The Magic Flute (Russell, P. Craig. P. Craig Russell Library of Opera Adaptations, V. 1.)

The Magic Flute (Russell, P. Craig. P. Craig Russell Library of Opera Adaptations, V. 1.)
Average customer rating:

Great introduction for kids!

Mozart's The Magic Flute

The Definitive Magic Flute

A great way to learn about opera, suitable for young or old.

Wonderful story-telling

The Magic Flute (Russell, P. Craig. P. Craig Russell Library of Opera Adaptations, V. 1.)
P. Craig Russell , and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Manufacturer: Nantier Beall Minoustchine Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 156163350X

Amazon.com

Mozart's last opera, the simultaneously comic and serious fairy tale The Magic Flute (Die Zauberfloete), is as problematic as anything in the medium. Some deplore it for its perceived sexism and racism; some deplore it for its arguably goofy plot. "Depending on your perspective," writes David Foil in his essay in this book, it "is either the silliest opera ever written or a work of profound insight that happens to be dressed in the trappings of a cartoon." That it is Mozart's sublime music that ennobles something meant to be merely a short-lived popular entertainment is not in question.

This volume, issued by Black Dog Opera Library, puts together Foil's essay, lots of pictures, a complete libretto (with running commentary) in English and German, and a classic recording on two compact discs in one comfortably priced hardcover package. It is a fine introduction to what remains a great opera, goofy plot or no. (And Bellini's plots aren't even goofier?) It is worth buying just for the now out-of-print EMI/Angel 1972 (remastered in 1987) recording, contained on two very long-playing CDs, found inside the front and back covers of the book. The dialogue portions work better in this version than in most recordings. Anneliese Rothenberger is an appealing Pamina, and Walter Berry is a delightful Papageno. Edda Moser nails the difficult music of the Queen of Night, while Kurt Moll is our day's definitive Sarastro. Wolfgang Sawallisch, brisk and never lugubrious, conducts his soloists and the Bavarian State Opera Chorus and Orchestra with total certainty.

Book Description

Long out of print, the many adaptations that Russell has done of famous operas are finally collected again in 3 volumes, in the wake of his highly successful massive recent adaptation of Wagner¹s Ring of the Nibelung. This first volume presents his adaptation of one of Mozart¹s most famous works, a farcical tale mixed with fantasy. The story begins as the Queen of the Night sets Prince Tamino on a quest to rescue her daughter, Pamina from the evil Sarastro. On the way, he meets the bird-catcher Papageno, who is ³persuaded² to help Tamino in his quest. Tamino¹s spiritual quest is counterpoised with Papageno¹s own earthly search for his one true love, Papagena. Both couples¹ strivings are juxtaposed with the eternal conflict between Sarastro and the Queen of the Night.

Customer Reviews:

Great introduction for kids!.......2007-03-08

This is a great opera introduction for kids. The story is really easy to follow and the CD is a great addition. I highly recommend this for anyone.

Mozart's The Magic Flute.......2007-02-14

This was a wonderful story well written for a young audience. We bought it for our six-year-old son who began studying violin a year ago, and this was his one-year anniversary present. Mozart's Eine Kleine Nacht Musik was his inspiration to learn the violin, and he has since taken interest in other Mozart music. The illustrations are also very beautiful.

The Definitive Magic Flute.......2005-04-12

I'm usually dismissive of most Die Zauberflotes because I find the overall quality of the singers and recording lacking. Then I came upon this recording...I have to say that it is simply the most amazing Die Zauberflote I've ever heard! The orchestrations to the singers to the conductor himself...everything is mind-blowing! I'm not a Mozart person, but if I really like a recording of his I will buy it. This is an excellent way to introduce yourself to the Flute, especially since there is such a wonderful introduction accompanying this extremely famous opera. And the Queen of the Night-Edda Moser!!! Amazing! Simply amazing! No other Queen has conveyed that much drama into her singing. This is the Flute. I would suggest Marriner's version if I hadn't seen this one, but then here is a Flute with all the greats in it! Get it now!

