music in Die Zauberflöte(#1336) and onDie Entführung aus dem Serail
(#1314). The volume also has genesis studies of Idomeneo, Le nozze di Figaro,
and Don Giovanni; two further essays on Don Giovanni(the ballroom scene,
the sextet); “Setting the Stage for Figaro,” “Mozart’s Tragic Muse,” “Mozart
and His Italian Contemporaries,” and “Three Schools for Lovers, or ‘Così fan
tutte le belle.’” List of works cited, expansive index of names and topics.- Angermüller, Rudolph. Mozart’s Operas. Trans. Stewart Spencer. New York:
Rizzoli, 1988. 295p. ISBN 0-8478-0993-5. ML410 .M9 A813.
Originally Mozart: Die Opern von der Uraufführung bis heute (Frankfurt am
Main: Propylaen, 1988). A luxurious coffee-table book with fine illustrations
and useful commentary. Nearly every page has at least one picture, many of
them in color, many showing modern staging. Genesis, program notes, and
reception are presented for even the lesser-known operas, in popular style with
little documentation. Weak index. - Kaiser, Joachim. Who’s Who in Mozart’s Operas: From Alfonso to Zerlina.
Trans. Charles Kessler. London: Weidenfield & Nicolson, 1987. 212p. ISBN 0-
02-873380-0. ML410 .M95 K23.
Originally Mein Name ist Sarastro (Munich: Piper, 1984). Detailed accounts,
in popular style, of 56 characters from seven operas, with speculations about
their motivations and personalities as suggested by the texts. Musical matters
are not taken up. Backnotes, expansive index. - Brophy, Brigid. Mozart the Dramatist: The Value of His Operas to Him, to His
Age, and to Us.Rev. ed. New York: Da Capo, 1988. 332p. ISBN 0-306-
80389-5. ML410 .M9 B818.
First edition, 1964. This is a reissue with a few alterations. Brophy studies the
texts of the operas, with passing attention to the music. The centerpiece of the
book is her examination of the Masonic and mythological bases for Die
Zauberflöte.She also deals at length withDon Giovanni,taking gender-based
and Freudian approaches. There is an overall concern with 18th-century intel-
lectual life and its manifestation in the operas. Footnoted, bibliography, no
index. - Allanbrook, Wye Jamison. Rhythmic Gesture in Mozart: “Le nozze di Figaro”
and “Don Giovanni.”Chicago: U. of Chicago Press, 1983. 396p. ISBN 0-
2260-1403-7. ML410 .M9 A73.
An imaginative study of movement, including questions of tempo and meter,
and use of dances. The motions of the singers fall into standard patterns
(topoi) and reveal the character being portrayed. Specific meters have their
own affects (i.e., duple = exalted passions, triple = terrestrial passions). Dances
have their special meanings; the minuet, for example, standing for elegance
and refinement. Allanbrook goes through both operas, finding such patterns
and explicating them. A Mozart opera, she says, is “a momentary proportion-
ing of musical styles.” Backnotes, expansive index, no bibliography.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 245