Opera

A title list of about 2,000 operas (with some operettas and musicals) by Amer-

icans, including those premiered outside the U.S. Information given: language,

number of acts, date and locale of premiere. Composer index.

2752. Sonneck, Oscar G. T. Early Opera in America. New York: Schirmer, 1915. viii,
      230p. Reprint, New York: B. Blom, 1963. ML1711 .S73.
      An essential, learned account of the 18th-century situation, based on newspa-
      pers and other primary documents. Much detail on productions and perform-
      ers, with good bibliographical references. Emphasis on the East Coast and the
      South and on French opera companies. Indexed.


2753. Virga, Patricia H. The American Opera to 1790. Ann Arbor, Mich.: UMI
      Research, 1982. xix, 393p. ISBN 0-8357-1374-1. ML1711 .V816.
      Discusses the first music-stage works written in America, the ballad and comic
      operas. Special attention to The Disappointment(1767). Includes musical
      analyses and comments on productions. Informative backnotes, bibliography
      of about 400 items, expansive index of names, titles, and topics.


2754. Porter, Susan L. With an Air Debonair: Musical Theatre in America, 1785–
      1815.Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1992. xiv, 631p. ISBN
      1-56098-063-X. ML1711 .P67.
      A scholarly treatment of genres and styles of performance, theaters, and com-
      panies in a strong historical context. Types of theater covered include ballad
      opera, pastiche, comic opera, ballet, and melodrama. A wide range of primary
      sources used, such as playbills, pictures, and theater chronicles. Appendix of
      about 1,100 musicals performed 1785–1815; another appendix of shows
      given in New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Charleston, and Baltimore, 1801–


2755. Endnotes, bibliography of 300 sources, and index.


2756. Nelson, Molly Sue. “Operas Composed in America in the Nineteenth Cen-
      tury.” Ph.D. diss., U. of North Carolina, 1976.


2757. Ottenberg, June C. Opera Odyssey: Toward a History of Opera in 19th-
      Century America. Contributions to the Study of Music and Dance, 32. West-
      port, Conn.: Greenwood, 1994. xi, 203p. ISBN 0-313-27841-5. ML1711 .O88.
      A breezy style and celebrity emphasis obstruct the author’s purpose, which is
      to show that the success of opera in America can be attributed to Veblenesque
      desires of the rich to exhibit their wealth. This oversimplification is not well
      supported by the facts presented, and the author’s credibility is affected by her
      naive responses to such works as Fry’s Leonoraand Bristow’s Rip van Winkle.
      Chapter endnotes, bibliography, index.

See also #2786.

2757.Opera and the Golden West: The Past, Present, and Future of Opera in the

U.S.A.Ed. John L. Di Gaetani and Josef P. Sirefman. Rutherford, N.J.: Fair-

leigh Dickinson U.P., 1994. 311p. ISBN 0-8386-3519-9. ML1711 .O64.

Consists of 24 brief, footnoted papers from a conference held at Hofstra U.

Topics deal with singers, impresarios, companies, performances and reception

510 Opera

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