| Many people will tell you they like opera without | | | | the entire history of opera; goes extensively into |
| going into specifics. Apart from the few thousand | | | | each of its three major periods; explains (in a |
| opera buffs who never miss a performance, | | | | humorous manner) what you, the listener, should |
| there mighty be millions of potential fans whose | | | | look for in a performance, in great detail; |
| love of opera falls victim to the marketing | | | | illustrates his points with excerpts from various |
| strategies the music industry currently employs. | | | | operas and pictures and lyrics in the brochure that |
| Folks with only a smattering of opera knowledge | | | | comes with the package. By the time you're done |
| get burned by attending inadequate performances | | | | listening to the guide, you realize you know it all. |
| and/or inferior operas, or buying recordings that | | | | You know exactly which shows to attend (and/or |
| make them erroneously conclude that, even | | | | bring your date to); which recordings to purchase; |
| though some of opera sounds beautiful, it is | | | | which performances to avoid; and how to hold |
| generally not for them. Others get turned off | | | | your own in a conversation about opera with |
| when, thanks to opera's powers-that-be | | | | anyone, including certified experts. |
| self-defeating efforts, they assume that in order | | | | On the product's website, a hilarious (and telling) |
| to really appreciate opera, one has to spend | | | | sample - a foretaste - is provided. You can |
| years studying and researching it. | | | | download it for free. It illustrates the point Ricardo |
| All those fears and unfortunate assumptions are | | | | makes about tempi (the guide explains what |
| swept away by "Getting Opera," an audio guide | | | | tempi is, or should be; as a matter of fact, all |
| that teaches you to love and understand opera, all | | | | opera terminology that you need to know in |
| of it, in less than three hours. Amazingly, during | | | | order to fully enjoy a performance is explained in |
| that brief time interval, the author of this highly | | | | such a way you will grasp it instantly). |
| entertaining half-seminar, half-show, touches upon | | | | |