sizing that “Debussy is Wagnerian in a unique way.” Musical examples display
the relationships. No bibliography or index.- Youens, Susan Lee. “The Unseen Player: Destiny in Pelléas et Mélisande.” In
Reading Opera(#218), 60–91.
A speculation drawing on ideas of Schopenhauer. The protagonist of Pelléas is
disclosed as “destiny.”
Reginald De Koven (1859–1920)
The Highwaymanis in 19CAMT,v.15.
742.Krasner, Orly Leah. “Reginald De Koven (1859–1920) and American Comic
Opera at the Turn of the Century.” Ph.D. diss., City U. of New York, 1995. 551p.Léo Delibes (1836–1891)
A thorough bibliography is in Studwell (#447): it presents 352 numbered entries.
Items 267–348 are about operas. Nearly all the writing is brief and superficial.
- Coquis, André. Léo Delibes: Sa vie et son oeuvre, 1836–1891.Paris: Richard-
Masse, 1957. 166p. ML410 .D343 C8.
Life and works, with program notes and some technical treatment of the
operas. Worklist, bibliography, no index. - Curzon, Henri de. Léo Delibes: Sa vie et ses oeuvres (1836–1892).Paris: G.
Legouix, 1926. 223p. ML410 .D343 C8.
A useful survey of the works, with program notes and technical comments on
the operas. - Boston, Margie Viola. “An Essay on the Life and Works of Léo Delibes.”
D.M.A. diss., U. of Iowa, 1981. 96 leaves.
“Best and most sizeable English-language work on Delibes”—Studwell
(#447). Genesis and reception accounts of the operas, with synopses. Also a
strong worklist.
Individual Works
Lakmé
ASO183 (1998).
- Loisel, Joseph. “Lakmé” de Léo Delibes: Étude historique et critique, analyse
musicale. Paris: P. Mellottée, 1924. 218p. ML410 .D4 L6.
Genesis, reception (with quotations from reviews), interpreters, and technical
analysis with 133 musical examples. - Miller, Philip L. “The Orientalism of Lakmé.” Opera News6 (22 December
1941): 18–21.
A concise explication of the Oriental flavor in the opera, which is far from gen-
uine but which audiences would understand as expressing the spirit of the
exotic East.
Léo Delibes 153