A great way to learn about opera, suitable for young or old........2004-04-21

I received this as a gift from a mislead but well-meaning relative. Needless to say, I have never been a fan of opera. However, I was surprised that I was actually able to enjoy this book and accompanying CD. The book begins with a brief biography of Mozart, and then offers a prose overview of the story (extremely helpful for understanding!). The second half of the book contains the libretto, or text, of the opera. The original German forms one column on the left-hand side of each page, and the English translation is printed on the right. This way one can follow along with the story while listening to the music, even if you don't know a word of German. Throughout the entire book there are pictures from different stage performances of The Magic Flute. The musical recording is of high quality, contained on two disks that fit into pockets on the inside front and back cover of the book.

This would be a wonderful book for anyone interested in learning about opera, young or old. However, I must disagree with the reviewer who said this was geared toward children between three and seven. A 3-year-old would never be able to read the text, and a 7-year-old, unless very advanced, would no doubt struggle with it. The book is better suited for slightly older children all the way up through adults of any age. While I'm still not a fan of opera, I did gain some appreciation for it from this book and CD. I'm sure the only way to truly experience an opera is to see it performed live (just listening to a recording removes the entire visual element), but I would nevertheless recommend this product.

Wonderful story-telling.......2004-03-15

P. Craig Russell's drawing style seems especially apt for stories of enchanted lands and beings. His lines are light and airy, and he sets a mood nicely with color. In other words, he is ideally suited to illustrate this story.

He does a delightful job of it, too. He amplifies all of the characters theatrically beyond the believable, and has one small advantage over true opera - he is never at the mercy of the set designers, costumers, or other effects.

I am very glad to see this classic of western culture (and the others coming soon) made available in this format. I confess, I have not fully acquired the taste for opera, or the ability to derive the story from the way it is sung. I do, however, want to know at least a bit of the story, and this is a very digestible form. Russell's drawing makes it more than digestible, it's a real confection. I also appreciate the fact that Russell has adapted the story, and not created a new one from fragments of the classic.

Opera buffs - I hope you can accept this for what it is. One way to look at this is opera appreciation on training wheels, a painless entry into part of the operatic art. It's also a way to spread some knowledge of this classic across a generation that might not have been exposed to the story otherwise - certainly a good thing.

If nothing else, it's a well-drawn comic by a very capable artist. It's that "else" that makes this comic stand out. I'm looking forward to the next Russell operas.

(This reviews the book without the CD.)

Mozart's Sister: A Novel
Average customer rating:

Some beautiful musical imagery but often melodramatic

Mozart's Sister: A Novel
Rita Charbonnier
Manufacturer: Crown
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0307346781
Release Date: 2007-10-09

Book Description

Maria Anna Walburga Ignatia Mozart, affectionately called Nannerl by her family, could play the piano with an otherworldly skill from the time she was a child, when her tiny hands seemed too small to encompass a fifth. At the tender age of five, she gave her first public performance, amazing the assembled gentlemen and ladies with the beautiful music she created. But her moment of glory was cut short, for even as her father carried her around to receive their praise, her mother began laboring to bring a second child into the world. After hours of her mother’s pained cries and agonized shouts, which rang in Nannerl’s ears like a terrifying symphony, the child was born. They named him Wolfgang.

Nannerl loved him instantly. As they grew, Wolfgang and his sister became inseparable, creating a fantasy world together and playing music the likes of which no one had ever heard. They were two sides of a single person, opposite in temperament—he lighthearted and charismatic, she shy and retiring—but equal in talent. Yet it was Wolfgang who carried their father’s dreams of glory.

And as the siblings matured, Nannerl’s prodigious talent was brushed aside by her father. Instead of playing alongside her brother in the world’s great cities, she was forced to stop performing and become a provincial piano teacher to support Wolfgang’s career. Nannerl might have accepted this life in her brother’s shadow but for the appearance of a potential suitor who reawakened her passion for life, for love, for music—and who threatened to upset the delicate balance that kept the Mozart family in harmony.

Mozart’s Sister draws you into the lush palaces and salons of eighteenth-century Europe and into the fascinating life of a woman who ultimately found a way to express her own genius.

