IV. Editions and Excerpts
Composer entries in this guide offer some information on modern editions of their
operas. Citations to complete and collected works of all composers are given in
NOHM. Several anthologies of music provide a variety of examples from the history
of opera. These are especially useful:
109.Anthology of Music. Ed. Karl Gustav Fellerer. Cologne: Arno Volk, 1955–- 48v. M2 .M9872.
Four volumes are devoted to opera: 5, 38, 39, and 40. The most popular arias
are generally avoided, in favor of lesser-known but characteristic pieces. En-
glish libretto segments are given, along with commentaries and sources. - Brody, Elaine. Music in Opera: A Historical Anthology. Englewood Cliffs,
N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1970. 604p. M2 .B857 M9.
About 100 long excerpts, covering all periods. Aria texts in original languages
and English translations, stage directions, and commentaries. Popular arias are
mingled with less familiar numbers. Name, title, and topic index.
111.Historical Anthology of Music.Rev. ed. Ed. Archibald T. Davison and Willi
Apel. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard U.P., 1949–1950. 2v. M2 .D25 H6.
V.2 has numerous operatic excerpts, with commentaries. Texts are translated
into English; sources are described.
Garland Publishing has issued some valuable series of scores, making available works
not generally available before. The sets specific to countries are entered there; these
are multinational:
112.The Ballad Opera: A Collection of 171 Original Texts of Musical Plays
Printed in Photo-Facsimile.Selected and arranged by Walter H. Rubsamen.
New York: Garland, 1974. 28v. ISBN 0-8240-0900-2. ML48 .B18.
These works constitute the entire extant repertoire of English, Scottish, Irish,
and American ballad opera—the 18th-century form that led to the comic
opera. Among the better- known compositions are The Beggar’s Opera, Polly,