Elizabeth Nash

From 1906 until 1922, Geraldine Farrar was the Metropolitan Opera's most popular and glamorous prima donna. Convinced that music must always serve the drama, she often sacrificed tonal beauty to dramatic effect, and her acting was noted for its intensity and realism. Nevertheless, Farrar was a superb singer, possessing a beautiful lyric soprano voice. Farrar was also a star of the silent screen, appearing in 14 films from 1915 to 1920. In retirement, she was mentor and friend to the African American soprano Camilla Williams, enabling Williams to become the first African American to have a regular contract with a major American opera company. This biography and critical analysis of Farrar's career provides a detailed account of her major contributions to the history of opera.

Spain's southern city of Seville basks in romantic myths and legends, evoking the scent of jasmine and orange blossom. But there is an ascetic core to its sybaritic spirit. For all their fame as passionate performers, the poet Unamuno called Sevillanos "finos y frios"-refined and cool. Once Europe's most cosmopolitan metropolis, bridging cultures of East and West and hub of a sea-borne empire, Seville was defined by Spain's great seventeenth-century playwright Lope de Vega as "port and gateway to the Indies". The city retains both the swagger of its seafaring heyday, and the sensual flavor of Moorish al-Andalus. Seville produced Spain's lowest ruffians, grandest grandees and a seductive gypsy culture that colors our wider perception of Spain. Elizabeth Nash explores the palaces, the mosques, the patios, fountains and wrought-iron balconies of Seville, C rdoba and Granada, cities celebrated for centuries by Europe's finest painters, poets, satirists and travel writers for their voluptuous beauty and vibrant cultural mix.

Spain's southern city of Seville basks in romantic myths and legends, evoking the scent of jasmine and orange blossom. But there is an ascetic core to its sybaritic spirit. For all their fame as passionate performers, the poet Unamuno called Sevillanos "finos y frios"--refined and cool. Once Europe's most cosmopolitan metropolis, bridging cultures of East and West and hub of a sea-borne empire, Seville was defined by Spain's great seventeenth-century playwright Lope de Vega as "port and gateway to the Indies". The city retains both the swagger of its seafaring heyday, and the sensual flavour of Moorish al-Andalus. Seville produced Spain's lowest ruffians, grandest grandees and a seductive gypsy culture that colours our wider perception of Spain. Elizabeth Nash explores the palaces, the mosques, the patios, fountains and wrought-iron balconies of Seville, Cordoba and Granada, cities celebrated for centuries by Europe's finest painters, poets, satirists and travel writers for their voluptuous beauty and vibrant cultural mix. CITIES OF SEDUCTION AND DISPLAY: Carmen and Don Juan; holy processions, fiestas and the romance of gypsy music; matadors, cigarreras and flamenco. CITIES OF POETS AND PERFORMERS: Passion and politics from Cervantes to Lorca; the romantic yearnings of Washington Irving and Gerald Brenan; Velazquez, Murillo and Valdes Leal: the baroque and the realist. CITIES OF EMPIRE AND CONQUEST: Seville's conquest of the Americas; the Moorish splendour of Cordoba; Granada and the legacy of Civil War.

This guide offers a cultural history of the city, and covers the building and development of Madrid as one of Europe's capitals. The author explores Madrid by touring the squares, parks, monuments, and the streets of old and new to discover the mystique of Madrid.

My mother's career in English musical comedy as well as mine in German opera and American academia led to fascinating meetings or friendships with George Bernard Shaw, Dame Nellie Melba, Liza Lehmann, Kate Smith, Eileen Farrell, Maria von Trapp, Frederick Jagel, Francis Robinson, Wieland Wagner, Wilfred C. Bain, Berta Morena, Maria Ivogun and Marta Fuchs. This book chronicles these experiences."