Barber of Seville

Great seller, Shipped and arrived on time as described, doing business was a pleasure and I dont say this just because...I say it because you are a great person to buy from.

I highly recommend the Black Dog opera books. They're the perfect way to learn about an opera: They include cd's of the opera by outstanding singers, photos of performances, historical and critical commentary, a scene-by-scene summary of the plot, and the complete libretto in both English and the original language, so you can play around with the translation if you're interested. They can't be beat.

One of Rossini's best operas, the Barber of Seville, is immortalized here in another one of Dover's fine scores. From the fast-paced overture to the "Figaro" aria (both made famous in old Bugs Bunny cartoons), this opera is nonstop greatness. As usual, Dover has provided us with a book of the highest quality: they sew their books instead of gluing them so as for them to stay bound and be flexible, and they print legibly. Unfortunately, legible print is becoming disappointingly rare in modern scores, but Dover is the exception.For a great score of a great opera at a great price, you can't go wrong with Rossini's Barber of Seville.

I have several "Black Dog Opera" recordings, and they are a wonderful way to introduce yourself to opera WIHTOUT spending a lot of money. This label primarily offers recordings of extremely well-known operas. I had some initial concerns regarding sound quality given the price, but I have yet to be disappointed by them -- Barber of Seville is no exception. Each opera comes in a neatly packaged book that contains the full libretto in its original language and in translation; the history of the opera and its performance; and short biographies of the composer and cast. The books are just the right size to tuck them in your purse (or bag!) so that you can follow the libretto along at a live performance -- I took Barber with me to last year's Chicago Opera Theater production and plan to take Tosca along to Lyric later this year! What a great idea!

As with the other Black Dog Opera Library Collections, the Barber of Seville combines CDs of the full opera with a 140+ page hardbound book of pictures, history, libretto and critique. It is perfect both for those new to opera and for the opera savvy. Author David Foil offers a historical critique of the Barber of Seville and relates the impact it had on the music world. Foil also tells the story of Rossini's experiences writing the opera, which took less than one month.The musical recordings alone are reason to buy the book. Perhaps the greatest opera conductor of our time, James Levine, conducts Beverly Sills, Sherrill Milnes and the London Symphony Orchestra in a wonderful rendition of this famous opera. I highly recommend this book and CD to anyone. Nowhere else can you find such a complete package of music, words and pictures for such a reasonable price. So, if you wish to listen to the famous strains of "Figaro, Figaro, Figaro" this is your book.