useful study, along with its principal composers, singers, and troupes. The
libretti are taken up, as well as elements of the comic style. There is discussion
of musical elements: recitative, aria, duet, and accompaniment. Backnotes,
bibliography of primary and secondary materials (about 300 items), index of
names and titles.See also Talbot (#456).
Opera: 19th Century
- Nicolaisen, Jay. Italian Opera in Transition, 1871–1893.Ann Arbor, Mich.:
UMI Research, 1980. 315p. ISBN 0-8357-1121-X. ML1733 .N5.
Based on the author’s dissertation, U. of California, Berkeley, 1977. A thor-
ough, interesting examination of a period that is receiving much current
attention. Concentrates on the development of the dramatic potential in com-
positions that followed the period of Rossini. Combines historical and analytic
modes; well documented with footnotes, musical examples, list of scores con-
sulted, and list of writings consulted (about 120 items). There is a list of all
reviews for each opera and a list of operas most performed at La Scala, 1870–
1890 (leaders were Aida, L’ebrea (La juive), Gli ugonotti,and Faust). An
appendix gives a table of revisions Puccini made for Edgar. Texts are quoted in
Italian only, without translations. Expansive name, title, and topic index.
Treatments of individual composers are entered separately in this guide. - Weaver, William. The Golden Century of Italian Opera, from Rossini to Puc-
cini. New York: Thames & Hudson, 1980. 256p. ISBN 0-5000-1240-7.
ML1733 .W41.
A popular survey, without notes or bibliography. Good pictures, index. - Rosselli, John. The Opera Industry in Italy from Cimarosa to Verdi: The Role
of the Impresario.New York: Cambridge U.P., 1984. 214p. ISBN 0-521-
25732-8. ML1733 .R78.
An economic history of opera in Italy, dealing with commercial matters
(receipts, fees), governance, agents, journalists, and the individual impresarios.
Rosselli made a thorough examination of archives in theaters and towns, as
well as the correspondence of singers and other players of the time. With eight
tables and a graph on opera production, ca. 1750–1900. The power of the
impresario was at its peak from 1780 to 1830. Backnotes, no bibliography,
expansive index of names and topics. The same ground is covered in a popular
(undocumented) style in the author’s Music and Musicians in Nineteenth-Cen-
tury Italy(Portland, Ore.: Amadeus, 1991; ML290.4 .R677). - Balthazar, Scott L. “Aspects of Form in the ottocentoLibretto.” COJ7 (1995):
23–35.
During the first half of the 19th century “eventual replacement of circular and
static elements of design with more linear ones, and the fusion of separate tem-
poral states into a continuum” took place in opera stories. The article shows
460 Opera