Customer Reviews:

Some beautiful musical imagery but often melodramatic.......2007-10-10

The story of Nannerl Mozart, Wolfgang's sister, is told in a combination of epistolary and narrative form. It is an historical fiction of a woman with an independent mind and spirit attempting to fit in with the 18th century expectations of womanhood--the story of an anachronistic prodigy that must subvert her musical talent to those of her brother's. The epistolary parts are more lyrical, poetic, and nuanced. They were more immediately felt and fresh sounding than the overwrought narrative, which repeatedly advises us that Nannerl's chauvinistic father was very controlling and that she must sacrifice her musical ambition to promote and help fund Wolfgang's career. The tale is melodramatic, dearly earnest, with many exclamatory sentences and too much emotional repetitiveness. I would have preferred that the author flesh out more of the characters in Nannerl's life and give them more independent vitality than wield them as vehicles of Nannerl's plight. The story lacks emotional tension because emotions are overbaked. When the author does modulate her prose and gives more grace to her narrative (in Nannerl's letters), I feel more fully engaged in the story. Overall, it was moderately enjoyable, but the fervid doggedness feels intermittently stale and devotional.

Average customer rating:

Mozart personified....romantic, not romanticized!
A promising beginning, but ultimately a painful read
Shallow and pulpy
Excellent!
The Perfect Novel for the Mozart Anniversary Year

Marrying Mozart: A Novel
Stephanie Cowell
Manufacturer: Viking Adult
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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SINGING BIRD

ASIN: 0670032689
Release Date: 2004-01-22

Book Description

Mannheim, 1777. The four Weber sisters, daughters of a musical family, share a crowded, artistic life in a ramshackle house. Their father scrapes by as a music copyist; their mother keeps a book of prospective suitors hidden in the kitchen. The sisters struggle with these marriage prospects as well as their musical futures-until one evening at their home, when 21-year- old Wolfgang Mozart walks into their lives.

No longer a prodigy and struggling to find his own place in the music world, Mozart is enthralled with the Weber sisters: Aloysia's beauty and talent captivates him; Josefa's rich voice inspires him; Sophie becomes his confidante; and Constanze comes to play a surprising role in his life.

Eighteenth-century Europe comes alive with unforgiving winters and yawning princes; scheming parents and the enduring passions of young talent. Set in Mannheim, Munich, Salzburg and Vienna, Marrying Mozart is the richly textured love story of a remarkable historical figure-and four young women who engaged his passion, his music, and his heart.

Customer Reviews:

Mozart personified....romantic, not romanticized!.......2007-07-05

This is a brilliant novel! Romanticism of the 19th Century perpetuated myths surrounding Mozart's genius along with an extreme laudatory tone that deemed him a distant, God-like entity. Just as 20th Century scholarship addressed fallacies pertaining to Mozart's education, compositional methods and so forth, Stephanie has opened the door to Mozart's personal life for us, so that we may take a glimpse! We are transported to 1777, beyond musical notation into the insights of a young man who is witty, charming, flawed and sometimes without valor. As a coloratura soprano and dedicated Mozartian with substantial research to her credit, Stephanie gives us an historically informed fiction which fills in the blank pages from Mozart's earliest associations with the Weber family to his quest for marital bliss within its confines. Stephanie's narrative often focuses on the relationship between the Weber sisters, which reminds me dearly of "Little Women." Struggles and hardship co-exist with moments of felicity. The story is romantic, but not romanticized. In a word, it is scrumptious! Tears, laughter, frustration...it is an emotional investment worth every page. Her knowledge as both historian and vocalist make this novel a very special adventure for all who indulge. Highly recommended!

A promising beginning, but ultimately a painful read.......2007-02-22

I'm frankly a little surprised to see so many positive reviews of this book. I was intrigued by the story at the beginning, but as it unfolded, the characters seemed more and more wooden and the dialogue became laughable. If I had to hear Mrs. Weber call her daughters "my little fleas" one more time, I vowed to stop reading. I finally ended up skimming the last 50 pages to end my misery, as I really didn't care what happened to the shallow characters. I think Stephanie Cowell has the potential to be a good descriptive writer, but somehow this story fell painfully flat. Kudos to her for the underlying idea, which was a creative approach to telling the tale of Mozart. I would not, however, recommend this book to those who desire a more lyrical--and believable--read.

