Opera coaching : professional techniques for the répétiteur / Alan Montgomery.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Part I Techniques -- Auditions -- Knowing the score -- Recitatives -- Planning coaching sessions and playing for staging rehearsals -- Following a conductor -- The stage director's perspective -- Interlude 1 do's and don'ts in rehearsal - decorum -- Interlude 2 dealing with the diva/divo -- Part II Consideration -- Interlude 3 comparing composer styles -- Baroque operas -- Interlude 4 the issue of straight tone singing -- Mozart and classical song -- Interlude 5 the "park and bark" disconnect -- Bel canto -- Verdi -- Interlude 6 the vanishing of large voices -- French opera -- Mussorgsky, Tchaikovsky, and the five -- Richard Wagner, Richard Strauss, and the German school -- Puccini and verismo school -- Interlude 7 opera in translation -- Operettas -- Benjamin Britten and other modern composers -- Looking to the new demands in the twenty-first century -- Ensembles large and small -- Conclusions.

"Opera Coaching is the first practical guide that discusses how to help singers meet the physical and vocal demands of a score, and how to shape their entire performance. This second edition adds the sub-title Professional Techniques for the Repetiteur to aptly describe the many tasks of the opera coach, who must have a full understanding of human physiognomy and the human voice, knowledge of the many languages used in Western vocal music, as well as the opera repertoire. It takes into account the changes in the past 15 years since first publication, adds a new chapter on large ensemble rehearsals, changes the chapter order to make the progression through technical work more extensive, adds certain composers, some modern operas, and more"-- Provided by publisher.