Abstract
What might one read for an opera course? I teach an occasional survey that looks at opera in the context of theatre. It is intended to demystify opera for those who have no experience of it but also to explore some nooks and crannies that even fans might not know well. The general layout is chronological, but local production schedules may mean that we start out of order or that there are interruptions. My concern is that students be somewhat prepared when they go to see an opera on the syllabus. Rather than choose warhorses for their own sake, I seek out pieces that offer historical, political, or aesthetic choices that are surprising to many students. Thus, with John Adams's Nixon in China, we also read three plays about Madame Mao. With the intermezzi presented as part of the Medici wedding festivities of 1598, we read one of the plays the intermezzi graced, Bargagli's La pellegrina; for the production process, we read excerpts from James M. Saslow's wonderful 1996 book about the wedding, and so on. I change the overall content to accommodate available productions and to keep the course interesting for me and (I hope) for students. Since I keep an eye out for books that might be useful, this essay combines things I have actually read with things I will consider for the syllabus the next time I teach it.
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