Table Of Content*v&***>
KT381 75ff
-4 musical expert gives you a season ticket to
musical enjoyment. This comprehensive, up-to-
date book, containing the complete stories of
more than50 great operas of the world, enables
you to follow the action of operas on stage, tele-
vision, radio or records.
. . .
HAROLD VINCENT MILLIGAN
Former associate director of metropolitan opera broadcasts
INTRODUCTION BY DEEMS TAYLOR
A SIGNET KEY BOOK
—
Great Operas
Your
For Enjoyment
This helpful, up-to-the-minute collection of more
than fifty opera stories immeasurably broadens your
knowledge and increases your appreciation and en-
joyment of one of the most popular and stimulating
forms of music.
Dr. Harold V. Milligan, an outstanding authority
on the opera, has written these stories with sim-
plicity and clarity and provided complete casts of
characters, names of famous arias, duets and ensem-
bles for each of the operas covered. This revised
and expanded edition of a bestselling opera book
contains the mostfrequentlyperformed operas from
the repertories of the world's leading opera com-
panies. Included are the masterpieces of Beethoven
and Wagner, the melodic works of Verdi, Puccini,
Bizet, and many other popular masters. Here, too,
are noted modern operas by such gifted composers
as George Gershwin, Benjamin Britten, and Gian-
Carlo Menotti.
More complete than program notes, easier to follow
and less expensive than librettos, Stories of Famous
Operas offers a valuable means of refreshing your
memory before a performance or introducing you
to an opera for the first time.
Harold Vincent Milligan, prominent critic, au-
thor, musician and composer, served as Associate
Director of the Metropolitan Opera Broadcasts, lec-
tured on the history of opera at Columbia Uni-
versity, and wrote Opera on the Air, Opera Quiz
Book, and Music and You.
THIS IS A REVISED AND EXPANDED REPRINT OF THE
EDITION ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED BY DOUBLEDAY & CO.
\
MENTOR
Other Books of Interest
MusicandImaginationbyAaronCopland
The world famous composer explains the role of
the imagination in composing, performing, and lis-
(#MD261—
tening tomusic. 50$)
The Creative Process
edited,withintroduction,byBrewsterGhisetin
Thirty-eight of the greatest minds in the world re-
veal how they actually begin and complete creative
work in such fields as art, literature, science and
philosophy. #MP383—60$)
(
Good Reading (enlarged, up-to-date edition)
edited by the Committee on CollegeReading
Acarefullyselectedguideto 1,250usefulandenter-
taining volumes which will help you select your
own reading program from the wealth of the
world's important literature. New 25-page ch—ecklist
of thebestpaper-boundtides. (#MT293 750)
TheLiveliestArtbyArthurKnight
The exciting history of motion pictures: its stars,
directors, flopsandhits. Thirty-onephotographs.
(#MD263—
50$)
To Our Readers: If your dealer does not have the
Signet and Mentor books you want, you may order
them by mail, enclosing the list price plus 50 a copy
to cover mailing. If you would like our free catalog,
please request it by postcard. The New American
Library of World Literature, Inc., P.O. Box 2310,
Grand Central Station, New York 17, New York.
Stories of
J^iMQUS OPERAS
by
Harold Vincent Milligan, Mus. D.
Introduction by
Deems Taylor
S8£
JOO'V
A SIGNET KEY BOOK
THE NEW AMERICAN LIBRARY
Published by
Copyright © 1950, 1955, by Doubleday & Company, Inc.
Allrights reserved. Nopartofthis bookmay bereproduced in
any form without permission from the publisher. For informa-
tionaddress Doubleday&Company,Inc.,575 MadisonAvenue,
NewYork22,NewYork.
Publishedas aSIGNETKEYBOOK
by arrangementwith Doubleday &Company,Inc., who have
authorized this softcover edition.
First Printing, October, 1955
Second Printing, October, 1961
Third Printing, November, 1962
LibraryofCongressCatalogCardNo. 55-11511
SIGNETTBADEMABKREG.U.S.PAT.OFF.ANDFOBHIGN COUNTBIE3
BEGISTEBEDTBADEMABE MABCABEQISTBADA
HEOHOEN CHICAGO, U.S.A.
SIGNETKEYBOOKSarepublishedby
TheNewAmericanLibraryof WorldLiterature,Inc.
