XVII. Composers and
Their Operas
The works cited in this chapter are concerned with specific operas or with several
operas by one composer. By grouping them under composers’ names, we can compare
various approaches to each composer’s output. In many instances the operas are dis-
cussed within a biographical context, so a number of biographies will be found; how-
ever, biographies that do not include substantial attention to operatic writing are in
general omitted.
For those composers with extensive literature, there is a subdivision of the mate-
rial as follows:
- Editions
- Thematic catalogues and worklists
- Bibliographies and guides to resources
- Dictionaries
- Conferences
- Collections of essays
- Periodicals
- Letters and documents
- Prose works
- Biographies
- Special studies
- Operas in general
a. Production and reception
b. Analysis - Individual works
These headings are used and modified or expanded as needed.
Two expressions are used frequently in the annotations to give the reader a tangi-
ble impression of the sort of approach taken by the authors. By far the most common
approach to individual operas is the “program note.” This term refers to the kind of
general, nontechnical description that is usually found in the concert or opera pro-
gram booklet: a plot synopsis, with background facts on the circumstances of the
composer at work (“genesis”), some comments on the libretto vis-à-vis the original
literary work, and perhaps some information about the premiere with its critical
103