So When Does the Fat Lady Sing? Questions and Answers about Life, Sex, Love, and--Oh, Yes--Opera.(Book review)

So When Does the Fat Lady Sing? Questions and Answers about Life, Sex, Love, and--Oh, Yes--Opera, by Michael Walsh. Amadeus Press, LLC (www.amadeuspress.com), 2007. 173 pp. $10.95.

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In true Socratic fashion, Michael Walsh leads the reader through the history and general maze surrounding my favorite genre: opera. I began reading the book thinking that I knew a lot about opera--but Walsh's questions stumped me more than once! It's a fun and fascinating read formatted in test question fashion. This book about opera is designed like an opera. It is divided into three acts: The 18th Century, 19th Century and 20th Century and has both a prologue and an epilogue. There is also a charming opening introduction by opera great, Placido Domingo.

Walsh, former music critic for Time magazine, says that he intends the book as the "Most Operatic Opera Quiz." His previous non-fiction works include Carnegie Hall." The First One Hundred Years (1987), Who's Afraid of Classical Music (1989), Andrew Lloyd Webber: His Life and Works (revised 1997) and Who's Afraid of Opera? (1994). In this new book Walsh writes about the music, the composers, the stories and the authors and librettists. ...