501 MadisonAvenue,New York22,New York
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Introduction
As the crowd was making its way up the aisle during in-
termission time at a matinee performance of // Trovatore
at the Metropolitan, I overheard the lady in back of me
remark to her escort:
"You know, I'm so glad I don't understand Italian. I
love just to sit back and listen to the orchestra and the
singers. Who cares about the plot? If I unde—rstood the
words they would get in the way of the music take half
the glamor outofit."
Inotherwords, theladydoesn'tgototheopera. Shegoes
to a three-hour concert in costume. She is not alone. I
have heard that point of view towards opera expressed by
—
otherwise intelligent and cultured people people who
would rather not know what is going on on the stage. (I
have often wondered how they would react if they were
offered Oklahoma! sung in Italian.)
Itis hardly their fault. Theyhave been conditioned, you
might say, to that peculiar point of view, owing to the fact
that this is the only nation in the.world that does not pre-
sent opera in the language of the audience. As a result,
they have never quite realized that opera is a form of the
theatre. It is not a concert,—andit is not an oratorio. It is a
play in the form of music the Drama per Musica of its
seventeenth century inventors.
As for the lady who loves to sitback and listen, I think
that if she were able to follow the action of an opera, she
wouldhave alltheexcitementofseeingaplayaswellasthe
pleasure of listening to the music. In recent years both the
Metropolitan and City Center companies have presented
certain operas in English translations; but generally speak-
ing we are still compelled to hear most operas sung in a
foreign language.
That is where this little book comes in. Since we cannot
follow the plot as it is sung, we can at least have it de-
scribed. Here are detailed synopses of the stories of more
than fifty operas, told simply, without excess verbiage or
too drastic condensation, byonewhowas an acknowledged
expert in this field.
The book has other minor virtues. For instance, the
idea of listing certain operas with alternate titles is a good
one. Whether you know Mascagni's masterpiece as Caval-
leria Rusticana or Rustic Chivalry, you can find it indexed
under either title. The type is clear and well printed, and is
not hard on the eyes.
The price, of course, is absurd. There are other books
dealing with the stories of the operas, furnishing no more
information than this one—does; but without exception they
are bulky and expensive costing ten to fifteen times the
price of this little volume. As for bulk, next time you go
to the opera, slip the book into your handbag or overcoat
pocket (it will fit; I tried it). Then you can take arefresher
course during the intermission.
—
Deems Taylor
Contents
Introduction by Deems Taylor, v
Foreword, rx
Beethoven Fidelio, 11
Bellini Norma, 17
Bizet Carmen, 23
Britten PeterGrimes, 29
Charpentier Louise, 36
Debussy PelleasetMelisande, 42
Donizetti LuciadiLammermoor, 47
DonPasquale, 52
Gershwin PorgyandBess, 58
Giordano AndreaChenier, 62
Gluck OrfeoedEuridice, 69
Gounod Faust, 73
RomeoandJuliet, 78
HUMPERDINCK HanselandGretel, 83
Leoncavallo IPagliacci, 87
Mascagni Cavalieria Rusticana, 91
Massenet Manon, 93
Menotti TheMedium, 99
AmahlandtheNight Visitors, 102
Montemezzi UAmore dei Tre Re
(TheLoveofThreeKings), 105
MOUSSORGSKY Boris Godunov, 109
Mozart TheMarriageofFigaro
(LeNozzediFigaro), 115
Don Giovanni, 111
CosiFan Tutte, 126
TheMagicFlute
(DieZauberflote), 133
Offenbach The Tales of Hoffmann, 140
PONCHIELLI LaGioconda, 146
Prokofieff TheLovefor ThreeOranges, 152
Puccini LaBoheme, 157
Tosca, 163
MadameButterfly, 168
RlMSKY-KORSAKOFF LeCoqd'Or, 173
Rossini TheBarberofSeville
(IIBarbierediSiviglia), 178
LaCenerentola, 184
Saint-Saens SamsonandDelilah, 189
Strauss, Johann Fledermaus, 194
Strauss, Richard Salome, 199
Elektra, 203
DerRosenkavalier, 208
Thomas Mignon, 214
Verdi Rigoletto, 220
// Trovatore, 226
La Traviata, 232
Z7n Zta//oin Maschera
(A Masked Ball), 238
LaForzadelDestino, 244
Aida, 249
Ote//o, 255
Falstaff, 260
Wagner Tannhauser, 267
Lohengrin, 272
Tristan undIsolde, 278
£)/>Meistersinger, 284
77zefi/rtgo/f/zeNibelungs:
DasRheingold, 291
DieWalkure, 296
Siegfried, 301
Gotterddmmerung, 307
Parsifal, 313
Index of Titles, 319
