The Operas of Mozart

By: Robert Greenberg, The Great Courses

Narrated by: Robert Greenberg

Length: 18 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's summary

When Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died in 1791 at the age of just 35, he nonetheless left behind the defining composition in every available musical genre of his time: symphony, chamber music, masses, and above all - opera. Opera was the prestige genre of the era, and the thought of it, Mozart wrote, made him "beside myself at once." It was a form he loved dearly, depending on it heavily for personal, professional, artistic, and financial reasons of the greatest weight.

Artistically, the world of the operatic stage spoke deeply to his primal instinct for play, his taste for fantasy, and his restless creative imagination. And in this rich series of eight entertaining lectures, you'll learn how his operas vied with one another for the acclaim reserved for the greatest achievements of human artistic striving: Idomeneo, The Abduction from the Harem, The Marriage of Figaro, Così fan tutte, Don Giovanni, and The Magic Flute, which premiered only ten weeks before his untimely death.

In addition to summarizing Mozart's life and artistic development, the lectures focus on two of his greatest masterpieces, Così fan tutte and The Magic Flute, to help you understand more fully the height of Mozart's operatic achievement.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©2003 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2003 The Great Courses

Loved it

I loved every minute of it. This course is as enjoyable as it is educational.

Kinda crushing on Robert Greenberg!

Where does The Operas of Mozart rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

One of my favorites.

Any additional comments?

Mozart is always interesting and Robert Greenberg's enthusiasm and sidebars make him even more so!

A delightful review of Mozart’s operas

Professor Greenberg takes us on a tour of Mozart’s major operas and makes the case for Mozart being one of the very greatest opera composers of all time. His works have endured since his death in 1791 and are continuously part of the repertoire. I was able to match these lectures with recorded performances by the Metropolitan Opera available on their on-demand subscription service for a wonderful respite.

I adore this series!

its an absolute must have for any opera or music buff. I learned so much!

Really great stuff

I love Professor Greenberg’s down to earth style and the life he breathes into Mozart’s works and life. I love his Brooklyn accent and humor. As a singer in my youth I take issue with his take on sopranos being nothing but competitive and sharp elbows, but I forgive him for that. Professor Greenberg has really really really studied Mozart’s music and shared that with us. Like sleeping on a book for the listener.

great

Enjoyed it. All of Greenberg 's lecture are worth listening to. I highly recommend them.

Good Stuff - for America's Middle Class

The professor is irreverent and reverent where he needs to be, with American humor and sentiment. The book is long, so you will need breaks away from it (perhaps listening to other books).

One of the best values on Audible!

First of all, I have several Great Courses for which I paid full price from the Teaching Company - I love the courses and get a lot of pleasure out of listening to them. The value of being able to get Great Courses for one Audible Credit per course is ALONE worth an annual Audible subscription.

Second, I think Robert Greenberg's Music Courses are terrific and really one of the best uses of the audio book format for university level lectures. You not only hear the discussion of the music but hear music samples as well which makes it far superior to books about music history which can't provide samples of the music discussed. Greenberg's choices of music to illustrate the points he make are always excellent and really make listening to these lectures an enormous pleasure. Like others have said elsewhere, he can be quite corny -if that bothers you this is not the professor you will want to hear. I find his energy and enthusiasm makes the course more interesting and his attempts at humor are rather endearing (it may be that people from New Jersey find corniness less offensive). I appreciate his attempts to liven things up even if some of the jokes are rather silly.

Third, although I am not particularly knowledgeable about music the more I get to know opera the more I realize how very much I love Mozart's operas. It is true that Greenberg spends a lot of time on Cosi Fan Tutte as another listener noted. I didn't expect this to be exhaustive but rather Greenberg's own view of the most interesting aspects of Mozart's operas since it is still an introductory level course. For someone as prolific as Mozart it didn't surprise me that the professor made a selection based on his views. However, if you are expecting it to be exhaustive you will not be satisfied. Greenberg is very informative but selective, and with me that's OK.

Lastly, some negative comments have been made on the lack of librettos included with the course - those librettos are not part of the more expensive versions of the course either. You have to get librettos on your own - there are no entire operas included in the course, only excerpts so I don't know why anyone would think a libretto would be needed to follow the lectures. Some of the complaints made by listeners are very picky considering the comparative value of getting these courses so cheaply on Audible.

Very highly recommended.

Wonderful Education Experience

Would you consider the audio edition of The Operas of Mozart to be better than the print version?

Not applicable

Who was your favorite character and why?

Not applicable

What about Professor Robert Greenberg’s performance did you like?

In addition to being a first class musician and composer, Professor Greenberg is an incredibly talented lecturer. More academics need to listen carefully to his style. He truly loves his subject, he is exceptionally good at presenting his material and
best of all his down to earth humor makes listening to his lectures a delight.
If only more academics could teach like this our profession would be in much better shape. Kudos to this wonderful Maestro.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Not applicable

Any additional comments?

Just buy it!

Also Audible people please change the items in these reviews for The Great Courses

Greenberg has never let me down

Who doesn't love Mozart? That is, who, with any understanding of music at all doesn't love Mozart? He is an amazing genius.

Silly me, I thought I understood his operas pretty well and did not need this course. I'm a straight forward kind of person, and so I chalked the rather unintelligible story lines of many of his operas to a general tendency of opera story lines to be unintelligible, or at least nonsensical. It is the music and the great singing that make me a semi opera buff. As you can probably guess, Prof. Robert Greenburg gave me insights I could never have understood as far as what Mozart was really up to in his operas. I especially enjoyed the lessons on "The Magic Flute." I have been a fan of that opera for a long time. The music is just unbeatable, and that includes of course the ultimate aria of all time, the Queen of the Night's "Hell's vengeance boils in my heart" which requires the soprano to hit a high F four times (that's the F above the F above the F above middle C!).

But now that I know so much more about the story, the characters and how Mozart was able to write the music to enhance all of it, I love it so much more. There were so many "ah-ha" moments in this course that I almost want to turn around and listen to it again.

Prof. Greenburg is not only knowledgeable on this subject, but he is entertaining as well. I adore listening to his Great Courses, and will for sure be listening to them all again in the future, no doubt about it. If you love Mozart (and if you don't, you should!) get this course!!!

P.S. if you just search youtube for "The Queen of the Night" you will undoubtedly hear some amazing performances of the aria I refer to. Check out Diana Damrau. She was born to sing that aria!