Shallow and pulpy.......2007-02-14

Mozart is one of history's many mysteries. Many have tried to solve the puzzle that is this genius - the man composed his first music at the age of five, for god's sake - but it is still a wonder how he managed to pour his soul into his art and become immortal. Unfortunately, Stephanie Cowell's novel is not interested in that.
Cowell decides to approach the enigma that was Mozart through the women in his life, the Weber sisters. This could have worked very well (after all, every great artist has his muses), but what this novel turns out to be is a pulpy, nauseously romanticized beach lit. It seems that the author was more interested in the atmosphere than its characters, which leaves the reader wanting more, especially if one is not particularly interested in the lives the 18th century women led, the make-up they used and marriage opportunities they thought were agreeable. It is very shallow, despite some of its rare emotionally intense moments. If you are really looking for some historical fiction, switch to Tracy Chevalier. However, if you are off to Hawaii, and need something to both entertain you and enlighten you on a high school level, look no further - you'll find Stephanie Cowell's "Marrying Mozart" most satisfactory.

Excellent!.......2006-06-07

Very well-written. The dialogue in particular is very believable for the time and place (aside from a few scenes at the beginning where the characters tell each other things they already know). It's obvious that the writer knows a lot about music. The story is both fun and serious. I enjoyed this book a lot, and if you love historical fiction, you will too.

The Perfect Novel for the Mozart Anniversary Year.......2006-06-06

As Mozart turned 250 this January 27th, I was rereading Stephanie Cowell's elegant and humorous novel for the third time. If you're weary of the vulgar and immature Mozart portrayed in the film "Amadeus," this book will warm your heart while correcting the biographical details. In Ms. Cowell's sumptuous version of Mozart's story, the young composer meets the four Weber sisters (Aloysia, Constanze, Josefa, and Sophie), and quickly falls in love with Aloysia, a temperamental diva who became one of his leading interpreters. When the soprano runs off with another man, however, Wolfgang comes to realize that the aptly named Constanze may be his "unsung" true love, an epiphany and plot twist that Ms. Cowell handles with extraordinary grace and charm. The author was an opera singer, and her prose sings with a rhythm all its own. She excels at depicting both the complex family relationships in the Weber household and Mozart's musical struggles as he began to write and produce his first operas. "Marrying Mozart" shows the human side of genius and in that way it is more compelling than many Mozart biographies I've read. I enjoyed this book so much, I may read it for the fourth time before the Mozart year is over.

Mozart's Journey to Prague and a Selection of Poems (Penguin Classics)

Average customer rating:

the most natural coincidence easily becomes an oracle

Mozart's Journey to Prague and a Selection of Poems (Penguin Classics)
Eduard Morike
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0140447377
Release Date: 2003-12-30

Book Description

Eduard Mörike's delightfully high-spirited 1855 novella is an imaginary re-creation of the journey Mozart made from Vienna to Prague in 1787 to conduct the first performance of Don Giovanni. Set in the rococo world of the Bohemian nobility, the story paints an unforgettable picture of Mozart's creative genius—its playful heights and its terrible depths. Mörike's own lyrical powers are also displayed in his poetry, which combines classicism and romanticism with elements of the traditional folk and fairy tale.

Customer Reviews:

the most natural coincidence easily becomes an oracle.......2006-09-12

When I came across this novel (a Penguin Books edition, without the poems) I had no idea that Morike had written novels - I was aware of his poetry through the music of Hugo Wolf. So what would a novel be like by the man who wrote this?

Let me be,O World!/Do not tempt me with gifts of love,/Let this heart keep to itself/its joys and its sorrows.
I do not know what I mourn for/it is an unknown grief;/only through tears I see/the sun's clear light.
Often (I am hardly conscious of it)/bright joy flashes/through the gloom that oppresses me;/bringing rapture to my heart.
Let me be,O World!/Do not tempt me with gifts of love,/Let this heart keep to itself/its joys and its sorrows.

It is a beautiful poem, and so is the novel. But the novel is so different - full of rapture - the bright flashes are sustained. But there is also just a touch of distress - just what an author needs to keep the reader alert. This is a beautiful novel about Wolfgang and Costanze. Did Morike have any real knowledge of the Mozarts that he could produce such a convincing image of the scurrilous, caring but often-distracted Wolfgang? And what of Costanze - she is so wonderful in this novel. Perhaps Morike helped frame the vision we have of Mozart, but perhaps he also reflected common understanding of the man and his character accurately.

