones, incluídas en dos CDs adjuntos. Levine tiene buen juicio musical y sabe escribir de manera precisa y entretenida. Esta edición en rústica tiene una calidad de impresión de las numerosas fotos aceptable, pero podría ser mucho mejor. Los discos vienen juntos en una bolsita pegada en el interior de la contracubierta y resulta muy engorroso sacarlos. Lo mejor es meterlos en en una caja de CD y gurdarla junto al libro. Que está solo editado en inglés.

プライベートから舞台写真まであり、しかも付属のＣＤは、ＥＭＩ製で楽しめます。ただし、ディスク２の曲順に誤りがあるようです。（おそらくＣＤ作成時のミスでは？？）Ａmazon usでも指摘されているようですので、以下に正しいと思われる曲名を転載しておきます。（これに沿って解説を読み替えていただければよいのでは？）1. Gluck - J'ai Perdu Mon Eurydice (Orphee Et Eurydice)2. Rossini - Una Voce Poco Fa (Il Barbiere Di Siviglia)3. Meyerbeer - Ombra Leggiera ("Sahdow Song," Dinorah)4. Gounod - Je Veux Vivre Dans Ce Reve ("Waltz Song," R Et Jl)5. Saint-Saens - Printempts Qui Commence (Samson Et Dalila)6. Saint-Saens - Mon Coeur S'ouvre A Ta Voix (Samson Et Dalila)7. Massenet - Pleurez, Pleurez Mes Yeux (Le Cid)8. Massenet - Adieu, Notre Petite Table (Manon)9. Spontini - O Nume Tutelar (La Vestale)10. Bellini - Ah Non Credea Mirarti (La Sonnambula)11. Donizetti - Il Doce Suono Mi Culpi Di Sua Voce ("Mad Scene," Lucia Di Lammermoor)12. Donizetti - Spargi D'amaro Pianto ("Mad Scene," Lucia Di Lammermoor)13. Bizet - L'amour Est Un Oiseau Rebelle ("Habanera," Carmen)14. Bizet - Pres De Remparts De Seville ("Seguidilla," Carmen)

Good value item.

本日8月28日、この本とCDが届きました。正直に申し上げて買ってよかったです。後悔する余地など全くありません。少しずつ日本語に翻訳しています。でも英語で歌詞の対訳が付いているのが良いですね。それに文章自体もそんなに難しくはないので、英語に自信のある方は是非読まれてみては。　今回初めて聴くアリアもありました。また写真がこれほど多く載っていて、本当に至れり尽くせりな本です。