XII. Production
Bibliographies
- Cowden, Robert H. “Acting and Directing in the Lyric Theater: An Annotated
Checklist.” Notes30 (1974): 449–459.
Consists of 111 entries, books and articles, in English, French, and German.
As Cowden observes, the literature on these topics is thin, and many of the
titles here are of only passing interest. The next items are among the more sub-
stantial contributions:
General Works
281.NGDO3, 1106–1132, “Production,” by Roger Savage, Barry Millington, and
John Cox, is a useful survey of all production topics; with 25 illustrations and
bibliography of about 200 items.
- Central Opera Service, New York. Opera Manual: A Handbook of Practi-
cal Operatic Information.New York: Central Opera Service, 1956. 36p.
MT955 .C4.
Discusses about 500 “chamber operas” in terms of production requirements:
voices needed and their types, sets, acts, duration, publisher. Most of the
operas are little known.
- Donington, Robert. Opera and Its Symbols: The Unity of Words, Music, and
Staging.New Haven, Conn.: Yale U.P., 1991. 248p. ISBN 0-300-04713.4.
ML1700 .D665.
Takes strong issue with modern producers, who obstruct the perception of
opera as “a great purveyor of archetypal images”: “We do not want the direc-
tor to stage what he may think the symbols mean. We just want him to stage
the symbols.” Donington explains those symbols most convincingly, for Die
Zauberflöte, Der Ring,and Parsifal. The book is more than a critique of pro-
ductions; it stands as the prime theoretical work on opera in the light of Carl
Jung’s description of the collective unconscious. Backnotes, musical examples,
bibliography, and expansive index.
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