Books & Reading
Books Sandwiched In
The Toughest Show on Earth: My Rise and
Reign at the Metropolitan Opera by Joseph Volpe
Read-Alike List by Nick Abrahamson
In a rags-to-riches story that rivals Horatio Alger himself, Joseph Volpe went from an auto mechanic in high school, to working in carpentry, to managing one of the greatest opera houses in the world. After a prestigious 16 year career as the Metropolitan Opera’s general manager, Volpe retired in 2006. If you are looking for similar book or resources, see below:
If you’d like to read books about The Met…
An in depth history of the Metropolitan Opera, its construction, its productions, and its artists.
A brief history of the first Metropolitan Opera house previous to the new building’s construction. Contains two in-laid articles from New York area periodicals.
In this oversized photo volume, photographer Nancy Ellison captures some of the world renowned artists and operas that have performed at the Met. Contributions from Joseph Volpe, Pavarotti and others.
In this memoir by the Met’s press representative, Fiedler talks not about the many legendary artists nor performers, but rather the picaresque employees and administrators who make the Met the business (and bureaucratic) machine that it is.
This is a detailed account of the Met before Volpe’s tenure in which radio broadcasts allowed Met performances to reach outside audiences.
If you’d like to read books about opera…
Anything you could want to know about present-day opera. Sutcliffe focuses on the importance of contemporary opera performances, from the content and intent of opera pieces, to the controversy surrounding modern day productions, and everything in between.
Two different artists, two different styles. All things Puccini and Wagner.
An ambitious work that attempts to comprehensively look at opera dating back to the 16th century. More than 115 individual operas are discussed.
Abbate writes on opera from not only a philosophical context, but she also has no qualms with disturbing the reader with some of the more unsettling aspects of the genre. With quite the unique voice, Abbate writes from a deconstructionist framework similar to modern logicians.
As the title suggests, here we have a book about opera from the point of view of a composer. Thomson discusses in practical prose how we learned to compose music.
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