215.Fabbri, Paolo. Il secolo cantante: Per una storia del libretto d’opera nel seicento.
Bologna: Il Mulino, 1990. 350p. ISBN 88-15-02473-5. ML1733 .F22 S42.
A well-documented narrative account of libretto history, quoting many origi-
nal sources. The Venetian model is emphasized: its early subjects and style and
its exportation. By the late 17th century public demand for novelty had
brought a focus on spectacular stage effects and a “gusto erotico” that
included racy dialogue and nudity. But the heroic themes that had marked the
early libretto began to return. Backnotes, bibliographic essay, indexes of
names and titles.- Fuld, James J. Book of World-Famous Libretti: The Musical Theater from
1598 to Today. Rev. ed. New York: Pendragon, 1994. xxxviii, 363p. ISBN
0-9451-9348-3. ML128.04 .F8.
First edition, 1984. Introduction to the revised edition indicates that it has cor-
rections and “new and variant editions.” Facsimiles, bibliographic descrip-
tions, commentaries, and RISMsigla for locations. Indexes of librettists and
composers.
History and Criticism
Two useful articles in NGDO: “Libretto,” by Richard Macnutt and Brian Trowell, 2,
1185–1191, with a bibliography of more than 1,000 entries; and “Versification,” by
Tim Carter et al., 4, 964–972.
- Smith, Patrick J. The Tenth Muse: A Historical Study of the Opera Libretto.
New York: Knopf, 1970. xii, 417, xvii p. Reprint, New York: Schirmer, 1975.
ISBN 0-394-44822-7 (Schirmer). ML2110 .S62.
One of the earlier studies to regard the libretto and the music as equal partners
(while admitting that the music carries the ultimate value, in the sense that
inferior music cannot survive even with a superb libretto). The major librettists
are studied, including Goldoni, Busenello, Quinault, Metastasio, W. S. Gilbert,
Boito, and von Hofmannsthal, with attention to Brecht, Gertrude Stein, and
many others. Smith has praise and glory for all of them. Footnotes, weak bibli-
ography, good index.
218.Reading Opera. Ed. Arthur Groos and Roger Parker. Princeton, N.J.: Prince-
ton U.P., 1988. vii, 352p. ISBN 0-691-09132-3. ML2110 .R4.
A collection of 13 essays, most of them first presented at a conference on the
libretto at Cornell University, October 1986. Emphasis is on the later-19th-
century libretto. In his introduction Groos notes the approaches of recent
scholars to the libretto: as verbal artifact, as object of study through various
critical “strategies,” as text for music, and in terms of the relation between
words and music. Primacy of the music is not questioned (Stendhal is quoted:
“Who would dream of judging an opera by the words?”). Each essay has a
separate entry in the present guide; see #219, #582, #601, #741, #1348,
#1744, #1833, #1906, #1914, #2059, #2062, and #2067. Footnotes, strong
index, no bibliography.
52 Opera