Stitches in Air: A Novel About Mozart's Mother

Average customer rating:

a beautifully written and imagined book
long overdue!
A fascinating, entertaining, fully engaging read

Stitches in Air: A Novel About Mozart's Mother
Liane Ellison Norman
Manufacturer: Smoke and Mirrors Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0970959001

Book Description

STITCHES IN AIR: A NOVEL ABOUT MOZART'S MOTHER is the compelling story of Anna Pertl Mozart, mother of the inspired and heralded 18th-century composer. A gifted musician in her own right, Anna's talents and aspirations were denied during the Age of Enlightenment, which championed the Rights of Man but held that Nature had designed Woman to cook, clean, knit and darn stockings.

Customer Reviews:

a beautifully written and imagined book.......2005-01-30

I just read this wonderful novel. It is the story of Mozart's mother. The author wanted to write a nonfiction book on this subject but could not find enough source material. So she took what she had and wrote a book assuming that Mozart's mother, Anna Pertl Mozart, was a gifted composer who studied at the Nonnberg convent before her marriage to Leopold. It is a beautifully written and imagined book. In the Afterward the author makes it very clear what information she did have and which ideas she invented.

The title refers not only to the lace that she made but also to the fact that all her music and almost all her letters disappeared into the air. Mozart's sister and fellow composer, Nannerl, is a major figure in this family novel. The world's effect on all musicians of the day, especially the women, is dramatically brought to life.

long overdue!.......2002-12-17

Recognition of Mozart's mother is surely long overdue but it was worth waiting for this well researched, involving, and at times poetic fictional account of Anna Pertl Mozart. Not only did it make me want to read more about the Mozarts but also visit all the places in Salzburg that are associated with them. Ms. Norman is to be congratulated on illustrating so vividly why women composers (or women artists of any kind for that matter) have had to struggle so hard for recognition over the centuries. She has certainly succeeded in rescuing one ANON from obscurity.

A fascinating, entertaining, fully engaging read.......2002-04-09

Liane Ellison Norman's Stitches In Air is a compellingly written, superbly crafted historical novel about Anna Pertl Mozart, who was the mother of the legendary 18th-century composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. An evolving, personal tale of conflicting family dynamics and the struggle to balance responsibilities to kin with individual freedom, Stitches In Air is a fascinating, entertaining, fully engaging read, and a very highly recommended addition to community library collections.

Sacred and Profane a Novel of the Life and Times of Mozart

Average customer rating:

A great work, that brings Wolfgang back to us
Many thanks are due to my music teacher
the indepth look at the private life of W.A. Mozart
More in-depth story of Mozart's life than Amadeus.

Sacred and Profane a Novel of the Life and Times of Mozart
David Weiss
Manufacturer: William Morrow & Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 999740937X

Customer Reviews:

A great work, that brings Wolfgang back to us.......2006-06-05

A quite detailed and very well written work. I can give practically no critics, you don't need to know anything about Mozart to read this book, becaue it is very informative. I don't recommend it to unpatient fellows though, for they would soon get bored. Really brings Wolfgang Mozart back to life...

Many thanks are due to my music teacher.......2006-04-12

She suggested I read this book (she knew I afored reading WAY more than piano lessons) and I was particularly not a Mozart fan. Although it doesn't say it in the book, I'm convinced he had 16 fingers on 1 hand and 12 on the other to make the chords he did. Still not a fan of playing anything Mozart, but a total fan of this book. The characters lept from the page and the historical setting helped me grasp what was happening at the time. I highly recommend it while litening to a little Ein Klein Nightmusik

the indepth look at the private life of W.A. Mozart.......1998-08-13

This book tops any account of Mozart's life. It is more of a historical novel than a simple time-line of the events.

More in-depth story of Mozart's life than Amadeus........1997-10-20

Focuses more on the early life of Mozart. His early concepts of ALL sounds as music, and the joy of hearing that vast pallette of sounds he later used in his music. His inner thoughts and dreams about music develop as he gets older. His love of his family and his love of music at odds with each other, pulling him first one way then another, but music always his overpowering first love, ultimately leading to his premature death.

