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Re: [ARSCLIST] Classical/Opera biography/discography books by artist?
As many on this list certainly remember, the late, lamented, Schwann
Guide used to publish an Artist's Issue every few years and the
equivalent European catalogs (Gramophone and Bielefelder, primarliy) had
extensive indexes in the back which listed by artist, disc content (not
to be confused with discontent) and opera casts. I know that Bielefelder
was putting out a CD ROM in the mid-1990s, but I have lost touch with
this area when my professional activities changed their focus from
commercial concerns to archival matters after 1996. There must be people
on the list who can update me on what happened with Gramophone's
successor, R.E.D, and Bielefelder.
Peter Hirsch
Mike Richter wrote:
Doug Henkle wrote:
Looking at the Penguin and Third Ear books which list Classical
Music recordings by composer, are there any comparable books that
list Classical Music recordings by recording artist? I haven't seen
one.
The same question goes for Opera. I have yet to find any book
that lists Opera recordings by the soloist performers.
Some books have indexes that list just the names of artists with
the page numbers of the classical music recordings they are on, or
the Operas they have performed in, but that is not what I am looking
for. I have or have seen many books that have alphabetical entries
of artists complete with biographies and discographies in other
specific genres like, Folk, Country, Jazz, Blues, Rock, Reggae, Hip
Hop, Lounge, Irish, Celtic, World and Soul, but not specifically
Classical Music or Opera. Why not?
Nothing to suggest for the biographies and such; I'd like to find one
myself.
There is a CD-ROM edited by Ommer available from Digitale Bibliothek.
It attempts to list all recordings of opera, operetta and oratorio.
While it has many errors and is far from complete, it's a fine
starting point and is inexpensive.
Ommer offers two tables, one of which is by singer. Each entry gives
artist, opera, role and date; a click provides the full listing.
While Digitale Bibliothek itself may be out of Ommer, it was recently
available at
http://world.std.com/~shw/
the U.S. dealer.
Highly recommended.
Mike