Reading Opera: Texts, Libretti and Music from Purcell to Stravinsky 2016-17
See also the module resource pack that can be purchased via the online shop - see MMS for details.
The two longest source texts for this module are Shakespeare's Macbeth and Prosper Mérimée's Carmen. Please get copies of these early in the term so you have time to read them! Recommended for purchase.
Each week:
- make sure you read the source text and libretto
- make sure you view the opera (class screenings as advertised, additional resources available as shown below)
- use this reading list to add in secondary reading for essays and exam preparation
Reading below is organised by: [general online resources] [core resources for each week] [additional resources for each work]
See MMS for additional material - particularly, links to online libretto translations.
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Essential Online Reference Resources and Databases 5 items
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Opera in Video (electronic bibliographic database)
Website Essential Streaming of full operas (and documentaries etc.) with searchable subtitles - use your University username and Password on campus, off-campus and with mobile devices. nb 2017 Jan 28th - not working smoothly. See MMS / Contents for alternative links.
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Music in words: a guide to researching and writing about music - 2009 (electronic book)
Book Recommended
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Week 1: Introductory Reading 6 items
Key Question: what is 'opera'?
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A history of opera: the last four hundred years - , 2012
Book Essential Read the general introduction, pp.1-35
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Opera - 2012 (electronic book)
Book Optional
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The Cambridge Companion to Opera Studies - 2012
Book Essential Read Laurel E. Zeiss, 'The Dramaturgy of Opera', pp.179-201
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Opera and its symbols: the unity of words, music, and staging - 1990
Book Recommended
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The Cambridge companion to opera studies 2012 (electronic book)
Book Essential reading Zeiss, 'The Dramaturgy of Opera', pp.179-201
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Week 2: Dido and Aeneas 9 items
Key questions:
a: how did music enhance / illustrate the meaning of words in Baroque opera?
b: how do you adapt an epic into an opera?
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The Aeneid - , 2007
Book Essential Week 2 source text - Book 4. See also module resource pack.
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The Aeneid - , 2003
Book Optional
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Purcell: Dido & Aeneas - libretto
Webpage Essential Online libretto
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Dido and Aeneas: an opera - , , , 1989
Book Musical Score
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Dido and Aeneas: vocal score - 1989
Book Musical Score
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Dido and Aeneas - , 2009 (dvd)
Audio-visual document Essential DVD: Week 2 set work
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Henry Purcell and the London stage - 1984
Book Recommended Read Chapter 5, pp.225-261
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The Renaissance epic and the oral past - c2012 (electronic book)
Book Chapter 5 'Epic Opera' discusses operatic adaptations of Virgil, including 'Dido and Aeneas'
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Week 3: Acis and Galatea 7 items
Key questions:
a: how / do the musical concepts of recitative, aria and ensemble deliver an operatic plot?
b: what kind of a story is this? Tragic? Pastoral? Comic? Masque?
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Metamorphoses - , , 1998
Book Essential Essential text for week 3 - see digital scan.
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Ovid's Metamorphoses: in fifteen books. Translated by Mr. Dryden. Mr. Addison. Dr. Garth. Mr. Mainwaring. Mr. Congreve. Mr. Rowe. Mr. Pope. Mr. Gay. Mr. Eusden. Mr. Croxall. And other eminent hands. - 1720 (electronic book)
Book Essential Week 3 source text - Acis and Galatea story - see vol.2 p.298ff (electronic pages 288-296)
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HANDEL Acis and Galatea - libretto
Webpage Essential Online libretto
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Acis and Galatea: a serenata for soprano, 2 tenors & bass soli, SATB & orchestra - , , , 2000
Book Musical Score
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Acis and Galatea - , 2010 (dvd)
Audio-visual document Essential DVD: Week 3 set work
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The Cambridge companion to eighteenth-century opera - , 2011 (electronic book)
Book Read James Webster, 'Aria as Drama', pp.24-49
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Week 4: The Marriage of Figaro 8 items
Key questions:
a: how can music convey comedy?
b: how can music help in character representation?