Average customer rating:

Informative and Fun Read
A Must for Any Mozart or Opera Fan
Whimsical, but Maybe Only for Opera Lovers
wonderful atmosphere and settings
The Enchantments of Mozart's World

Imagining Don Giovanni: A Novel
Anthony J. Rudel
Manufacturer: Atlantic Monthly Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0871138271

Book Description

Bursting with the light and life of eighteenth-century Prague, Anthony Rudel's captivating debut novel -- based on a historical event -- resurrects three of the most fascinating personalities of all time and a world of romance and imagination. In October 1787, sixty-two-year-old Giacomo Casanova, the notorious lover, and thirty-one-year-old Wolfgang Mozart, the immortal composer, are believed to have met in a Prague coffeehouse to discuss a revolutionary new opera based on the life of the infamous rake Don Juan. From this mere footnote in history, Anthony Rudel has spun a wondrous tale in which the two, along with the poet Lorenzo Da Ponte, work against the clock to complete the operatic masterpiece. A struggle of wills and desires ensues, winding its way through glittering society balls, rustic old-town inns, and majestic opera houses. It is a time of artistic fervor, philosophical awakening, deep friendship, and true love. Indeed, Mozart's fairy-tale marriage to the beautiful Constanze hangs in the balance. In the eleventh hour, the correspondence of an imprisoned French nobleman of questionable sanity illuminates the opera's destiny: the Marquis de Sade writes from his asylum cell to implore the trio to unite in support of Don Giovanni's theme of personal freedom. The flurry of incendiary artistry and explosive clashes builds to the opera's opening night, a crescendo of inspiration, passionate devotion to liberty, and renewed bonds of love. Combining the ingenious storytelling of the best historical novelists with the breathtaking, Old World European atmosphere of the Oscar-winning Amadeus and the Oscar-nominated Quills, Anthony Rudel has mined a glorious past for this fast-paced and sublimely entertaining first novel.

Customer Reviews:

Informative and Fun Read.......2006-08-26

This clever book is historical fiction at its best. It takes interesting characters of an era and brings them together in a "What if?" scenario. I found a lot of information about writing operas, Mozart, Cassanova and the era in general slipping in as I was engrossed in enjoying a delightful story.

A Must for Any Mozart or Opera Fan.......2002-05-15

I write historical novels, and this novel is everything I look for in a novel when I read one--and everything I aspire to when I write one! It's purely entertaining; historical fiction at its finest. Mozart is characterized as a wonderful blend of naivete and the immortal genius he was; a multi-dimensional character just delightful to read about, especially if you're a fan of Mozart's and have read other biographies of him. I had read that Casanova actually did assist Mozart & DaPonte in the creation of Don Giovanni, and other historical details were very well researched. To me, the best historical novels contain factual information so that the reader can learn a bit about the time period, even if most of the plot is fictionalized. If this were made into a movie, it would blow Amadeus right out of the water!
Now Anthony Rudel has another talent to add to his list--novelist. If this is a debut, it was outstanding. Extraordinary work, Mr. Rudel! Keep them coming! (How about a Beethoven bio now???)

Whimsical, but Maybe Only for Opera Lovers.......2002-04-05

I love opera, I love Mozart, I love Prague and I'm intrigued by Casanova, so I really loved this book. It centers around the premier of Mozart's opera, Don Giovanni in Prague in 1787.

The author tells us that Don Giovanni was inspired by none other than Casanova, himself, who set up a meeting with Mozart in a Prague coffeehouse in an attempt to "sell" the great composer on the idea of basing an opera around the figure of Don Juan. That part is factual...I think. That and the characters, dates and delays in staging the opera. The rest of this marvelous book centers around imagined happenings, all contrived to urge Mozart to produce and bring Don Giovanni to fruition.

There are three main characters in this book: Mozart, of course, Casanova, and Lorenzo da Ponte, Mozart's long suffering librettist. All three main characters are wonderfully drawn, but just as wonderfully drawn are the "minor" characters, who really aren't so minor at all.

One of the best of these "minor" characters is Mozart's wife, Constanze, or "Stanzi," as Mozart called her. Stanzi had a few secrets of her own to prod Mozart to work and she often had use them.

Josefa Dusek, the singer, and her husband make appearances in the novel when they host the elaborate parties Mozart loved to attend. The party the night before the opera's premier is especially memorable. Opera lovers will recognize the garden scene in Act Four of The Marriage of Figaro, but this only adds to the whimsy of the book rather than detracting from it. This party night is a night of high tension as well as fun, for Mozart has yet to finish the opera's Overture and more than one character is more than a little anxious.

