VI. Opera Houses
Gathered in this chapter are works that describe the opera houses of more than one
country. Books and articles that are entirely concerned with the theaters of a single
country are listed under that country in Chapter XVIII. NGDO4 has valuable entries
by Edward A. Langhans: “Seating,” 283–292, and “Theatre Architecture,” 709–722.
Plans are given for La Scala, King’s Theatre Haymarket, Covent Garden, Deutsche
Oper Berlin, Vienna Staatsoper, Palais Garnier (Paris), the new Metropolitan Opera,
Bastille Opera, and Bayreuth Festspielhaus. There is also a useful glossary of terms in
English, French, German, and Italian.
- Kaufman, Thomas G. “A Bibliography of House Annals.” DSJ5 (1984): 317–
- (Cited in this guide as Kaufman.)
A very useful list of about 400 works that include annals (chronologies of per-
formances) in individual opera houses. Selects “the best available book on
each city or house,” omitting superseded materials. Books without annals are
listed only if they have special importance or if there is no published chronol-
ogy for the house in question. Valuable commentaries point out the strengths
and weaknesses of the works. Diacritics are frequently missing in titles, and a
fair number of misprints got into the foreign words, so the user will be wise to
verify imprint data. Kaufman’s “Corrections and Additions,” in Donizetti
Society Journal6 (1988): 193–215, added about 100 entries. - Stoddard, Richard.Theatre and Cinema Architecture: A Guide to Information
Sources.Detroit: Gale, 1978. 368p. ISBN 0-8103-1426-6. Z5784 .S8 S82.
Consists of 1,586 annotated entries—books, pamphlets, and articles—on exte-
rior and interior design, including acoustical questions. Arrangement by coun-
try. Reference value of the work is reduced by the absence of diacritical marks
in languages that use them. Index of architects and designers; index of theaters
by country. - Hughes, Patrick Cairns (Spike). Great Opera Houses: A Traveller’s Guide to
Their History and Traditions.London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1956; New
York: McBride, 1959. 362p. ML1720 .H8.