guide. A new edition is scheduled for publication in the year 2000. See also
#2739.
20.Dizionario enciclopedico universale della musica e dei musicisti.Ed. Alberto
Basso. Turin: UTET, 1983–1990. 13v. ISBN 88-02-03820-1. ML100 .C61.
The Italian counterpart to NG,divided into two parts: I has four volumes of
subject entries, and II has eight volumes of biographical entries. V.13, Appen-
dice,is a biographical supplement. Approximately 37,000 signed articles. Bib-
liographies are weak and have incomplete data. No general index.Opera
- Dent, Edward Joseph. “The Nomenclature of Opera.” M&L25 (1944): 132–
140; 213–226.
A fascinating review of opera’s contorted identifications. Gives the names,
with explanations and examples, by which operatic works have been labeled
in Italy, France, Germany, and Britain. Among the tags described are favola,
dramma per musica, dramma musicale, commedia in musica, dramma gio-
coso, melodramma, opera semiseria, tragedia, commedia lirica, tragédie
lyrique, opéra-ballet, parodie, drame lyrique, Singspiel, Lustspiel, Komische
Oper, Bühnenfestspiel, mask, and musical comedy. Operais still a rare desig-
nator in Italy.
Among other lists of operatic terms: Boldrey (#28), Viking(#57), Sadie
(#79), and Reid (#355).
The next four items are the major multivolume references:
22.New Grove Dictionary of Opera. Ed. Stanley Sadie and Christine Bashford.
New York: Grove’s Dictionaries of Music, 1992. 4v. ISBN 0-935859-92-6.
ML102 .O6 N5. (Cited in this guide as NGDO.)
The premier reference source for opera, prepared by some 1,300 specialists.
Entries for composers, singers, librettists, and everyone associated with pro-
duction. Individual operas have entries, which include plot summaries and
commentaries. Terms, opera houses, and a wide selection of opera topics are
given strong presentations. A number of the articles are noted separately in
this guide. List of role names in about 850 operas and first-line index of more
than 5,000 arias and ensembles; no general index.
23.International Dictionary of Opera. Ed. C. Steven LaRue. Detroit: St. James,- 2v. ISBN 1-55862-081-8. ML102 .O616.
A gathering of about 1,000 articles by some 200 specialists, covering persons
and individual operas. Despite contributions by a number of major scholars,
this is a problematic work. Too much space goes to plots and to oversize por-
traits. Factual errors, misspelled names, and missing diacritics are ubiquitous.
Bibliographies are a serious debility, where standard items are often missing,
and all entries have incomplete imprint or pagination information. No general
index.
6 Opera