- Maehder, Jürgen. “The Origins of Italian Literaturoper: Guglielmo Ratcliff,
La figlia di Iorio, Parisina, andFrancesca da Rimini.” In Reading Opera
(#218), 92–128.
A Literaturoperis “an opera based on a text that existed as a play before it
was set to music,” the play and the libretto being by different persons. Dis-
cusses Mascagni’s Guglielmo Ratcliff,drawn from a text by Heinrich Heine;
Franchetti’s La figlio d’Iorio,from a play by D’Annunzio; and Mascagni’s
Parisina,also from D’Annunzio. The librettists all made some effort to retain
the poetic or textual nature of the original text. But after World War I there
was no more Literaturoper. The emphasis shifted to the ready-made libretto. - Morelli, Giovanni. “Ascendenze farsesche nella drammaturgia seria italiana
del grande ottocento.” In I vicini di Mozart (#90), v.2, 641–688.
Discusses the term farsaand the nature of its texts. Notes similarity to serious
drama, in plots that had reversal of fortunes, and use of contemporary themes
and events—precursors of verismo. Also cites differences between comic and
serious stories. The analysis is about textual features, not music, but Morelli
does comment at the end on the gradual increase of singing and the decline of
spoken lines. - Senici, Emanuele. “Virgins of the Rocks: Alpine Landscape and Female Purity
in Early Nineteenth-Century Italian Opera.” Ph.D. diss., Cornell U., 1998.
306p. - Smart, Mary Ann. “Dalla tomba uscita: Representations of Madness in Nine-
teenth-Century Italian Opera.” Ph.D. diss., Cornell U., 1994. 352p.
2480.The New Grove Masters of Italian Opera: Rossini, Donizetti, Bellini, Verdi,
Puccini.Ed. Philip Gossett et al. New York: Norton, 1983. 353p. ISBN 0-393-
01685-4. ML390 .N473.
Articles from NG,with updated worklists and an index to the volume.
Opera: 20th Century
- Rossi, Nick. Opera in Italy Today: A Guide.Portland, Ore.: Amadeus, 1995.
432p. ISBN 0-9313-4077-2. ML1733 .R8.
A tour of opera houses, including regional theaters, and festivals. Bibliography
and index. - Fearn, Raymond. Italian Opera since 1945.Amsterdam: Harwood Academic
Publishers, 1997. xviii, 258p. ISBN 90-5755-002-4. ML1733 .P43.
A useful examination of works by Dallapiccola, Goffredo Petrassi, Berio,
Nono, Giacomo Manzoni, Maderna, Rota, Bussotti, Camillo Togni, Aldo
Clementi, Lorenzo Ferrero, Azio Corghi, and Luca Lombardi. Technical analy-
sis, genesis, letters and writings of the composers, reception, overview of opera
in society. Chronology of principal operas, bibliography of about 50 items,
discography, expansive index.
462 Opera