At the Opera: Tales of the Great Operas (review)

Books of opera synopses come in all sizes—under the editorship of the Earl of Harewood, the tenth edition of Kobbé's Complete Opera Book exceeds 1,400 pages—and they often have a clearly defined purpose. Many apply the principles of self-help in the cultural realm, as a look at some titles suggests. Consider, for example, the full titles of Dolores Bacon's Operas That Every Child Should Know: Descriptions of the Text and Music of Some of the Most Famous Masterpieces (1911) or Paul England's Fifty Favourite Operas: A Popular Account Intended as an Aid to Dramatic and Musical Appreciation (1925). Charles Osborne's much more recent How to Enjoy Opera (1983) is more concisely titled, but the aim seems much the same. Other books seem to add a kind of territorial imperative, as in the volumes bearing the names of such opera companies as the Metropolitan or the Chicago Lyric. Yet another group bears the imprint of commerce, such as the various Victor/Victrola books of the opera or other branded collections of opera synopses.

To this list can be added Ann Fiery's retellings of operatic plots. The large volume is beautifully bound in red silk and packed with new full-color illustrations, but it is difficult to determine its overriding purpose. In a brief foreword the author announces that "opera's enchantment lies in its glorious excess." After noting that "thousands of operas were commissioned from thousands of composers" between the years 1785 and 1910 and that most are now forgotten, she declares that this book contains the stories of the "eternal favorites," the "beloved few" that "are performed again and again." In the foreword, then, Fiery presents these works as a known quantity, implying a reader who already shares a similar delight in these "indisputable jewels of the operatic crown—rich, satisfying, shimmering as brightly now as they did a century ago" (p. 9).

What is such a reader meant to gain from this set of narrative synopses? The foreword does not suggest that these versions of familiar stories will give experienced operagoers new insights into familiar works, nor does it indicate that the retellings are meant to attract new listeners. Indeed, Fiery's metaphors of wealth and the somewhat self-congratulatory tone of the complacent possessor of that wealth may well put off readers in both categories.

And it has to be said that the collection of jewels is rather small. The thirty-one operas included here (counting the Ring operas individually) come from "the operatic era that began with Mozart and ended with Richard Strauss" (p. 9), though the actual coverage of those composers begins with Le nozze di Figaro and stops at Der Rosenkavalier (and neither Salome nor Elektra is included). Chronologically, the coverage extends only as late as Turandot (1926). Mozart is represented by the three Da Ponte operas and Die Zauberflöte. Fidelio is the only other example of early German-language opera. Coverage of bel canto consists of Barbiere and, surprisingly, Guillaume Tell, along with L'elisir d'amore and Norma. Meistersinger is covered as well as the Ring, and Fiery includes six popular operas of Verdi (Rigoletto, Trovatore, Traviata, Aida, Otello, and Falsta ff). The French repertory extends to Faust, Contes d'Ho ff mann, and Carmen, with Fledermaus and Boris Godunov constituting excursions into other territories. Verismo takes in Pag (but not Cav) as well as four operas by Puccini (Bohème, Tosca, Butterfly, and Turandot).

Fiery's procedure is to provide a brief introduction, often less than a full page, and then to retell the story of the opera in narrative form, complete with dialogue. An occasional sidebar fills in historical background, relates performance lore (particularly prima donna excesses), or quotes famous people (such as Karl Marx and Mark Twain on Wagner). The introductions contain some unearned value judgments, often reflecting attitudes...