Valentino S Opera

(BH Stage Works). Archival edition for perusal only. The current edition may be rented from the publisher for performance: [email protected]

Valentino Bellamorte thought he had the perfect life. A sober, wealthy environmental lawyer on Cape Cod, he owned a beachfront home and yacht, was engaged to a mysterious Southern belle named Kim and he was a celebrated marathoner. And then came New Year's Day 2000, when he wanted to kill himself. Angry and selfish, Val returns to his drinking when his fiance is murdered, his mother dies and his father blames him. This handsome, rich lawyer finds himself out at sea about to commit suicide when he can no longer take the pain. Val is rescued in a tragically comic scene, then, a fishing trip to New Mexico leads to a spiritual experience and certainty about what he needs to do next. He stops practicing law and becomes emersed in the 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous. Val takes a job in a supermarket, begins a rewarding, unlikely friendship with an octogenarian suffering from Parkinson's Disease named Nettie, who helps Val renew the relationship with his father, which is symbolized by an unforgettable day of fishing. She also helps Val forgives himself for Kim's and his mother's death. He returns to running and metaphorically sheds his past at the Falmouth Road Race. In this extraordinary first novel, Michael Tempesta takes us on Val's life-saving spiritual odyssey. We laugh, we experience pain, we discover renewed hope and inspiration. Though Val does not think it possible, he finds true love with Alexandra, who shares his passion for opera, and his father finds companionship, too. Ultimately, Val realizes helping other people, not amassing financial wealth, is what makes a man truly rich. The truth sets him free.

The circumstances surrounding the death of legendary star Rudolph Valentino have been a constant source of fascination for admirers worldwide. This work examines every aspect of his passing, analyzing the circumstances and gathering information into one convenient source for the Valentino scholar and enthusiast. The first part examines every moment of the last days of Rudolph Valentino, his illness and operation, the reactions of such intimates as Pola Negri, and all controversy such as riots, suicides, and fights over his funeral and estate. Part two gives tours of Valentino-related sites in New York, Hollywood and West Hollywood, downtown and suburban Los Angeles, and Beverly Hills, explaining each site's part in Valentino's history, giving quotes from the star and his associates about the place, and describing its present state. Part three consists of eleven appendices giving such information as the infamous "Pink Powder Puff" editorial and Valentino's responses, the medical diagnosis, operation on and treatment of the idol, tributes and eulogies, the list of mourners attending his funerals, his last will and testament, the summation of his estate, quotes about his death, references from newspapers, and a complete filmography.

Although many opera dictionaries and encyclopedias are available, very few are devoted exclusively to operas in a single language. In this revised and expanded edition of Operas in English: A Dictionary, Margaret Ross Griffel brings up to date her original work on operas written specifically to an English text (including works both originally prepared in English, as well as English translations). Since its original publication in 1999, Griffel has added nearly 800 entries to the 4,300 from the original volume, covering the world of opera in the English language from 1634 through 2011. Listed alphabetically by letter, each opera entry includes alternative titles, if any; a full, descriptive title; the number of acts; the composer’s name; the librettist’s name, the original language of the libretto, and the original source of the text, with the source title; the date, place, and cast of the first performance; the date of composition, if it occurred substantially earlier than the premiere date; similar information for the first U.S. (including colonial) and British (i.e., in England, Scotland, or Wales) performances, where applicable; a brief plot summary; the main characters (names and vocal ranges, where known); some of the especially noteworthy numbers cited by name; comments on special musical problems, techniques, or other significant aspects; and other settings of the text, including non-English ones, and/or other operas involving the same story or characters (cross references are indicated by asterisks). Entries also include such information as first and critical editions of the score and libretto; a bibliography, ranging from scholarly studies to more informal journal articles and reviews; a discography; and information on video recordings. Griffel also includes four appendixes, a selective bibliography, and two indexes. The first appendix lists composers, their places and years of birth and death, and their operas included in the text as entries; the second does the same for librettists; the third records authors whose works inspired or were adapted for the librettos; and the fourth comprises a chronological listing of the A–Z entries, including as well as the date of first performance, the city of the premiere, the short title of the opera, and the composer. Griffel also include a main character index and an index of singers, conductors, producers, and other key figures.

“But what is this scent of balmy air? What this ray of light in my tomb? I seem to see an angel, amid a scent of roses” sings Florestan in Fidelio, Beethoven’s only opera. The role of scents, smells, fragrances, and odours in opera has long been neglected, just as how much opera and its stars have influenced the world of perfumery from the nineteenth century to the present day. In the first book-length study on the topic, Professor Mary May Robertson explores the relationship between opera, perfumes, and their respective protagonists in order to map out the previously undiscussed connection between the two. Through compelling close readings of librettos and rigorous research through thousands of bottles of perfume, the reader will come to appreciate and recognise the influences and exchanges between operas and perfumes and their ultimate marriage in the previously unrecognised genre of Operatic Perfumes, which is to say, perfumes named after operas, composers, and their divas.

Alton's Paradox builds upon extensive archival and primary research, but uses a single text as its point of departure—a 1934 article by the Hungarian American cinematographer John Alton in the Hollywood-published International Photographer. Writing from Argentina, Alton paradoxically argues of cine nacional, "The possibilities are enormous, but not until foreign technicians will take the matter in their hands and with foreign organization will there be local industry." Nicolas Poppe argues that Alton succinctly articulates a line of thought commonly held across Latin America during the early sound period but little explored by scholars: that foreign labor was pivotal to the rise of national film industries. In tracking this paradox from Hollywood to Mexico to Argentina and beyond, Poppe reconsiders a series of notions inextricably tied to traditional film historiography, including authorship, (dis)continuation, intermediality, labor, National Cinema, and transnationalism. Wide-angled views of national film industries complement close-up analyses of the work of José Mojica, Alex Phillips, Juan Orol, Ángel Mentasti, and Tito Davison.

Derived from the full Oxford Dictionary of Opera, this is the most authoritative and up-to-date dictionary of opera available in paperback. Fully revised for this new edition, with over 3,500 entries, it is designed to be accessible to all those who enjoy opera, whether at the opera-house oron record. * Composers and their works * Singers and their notable performances * Plot summaries and separate entries for well-known roles, arias, and choruses * Leading conductors, producers, and designers * Opera companies and festivals