bring out all the aspects, and 120 footnotes guide the reader to the Russian pri-
mary and secondary literature.Power of the Fiend (= Power of Evil; Vrazh’ia sila)
- Taruskin, Richard. “Drama Revealed through Song: An Opera after Ostrov-
sky.” In Opera and Drama in Russia(#2648), 141–248.
The opera was Serov’s “most original, most unified, most authentic achieve-
ment,” both nationalistic and realistic. Genesis: the work was apparently com-
pleted by his wife after Serov died on 20 January 1871. Detailed study of folk
song elements and full technical analysis with (hard-to-read) musical exam-
ples. Reception account (mixed) and 160 valuable footnotes to the Russian
primary and secondary literature. The person alluded to in the title of this arti-
cle was Alexander Nikolevich Ostrovsky, playwright and librettist.
Roger Sessions (1896–1985)
- Olmstead, Andrea. Roger Sessions and His Music.Ann Arbor, Mich.: UMI
Research, 1985. xvii, 218p. ISBN 0-8357-1633-3. ML410 .S473 O4.
A life and works, with some coverage of the opera Montezuma(p.125–138):
genesis, production, reception, and program note; no analysis. Bibliography,
indexes. - Mason, Charles. “A Comprehensive Analysis of Roger Sessions’ Opera Mon-
tezuma.” D.M.A. diss., U. of Illinois, 1982. - Laufer, Edward C. “Roger Sessions’ Montezuma.” Perspectives of New Music
4–1 (1965): 95–108.
Serial techniques described: the set is four unordered trichords.
See also Stevenson (#2115).
William Shield (1748–1829)
The comic opera The Poor Soldier(1783), by Shield and John O’Keeffe (or O’Keefe),
is in RAM,v.6. It is described as “the most popular afterpiece in the late eighteenth-
century theater.”
Dmitrii Dmitrievich Shostakovich (1906–1975)
1666.Shostakovich: The Man and His Music.Ed. Christopher Norris. Boston: Mar-
ion Boyars, 1982. 233p. ISBN 0-8531-5502-X. ML410 .S53 S5.
“The Operas,” by Norris (p.105–124), has program notes and guidance to
other literature through 27 footnotes.- Shostakovich, Dmitrii Dmitrievich. Testimony: The Memoirs of Dmitrii
Shostakovich.Trans. Antonia W. Bouis. New York: Harper & Row, 1979. xli,
289p. ISBN 0-0601-4476-9. ML410 .S53 A3.
Of interest for background on the upheavals in Russia over Lady Macbeth.
Includes a chronological worklist, all in English. Expansive index of names
and titles.
316 Opera