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The barber of Seville ; and: The marriage of Figaro - , 1976
Book Essential See also module resource pack - source text week 4
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Mozart: Marriage of Figaro - libretto
Webpage Essential Online Libretto
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ENO Opera Guide 17 to Le nozze di Figaro [The marriage of Figaro] - , , , 2011
Book Opera - see libretto translation
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The marriage of Figaro: vocal score - 1951
Book Musical Score
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Le nozze di Figaro - , 1996 (dvd)
Audio-visual document Essential DVD Week 4
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Constructing Le Nozze di Figaro
Journal Useful for understanding Act 2 Finale
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Understanding Italian opera - , 2015 (electronic book)
Book optional: see chapter 4 on "Marriage of Figaro"
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Week 5: Consolidation (Voices and Orchestra) 6 items
Key questions:now that you have heard some operas, to consolidate learning and help you with further viewings and listenings, please take time to check the following.
a) do you understand the difference between sopranos, mezzos, contraltos, tenors, baritones and basses, and how different voice types can contribute to operatic character representation?
b) do you understand the difference between orchestras in the baroque, classical, romantic and modern periods, and how these affect operatic performance?
c) can you identify some common musical instruments and think about how their particular sounds affect character and plot in opera?
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A History of Singing - , 2012 (electronic book)
Book
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The Cambridge companion to singing - 2011 (electronic book)
Book
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Dynamics of the singing voice - 2009 (electronic book)
Book
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The Cambridge companion to the orchestra - 2011 (electronic book)
Book
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Musical instruments: history, technology and performance of instruments of Western music - , , 2004 (electronic book)
Book
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Week 6-7: Macbeth 10 items
Key questions:
a) the source text for this opera was already a stage work - yet the opera is substantially different. How? Why? Consider how the following factors might have affected this transformation: Romanticism; Nationalism; Gender
b) what factors may affect the translation of a source text to a libretto in another language?
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The tragedy of Macbeth - , 1990
Book
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Macbeth - , 1972
Book
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Macbeth: opera in four acts - , , 1969
Book
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Macbeth - , 2008
Book
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Macbeth - , 1967
Book
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OPERA-GUIDE: Verdi, Macbeth - libretto
Webpage Essential Online libretto
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Macbeth - , 2012 (dvd)
Audio-visual document Essential DVD: Week 6 set work
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ENO Opera Guide no. 41 : Macbeth: Giuseppe Verdi - , , , 1990
Book Essential See Giorgio Melchoiri, 'Macbeth: Shakespeare to Verdi', pp.7-12
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Verdi's Macbeth: a sourcebook - , 1984
Book Essential
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Week 7-8: Carmen 10 items
Key question:
how does this opera work with stereotypical ideas about race and gender?
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Carmen and other stories - , 1998
Book Essential Core text week 7
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Carmen - , , 2011
Book
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Bizet: Carmen - online libretto
Webpage Essential
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Bizet's Carmen: A Full Vocal Score in French and English 2012
Book Musical Score
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Carmen - , , , 1987 (dvd)
Audio-visual document Essential Viewing session version. Reference section access - viewable in library.
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Carmen - , , , 1999 (dvd)
Audio-visual document Optional Week 7: alternative version
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Carmen - 200 (dvd)
Audio-visual document Optional Week 7: alternative version
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Realism in nineteenth-century music - 1985
Book Recommended
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Georges Bizet: Carmen - 1992
Book Available in the Library and as an e-book.
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Week 9-10: Wozzeck 8 items
Key question:
a) how does musical form assist dramatic meaning in this opera?
b) how / can an opera help us to see through somebody else's eyes?
