- Fisk, Josiah. Composers on Music: Eight Centuries of Writings. Boston:
Northeastern U.P., 1997. xvi, 512p. ISBN 1-55553-278-0. ML90 .C77.
An expanded version of a 1956 anthology by Samuel Morgenstern. A good
selection of writings by about 80 composers, including all the major opera
composers and a number of moderns (such as Poulenc, Cage, Copland, Bern-
stein, Ligeti, Berio, Henze, and Glass). Full source information is given for
each extract, along with commentary. Well indexed.
102.Composers on Modern Musical Culture: An Anthology of Source Readings on
Twentieth- Century Music. Ed. Bryan R. Simms. New York: Schirmer, 1999.
xiii, 286p. ISBN 0-02-864751-3.
All the leading opera composers are included in this useful gathering of origi-
nal writings, many of them appearing in English for the first time. Commen-
taries, bibliography, and index. - Weisstein, Ulrich. The Essence of Opera. New York: Free Press of Glencoe,
- 372p. ML1700 .W35.
An anthology of 68 selections on the topic of operatic poetics, all in English,
with sources and commentaries. Authors include composers from the Floren-
tines to Stravinsky and literary figures like Voltaire, Goethe, Schopenhauer,
Shaw, Cocteau, Brecht, and Auden. Name and title index.
Chronologies
- Zöchling, Dieter. Die Chronik der Oper.Dortmund: Chronik, 1990. 639p.
ISBN 3-611-00128.7 ML102. O6 Z623.
An excellent day-by-day review of operatic history, in newspaper style, from
1598 to 1990. Lavish color illustrations add to the value of the stories, which
include accounts of premieres, openings of new buildings, deaths of artists,
and other events related to opera. The composer index has titles (in German)
under each name, with premiere date; there is also a name index.
Operatic highlights also appear in many general chronologies; of these the most useful
have been described in IOM0105–0112, 1410, and 1501, and Duckles2.62–2.84.
Surely the most fascinating of them is:
- Slonimsky, Nicolas. Music since 1900.5th ed. New York: Schirmer, 1994.
1,260p. ISBN 0-02872-4185. ML197 .S634.
First edition, 1937. Major events in music from 1900 through 1991, including
opera premieres, dates of composition, odd occurrences, and Slonimsky’s pep-
pery, perceptive observations on it all. Glossary of new terms, and name index,
with compositions listed under their composers.
One of the pillars of opera reference is in chronological format:
- Loewenberg, Alfred. Annals of Opera, 1597–1940.2nd ed. Rev. and corrected
Frank Walker. Geneva: Societas Bibliographica, 1955. 2v. ML102 .O6 L6.
A reprint edition (Totowa, N.J.: Rowman & Littlefield, 1978) was described
as “3rd edition, revised and corrected.” The standard list of about 3,600
Histories 23