Vincenzo Bellini: A Guide to Research, and: Richard Wagner: A Guide to Research (review)

Undoubtedly, Rossini and Verdi are the two towering figures in nineteenth-century Italian opera. Indeed, until fairly recently scholars tended to draw a straight line of influence between the two, often overlooking the contributions in form and function by contemporary composers such as Gaetano Donizetti and Vincenzo Bellini, among the other forgotten voices. Happily, a renaissance of interest in these "lesser" figures has emerged, and scholars are just now beginning to understand their contributions to the art form and their influence on dramatic narratives in opera.

Likewise, the guides to research on various composers and genres (first published under the auspices of Garland Publishing and now under the careful guidance of Routledge) maintain a certain authority in the reference collections of music libraries everywhere. While an overall standard set of guidelines governs the compilation of such works, each author is given enough flexibility within those guidelines to present the information in the way deemed most appropriate for the genre or composer at hand. Two of the most recent additions to the list of research guides are those by Stephen A. Willier on Vincenzo Bellini and Michael Saffle on Richard Wagner. Each author has taken a different approach in producing his annotated bibliography, and each has come to a different result in the organization of the information available on these composers.

Stephen A. Willier's Vincenzo Bellini: A Guide to Research claims to be a "critically annotated bibliographie raisonné" (p. xiv). Unfortunately, the author has not produced a bibliography that is either criti- cal or arranged in a manner particularly inviting to the reader. The arrangement of the various sections is immediately puzzling, for it progresses from specific to general rather than the more typical general to specific. For example, the chapter "Nineteenth-Century Assessments and Impressions" (specific) precedes that of "Biographical Sources" (general). Indeed, even the author's preface shifts abruptly from topic to topic—scholarship produced, performance practice issues, reception, biography, etc.—an aspect of writing that interrupts the flow of the narrative. The use of "see" references in the preface, as well as in the body of the work, is not consistent, for they sometimes appear at the ends of sentences in parentheses, but at other times do not. The references with no parentheses contribute to the lack of flow; those in the body of the work are not helpful. There is no way the reader can really tell whether he might be interested in consulting the reference cited—is it an article? a review? what is its relationship to the original? The reader is sometimes left disappointed in the usefulness of the system. There are other oddities as well. The annotations provided by the author are not critical at all, but merely descriptive of the contents. Questions such as "Why is this work important to Bellini scholarship?" "Who is the audience?" and "How does this relate to other publications?" are not addressed.

Duplication abounds in this work. Is it really necessary to cite the various aspects of a dictionary article—biographical text, bibliography, and work list—as separate entries? Might not the reader want to know that they can get all that information in one place? The various indexes provided by the author pose similar problems. While the "Glossary of People Associated with Bellini" (chap. 14) is a welcome addition, it is rendered difficult to use by its arrangement—alphabetical by surname, but with given names appearing first. A more typical arrangement, and one easier on the eye, is the standard "last name, first name" order. The index of names and subjects also poses problems. Imagine my intrigue when I spied the name "Sondheim, Stephen" in the index. Sondheim borrowed from the overture...