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Danton's death ; Leonce and Lena ; Woyzeck - , 1998
Book Essential Week 9: source text
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Woyzeck - 1993
Book Week 9: source text (alternative version)
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Berg: Wozzeck - online libretto translation
Document Essential
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Wozzeck: an opera in three acts and fifteen scenes - 2007 (dvd)
Audio-visual document Essential Week 9: DVD set work
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Wozzeck: Oper in 3 Akten (15 Szenen), op. 7 (1914, 1921) - , 2005 [1931]
Book Optional Musical Score
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Wozzeck - , , 2011
Book Recommended
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Alban Berg: Wozzeck - 1989
Book Recommended Opera Guide: see Douglas Jarman, 'Musical Background and composition', pp.16-24
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Week 10-11: Peter Grimes 10 items
Key question:
can 20th century opera be both 'modern' and yet still accessible? (how did this opera 'modernise' the source text?)
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The borough - 2007
Book Suggested for student purchase Week 10: Source text. See also module resource pack for letter 22.
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Britten: Peter Grimes - libretto
Document Essential
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Peter Grimes: an opera in three acts and a prologue derived from the poem of George Crabbe : op.33 - , , , 1945
Book Week 10: Musical Score
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Peter Grimes: an opera in three acts and a prologue derived from the poem of George Crabbe - , 1945
Book Musical Score
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Peter Grimes - , , , 1945
Book
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Peter Grimes - , , 2013 (dvd)
Audio-visual document Essential Week 10: DVD
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Peter Grimes: on Aldeburgh Beach - , 2013 (dvd)
Audio-visual document Recommended Week 10: alternative DVD, open air production
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Music and sexuality in Britten: selected essays - 2006 (electronic book)
Book Recommended See especially chapter 1-2, pp.11-53
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The Cambridge companion to Benjamin Britten 1999 (electronic book)
Book
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General works 17 items
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Unsung voices: opera and musical narrative in the nineteenth century - 1991
Book Electronic book
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Viva la libertà!: politics in opera - 1992
Book
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Opera - 2012
Book
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The Cambridge companion to grand opera - 2011 (electronic book)
Book
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The Cambridge companion to twentieth-century opera - 2005
Book Available in the Library and as an e-book.
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Essays on opera - 1990
Book
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Reading opera - , 1988
Book
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Opera as drama - 2005
Book
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Opera in the Novel from Balzac to Proust - 2011 (electronic book)
Book
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Opera & ideas: from Mozart to Strauss - 1986
Book
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Believing in opera - 1998
Book
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Metaphysical song: an essay on opera - 1999
Book
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Secondary reading on specific composers/ operas 25 items
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Week 2: Purcell 1 item
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Purcell - 1982
Book
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Week 3: Handel / Ovid 6 items
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What is pastoral? - 1996 (electronic book)
Book This is relevant to Acis and Galatea
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Opera and the Enlightenment - , 2006
Book Part IV : essay on Handel
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The Cambridge companion to Handel - 1997
Book Available in the Library and as an e-book.
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Handel and the pastoral tradition - 1980
Book
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Handel - 2007
Book
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Ovid's changing worlds: English metamorphoses, 1567-1632 - 2001 (electronic book)
Book
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Week 4: Mozart 4 items
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W.A. Mozart: le nozze di Figaro - 1987
Book
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Music and culture in eighteenth-century Europe: a source book - , 1994
Book See Chapter 10 on Reform Opera
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Week 6-7: Verdi 2 items
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Analyzing opera: Verdi and Wagner - , 1989
Book
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Verdi in the age of Italian Romanticism - 1981
Book Secondary reading
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Week 7-8: Bizet 3 items
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Georges Bizet: his life and work - 1965
Book Secondary Reading
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Georges Bizet: Carmen - 1992
Book
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Week 9-10: Berg 3 items
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The Berg companion - 1989
Book
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Woyzeck and Wozzeck - 1967
Article
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The operas of Alban Berg vol.1 - c1980-c1985
Book
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Week 10-11: Britten / Crabbe 6 items
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Music and sexuality in Britten: selected essays - 2006
Book
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Benjamin Britten, Peter Grimes - 1983
Book
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George Crabbe: an English life, 1754-1832 - 2004
Book
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George Crabbe: a reappraisal - 1995
Book
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