Opera
All Periods
- Knapp, J. Merrill. The Magic of Opera.New York: Harper & Row, 1972. x,
371p. ML1700 .K67.
Opera history is but one of the topics treated in this excellent presentation.
The book is in fact a general text on the nature of opera, its terminology, con-
ventions, and production. It is sensible and scholarly throughout. Expansive
name and topic index. - Barblan, Guglielmo, and Alberto Basso. Storia dell’ opera.Turin: UTET, 1977.
3v. in 6 parts. ML1700 .S884.
Specialists from several countries contributed to this imposing work. The first
two parts (v.1) are devoted to Italy; the next two parts (v.2) are about Europe
and America; the final parts (v.3) consider aspects of the vocal art, give bio-
graphical data on hundreds of singers (many of them quite obscure), and dis-
cuss libretti. Name index to all volumes and a useful title index in original
languages. The essays are outline presentations in encyclopedia style, with
few footnotes and few musical examples. Countries that have complete chap-
ters include the Scandinavian nations, Belgium and the Netherlands, Portu-
gal, Switzerland, Czechoslovakia, USSR, Poland, Spain, Hungary, Yugoslavia,
Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Canada, and the U.S. Latin America also has a
chapter.
77.Oxford Illustrated History of Opera. Ed. Roger Parker. New York: Oxford
U.P., 1994. xv, 541p. ISBN 0-19-816282-0. ML1700 .O95.
Also in paperback as The Oxford History of Opera(published in 1996). Oper-
atic history approached through chapters by various scholars: 17th century, by
Tim Carter; 18th century, by Thomas Bauman; 19th-century France, by David
Charlton; 19th-century Italy, by William Ashbrook; 19th-century Germany, by
Barry Millington, Russian-Czech-Polish-Hungarian opera to 1900, by John
Tyrrell; and 20th century, by Paul Griffiths. Of special interest: “Staging of
Opera,” by Roger Savage, and essays by William Ashbrook on singers and
John Rosselli on “Opera as a Social Occasion.” With a valuable chronology by
Mary Ann Smart and a bibliographic essay touching on some 300 titles. A
strong index completes this handy reference. - Grout, Donald Jay, and Hermine Weigel Williams. A Short History of Opera.
3rd ed. New York: Columbia U.P., 1988. xix, 913p. ISBN 0-231-06192-7.
ML1700 .G83.
The standard history in English, marked by insights into style and movements. A
good expansive index of names, titles, and topics renders the contents accessible.
Here is a fine starting point for investigation into subjects like leitmotiv,
patronage, and singing. Much acclaim has been accorded to the bibliography,
and it is formidable in bulk, with some 2,700 entries for books, parts of books,
dissertations, and journal articles, giving full publication data. However, it
possesses no discernible criteria for inclusion; many items are too trivial to be
Histories 17