Even the Marquis de Sade manages to make an appearance, of sorts, in this book. Locked away in Paris, he answers a letter from Casanova and gives his own advice on living a life totally without limits. You can imagine what that advice might consist of. If anything in this book can be construed as being "over the top," it is this, but then Mozart was a genius who was, much of the time, "over the top," himself. I think it is completely within the character of the book to include de Sade and I enjoyed it.

Although Mozart does take center stage in this novel, as he should, he gets stiff competition from Casanova. In his sixties at the time, Casanova may have slowed down a bit, but he is still quite thoroughly a rake. Beautiful women seem to abound in Prague and Casanova seems to make it his quest to know them all, or most of them at least, and to let others know the details of his conquests.

I'm an eastern European and I've spent many happy days and nights in Prague. I loved Rudel's detail of Prague city life as well as his detail of the premier, itself. The details are, in large part, what make this book so charming.

The best thing about this book, however, is the wonderful and loving portrait it paints of Mozart, himself. Rudel has managed to capture Mozart in all his genius and all his whimsy. We see him as he no doubt was...an extraordinary composer, the likes of which the world will never see again, and a man who took tremendous joy in the simple pleasure of life.

This is a gorgeous and fun book, but I don't think it's right for everyone, or even the majority of readers. I do think one has to be a fan of Mozart or of opera to obtain the maximum enjoyment from "Imagining Don Giovanni." If you're an opera fan, like I am, I would certainly recommend this book. While it might not stay with you forever, it will certainly entertain you for a few hours and make your life more pleasant. And, it just might leave you wanting more of Mozart.

wonderful atmosphere and settings.......2001-10-25

Aside from the fact that I now have to go buy a recording of Don Giovanni, this is a terrific book. Mozart and his librettist are under the gun to get their production going and seek advice from the then-premier womanizer in the history of the world, Casanova. After all, who better to advise on staging and dramatizing the nuances and perils of seduction? But the best aspect of the book, for me, were the atmosphere and details in the settings -- the genteel yet dramatic interplay between the characters and the dynamics that move the story forward. It's all rendered with a touching affection and respect for the characters and their times. Lovely.

The Enchantments of Mozart's World.......2001-10-20

This imagined chronicle of Mozart's life in Prague leading up to the debut of Don Giovanni is a pleasure. I'm not enough of a historian to know about the accuracy of some of the book's details, but the writing is breezy and engaging, as is the story. It's a relaxing, incredibly affectionate look at Mozart's relationships with his wife, librettist Lorenzo da Ponte, and -- in an interesting twist -- Casanova, who assists both with the staging of the opera and with romantic intrigues that weave through the plot. It's also an engaging tour of the social practices and mores of the time. And it's a lot of fun. Of course, I had to go out and buy the opera afterwards, so beware of getting lured into the entire subject. My only wish is that there had been a discography to suggest great recordings.

Average customer rating:

How anyone made it through this book is beyond me
Depressingly, Dolefully Decadent
sublime music
Sophomoric Fumbling
Codrescu's Best

Casanova in Bohemia : A Novel
Andrei Codrescu
Manufacturer: Free Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Historical | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Messiah: A Novel
Wakefield
Zombification: Stories from National Public Radio
The Blood Countess

ASIN: 0684868008

Book Description

Beloved NPR commentator and popular author Andrei Codrescu makes a stunning return to historical fiction, detailing the adventurous life and erotic times of the famed illuminist Giacomo Casanova.

In his national bestseller The Blood Countess, Andrei Codrescu brought to life the bloodthirsty royal Elizabeth Bathory, who embodied nearly all the contradictions of the seventeenth century. Now he depicts the astonishing life of the legendary Casanova, as the old adventurer relives his life while writing his memoirs in a provincial Bohemian castle at the end of the eighteenth century. Far from being defeated by age, Casanova delights in the maidservants, reacts with intellectual vigor to the unfolding of the French Revolution, and collaborates with Mozart on Don Giovanni. Long considered the rhapsodist of an age of aristocratic mirth, scandal, and innumerable affairs, Casanova was also a first-rate intellect who corresponded and argued with Voltaire and Rousseau. His published work, besides the celebrated History of My Life, includes a multivolume fantasy fiction novel that predates and anticipates Jules Verne; translations of Italian classics into French; and a number of plays that were produced on the great stages of Europe.

