Griffel has prepared a valuable guide to German opera that can
be used profitably by both scholars and amateur devotees of opera.
The main body of the dictionary provides a discussion of about 380
operas composed to a German text. The alphabetically organized
entries include information on German premieres, as well as first
performances in Britain and the US, brief plot summaries, listings
of major roles, and occasional historical and analytical remarks. .
. . "Operas in German" will, no doubt, serve as one of the major
reference sources for any type of research on German opera. Highly
recommended. "Choice"
Although a sizable number of opera dictionaries and
encyclopedias are available, those devoted to operas in a single
language are extremely rare. The present dictionary addresses
itself wholly to operas written to a German text. The main body of
this dictionary comprises entries on the operas themselves,
permitting thorough treatment of some 350 operas. This section is
augmented by an appendix of some 800 additional opera titles and
annotated listings of composers and librettists. Almost all of the
composers represented here were born in German-speaking countries.
Among the notable exceptions is the Italian-born Ferruccio Busoni,
whose operas were all written to German texts and received
premieres in German-speaking cities. Composers such as Kurt Weill
who wrote operas in more than one language are represented by their
German works only.
The operas are listed alphabetically, excluding the article,
which is placed at the end of the title. Each entry includes the
title, with the English translation and alternate titles in
parentheses; descriptive terms as needed; the number of acts; the
composer's name; the librettist's name, the original language, and
the original source of the text; the date, place, and cast of the
first performance; similar information for the first United States
and United Kingdom performances, if applicable; a brief plot
summary; the main characters with vocal ranges; citations of
especially important or noteworthy numbers; additional information
such as comments on special musical problems, techniques, or other
significant aspects; and other settings of the text, including
non-German ones and/or operas involving the same story or
characters. The entry also has a bibliography, a discography, and,
in the few instances where they are available, information on video
recordings. In addition to the aforementioned appendix, this
dictionary contains an alphabetical listing of composers with their
places and years of birth and death and an index of their operas
included in this volume. The third appendix lists librettists and
provides information similar to that in the composer appendix. The
fourth and fifth appendices provide characters and performers,
respectively, included in the main entries. The volume is completed
by a bibliography. This first dictionary devoted exclusively to
operas in German belongs in the reference section of music
libraries and will also be of interest to scholars and aficionados
of opera.
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