Literature as Opera

by Gary Schmidgall

The author examines the fascinating circumstances in which composers have found works of literature suitable for opera, & how they have transmuted into musical & dramatic terms the essential features of works that in some cases may not ever have been plays. Each work here described has proved a classic both in its original form & on the musical stage – the book illustrates 9 different genres. There are musical examples & some photos throughout the book. Main *An opening perspective * Orlando, Ariodante, Alcina * The Marriage of Figaro * Maria Stuarda & Lucia de Lammermoor * Benvenuto Cellini * Macbeth * Eugene Onegin * Salome *Alban Wozzeck *Benjamin Death in Venice *Afterword

Genres: Music

446 pages, Hardcover

First published October 13, 1977

About the author

Gary Schmidgall is a professor of English at Hunter College, the City University of New York, and the editor of Intimate with Walt: Selections from Whitman's Conversations with Horace Traubel, 1888-1892 (Iowa, 2001). His other Whitman books are Walt Whitman: A Gay Life and Walt Whitman: Selected Poems 1855-1892. He has also published books on Shakespeare and on the relation between literature and opera, as well as a biography of Oscar Wilde.