Casanova's romantic legend overshadowed his literary work, which was, for the most part, not published until 1960. The fate of his writings was nearly as fabulous and intriguing as that of their author. Still, even in abridged, bowdlerized, and fragmentary form, Casanova's memoirs have inspired writers as diverse as Flaubert, Stendhal, Hermann Hesse, and now, Andrei Codrescu. Codrescu's vivid fictional account illuminates the interest we still have in this uncompromising and magical libertine, while it imagines how his life would have continued if Casanova's immortality had extended beyond the literary.

In Codrescu's retelling of the Casanova legend, readers are introduced to an age far less inhibited than our own, and far more interesting in its vices. At once a libertine, a defender of women, a reactionary, a revolutionary, a brilliant observer, and a visionary, Casanova was a man ahead of his time both in thought and in action. Finally, in this inventive and absorbing work, Casanova is given due credit for his writings, his philosophies, and, of course, for the amorous magic that has been made known to so many.

Customer Reviews:

How anyone made it through this book is beyond me.......2006-04-21

This book somehow manages to combine stories of the gilded age of Venice and the sexual escapades of Casanova and come out completely boring. As the legendary lover Casanova is in his old age, he is the librarian at an isolated estate in Bohemia. He entertains himself by telling the stories of his youth, of Venice and Paris, of royals and their affairs, to his maid Laura. One would think that it would at least have enough juice to it to be readable! But no, I had to put this miserable book away before finishing it.

Depressingly, Dolefully Decadent.......2002-09-08

Giacomo Casanova, 1725-1798, was a real person, an adventurer, a man-about-Europe, a celebrity, a sociopath, rarely worked, attached himself to famous people and institutions, spent time in prison, and had a number of notorious romantic affairs. If he had lived today he would undoubtedly be a frequent guest on talk shows. Now after many years of obscurity, Casanova has had a revival of sorts, and a following of scholars known as "casanovists."

Andrei Codrescu's book, based loosely on the facts of Casanova's life, details the declining years of Casanova, against the backdrop of European history. It is a time of spectacular decadence, the last days of a crumbling feudal aristocracy, the shock waves of the French revolution, and the personal decline of the once notorious Casanova, a man who has had many romantic escapades but has never formed a lasting relationship with a woman. Now he is lonely, disillusioned, desperately trying to achieve immortality through his writings. And in a way, as the author shows, he does.

I love listening to Andrei Codrescu on National Public Radio, but Casanova in Bohemia was something of a letdown. This book will be of interest to casanovists and also to codrescuites, but it is not for everyone. If you enjoy reading about the sexual preoccupations and embarrassing orgies of a lonely old man you might enjoy it.

sublime music.......2002-06-01

The reviewer who couldn't hear the sublime music in Codrescu's "Casanova in Bohemia" must have a tin ear. This is a generous, rich and bitter-funny novel written in some of the best English prose-rhythms I have ever known. Re-read the first sentence, and then read the rest of it out loud. I predict a long literary life for this book.

Sophomoric Fumbling.......2002-05-30

Codrescu's work in this book is like a 13-year-old's self-conscious attempt at writing a romance diary. The first sentence alone is as unacceptably ill-wrought as the rest of the writing is embarrassingly over-wrought. Codrescu is a great writer and he should be ashamed. Yikes and yuck.

Codrescu's Best.......2002-04-06

Having followed Codrescu's career with abnormal attention over the last twenty five years I have wondered when he would get busy and write his classic. This book finally tips into the mythos. I liked his first two novels -- Blood Countess and Messiah, but here Codrescu opens a panorama of a zeitgeist that somehow still survives from the faded glamor of Venice. "I lived as a philosopher. I die a Christian!" Codrescu is the last of the Draculas -- but his confession that he believes in a Creator makes me ask whether his Dracula mask hides a deeper engagement with the one true God. It is this civil righteousness whose warmth permeates this book and implicitly creates an urban ecotheology based on vials of beautiful blood straight from the nubility of Lutheran Prague.

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