First Intermissions

Millions of opera fans tune in faithfully to the Metropolitan Opera's famous Saturday radio series. One of the program's highlights occurs during the first intermission, when invited speakers offer live, stimulating commentary on the opera aired that day. And for the last twelve years one of the most popular guests on this program has been M. Owen Lee, a Catholic priest and classics scholar, who has emerged as a brilliant and engaging speaker with a gift for making opera relevant to...
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Millions of opera fans tune in faithfully to the Metropolitan Opera's famous Saturday radio series. One of the program's highlights occurs during the first intermission, when invited speakers offer live, stimulating commentary on the opera aired that day. And for the last twelve years one of the most popular guests on this program has been M. Owen Lee, a Catholic priest and classics scholar, who has emerged as a brilliant and engaging speaker with a gift for making opera relevant to modern concerns. Now, in First Intermissions, Father Lee presents twenty-one of his finest radio talks, analyzing some of the best loved operas in the current repertoire, including masterworks by Mozart, Verdi, Wagner, Puccini, and Strauss.
This is a book that brims with opera lore, with the love of fine music, and with an abundance of good humor. Father Lee writes brilliantly about the music itself, offering insights into composition that even a novice can grasp and enjoy. He brings the real story of opera to life--great stories that make us see beyond the plot and feel the music as a blow to the heart. Father Lee's love of opera shines through these pieces, and his enthusiasm is contagious, sending readers straight to their record collections--or the nearest record store--to savor once again the marvels of opera.