A Mad Love Audiobook By Vivien Schweitzer cover art

A Mad Love

An Introduction to Opera

Preview

Try for $0.00
Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

A Mad Love

By: Vivien Schweitzer
Narrated by: Lisa Flanagan
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $19.48

Buy for $19.48

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

About this listen

A lively introduction to opera, from the Renaissance to the 21st century

There are few art forms as visceral and emotional as opera - and few that are as daunting for newcomers. A Mad Love offers a spirited and indispensable tour of opera's eclectic past and present, beginning with Monteverdi's L'Orfeo in 1607, generally considered the first successful opera, through classics like Carmen and La Boheme, and spanning to Brokeback Mountain and The Death of Klinghoffer in recent years. Musician and critic Vivien Schweitzer acquaints listeners with the genre's most important composers and some of its most influential performers, recounts its long-standing debates, and explains its essential terminology.

Today, opera is everywhere, from the historic houses of major opera companies to movie theaters and public parks to offbeat performance spaces and our earbuds. A Mad Love is an essential audiobook for anyone who wants to appreciate this living, evolving art form in all its richness.

©2018 Vivien Schweitzer (P)2018 Hachette Audio
Entertainment & Performing Arts History & Criticism Instruction & Technique Opera Musician
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Critic reviews

"Dynamic. Passionate. Searing. ALIVE! Vivien Schweitzer's A Mad Love: An Introduction to Opera captures everything I love about this often misunderstood art form. She connects the stories and musical treasures from across the centuries of opera to go straight to the heart of why opera is addictive and life-affirming. This is the perfect starting point if you're a beginner, and an ideal landing point if you need to be reminded of why you fell in love with opera in the first place!" (Joyce DiDonato)

"A wonderful and welcoming introduction to an art form that can seem elusive and forbidding. A Mad Love is engaging and entertaining for anyone from the opera newbie to the cognoscenti. I was drawn in by Schweitzer's intimate conversational style, and you will be as well." (Francesca Zambello, artistic and general director of the Glimmerglass Festival and artistic director of the Washington National Opera)

"Opera composers often spin out just a thought or two into expansive arias. Vivien Schweitzer does the opposite, deftly packing centuries of music and a profusion of astute observations into this lean delight of a book. If you think you might like opera, but have no idea where to start, the answer is: right here." (Justin Davidson, Pulitzer Prize-winning classical music critic for New York Magazine)

What listeners say about A Mad Love

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    10
  • 4 Stars
    4
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    11
  • 4 Stars
    3
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    12
  • 4 Stars
    1
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great content, great narration, but...

I really enjoyed this audio book! The content is easy to digest but not overly simple, and Lisa Flanagan's narration is very engaging. I learned a lot! My one issues is that the audiobook medium could have been a great opportunity to incorporate clips of the works being discussed. Vivien Schweitzer created a public spotify playlist, but how wonderful would it have been to hear exactly what she's talking about in context with her writing? Audiobook production has a long way to go - this could have been very innovative.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

6 people found this helpful