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*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 enjoyment 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 companies. 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 intermission 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