Classical Singers of the Opera and Recital Stages

Have you ever tried to find information on your favorite classical singer, past or present? If you have, you know the frustrations involved. Now, for the first time under one cover is a comprehensive listing of all known published and unpublished material of a biographical nature about classical singers of the opera and recital stages. No current reference work or periodical includes more than a fraction of the material found here. This book will save the reader countless frustrating hours tracking down sources by indicating exactly where to look. For anyone with a serious interest in classical singers, this new publication is a MUST. Quite simply put, there is nothing comparable available. If you own any or all of the current basic references on opera and singing, this represents a worthy and indispensable companion to each of them. Classical Singers of the Opera and Recital Stages is a comprehensive listing of biographical materials about 1,532 famous and not-so-famous vocalists. Materials from 30 languages and language variants are annotated including cross-references to 24 major dictionaries, encyclopedias, and reference works as well as 12 important periodicals. In addition to this body of information, 157 collective titles and 283 related books are also cross-referenced. It even includes references to works such as the American National Biography which is currently in publication. All of this material is organized into five easy-to-use coded categories, and the codes remain standard throughout the work. A special feature is a complete index to all vocalists accorded an entry in The New Grove Dictionary of Opera (1992). Some 323 classical vocal artists, who do not appear in Grove-Opera, are included here. Cowden's monumental reference lists thousands of sources for obscure artists as well as for the legendary ones from the 17th century to 1993. Each reader will find sources of information previously unknown thus saving countless hours tracking down biographical information about a particular artist. An indispensable supplement to even the most recent published reference works in the field of the vocal arts, Classical Singers of the Opera and Recital Stages should remain a standard work for years to come.

ROBERT H. COWDEN is founding Chair of the Music Program for the California State Summer School for the Arts and Professor of Music at San Jose State University./e During the past decade he has served as Editor-in-Chief of Opera Companies of the World: Selected Profiles (Greenwood Press, 1992), and has authored Instrumental Virtuosi: A Bibliography of Biographical Materials (Greenwood Press, 1989), Concert and Opera Conductors: A Bibliography of Biographical Materials (Greenwood Press, 1987), and Concert and Opera Singers: A Bibliography of Biographical Materials (Greenwood Press, 1985). He is a major contributor to the International Dictionary of Opera (1993) as well as to the American National Biography (1993+). He is presently working on Popular Singers of the Twentieth Century and Triumph of the American Singer: A Century of Bravos.