Music (Opera) Subject Guide

Databases

• Academic Search Elite
  Multi-disciplinary database offers full-text, dating from 1985 to present, for nearly 1,850 scholarly journals, including more than 1,250 peer-reviewed titles. Covering virtually every area of academic study- EBSCOhost
• AHSearch
  Indexes the world's leading arts and humanities journals and related social science and science information from over 1300 resources dating from 1980 to present- FirstSearch
• Humanities Full Text
  Full-text articles, book reviews, interviews, obituaries, bibliographies, original works of fiction (including dramas and poems), and reviews of plays, television, and radio programs from Humanities Index- WilsonWeb Omnifile Mega

Books

• Opera : A History in Documents
  Piero Weiss
  ML1700 .O644 2002
  Beginning with the Intermedio, which was performed at a Medici wedding in 1589, and ending with John Adams's 1987 Nixon in China, this book provides a novel view of dozens of operas over the centuries. The author, a noted scholar and authority on the history of opera who chairs the musicology department at the Johns Hopkins Peabody Conservatory, illuminates the history of opera through documents, each presented in historical context. His selection of documents includes letters, diary accounts, critical notices, playbills, and libretto excerpts that highlight fascinating aspects of the works and their performances, as well as the era in which they originated. We learn, for example, what Stendhal thought of Rossini's Barber of Seville, as well as Tchaikovsky's own thoughts on Eugene Onegin and Mozart's first ideas about his Marriage of Figaro. Opera lovers will be delighted at this new and excellent source of information and insight. Recommended for public and academic libraries. Timothy J. McGee, Univ. of Toronto.Description from the Library Journal. 
• American Opera
  byElise K. Kirk
  ML1711 .K56 2001
  Beginning with the English-influenced harlequinade and masque of the revolutionary period, Kirk traces the development of comic opera, the rise of melodramatic romanticism, the emergence of American grand opera and verismo, and the explosion of eclectic forms that characterized American opera in the twentieth century. Devoting particular attention to the accomplishments of women and black composers and librettists, Kirk explores how American operas have incorporated indigenous elements such as jazz, popular song, folk music, Native American motifs, and Hollywood's cinematic techniques. She also discusses the impact of radio and television broadcasting on opera in America, the advent of opera workshops in universities, the integration of multimedia effects into recent opera productions, and innovations such as co-commissioning and joint staging that have helped sustain American opera as federal support has declined. An engaging introduction for neophytes, American Opera also offers an array of welcome surprises for diehard opera fans. Description from the Publisher.
• Opera : A Research and Information Guide
  Guy A. Marco
  ML128 .O4 M28 2001
  Opera is the only guide to the research writings on all aspects of opera. This second edition presents 2,833 titles - over 2,000 more than did the first edition - of books, parts of books, articles, and dissertations in European languages, with full bibliographic descriptions and (except for dissertations) critical annotations. Users will find the core literature on the operas of 320 individual composers, and about operatic life in forty-three countries."Description from the Publisher.
• Additional Books

Journals

• Leonardo Music Journal
  Presents the aesthetic and technical issues in contemporary music and sonic arts. Features artists/writers from around the world, representing a wide range of stylistic viewpoints- Project Muse
• Notes
  Foremost scholarly journal for music libraries and librarianship- Project Muse
• Opera News
  News & reviews of opera companies worldwide, productions, hi-fi equipment, performers, records, travel & information on telecasts & radio broadcasts from the Metropolitan Opera- EBSCOhost
• Opera Quarterly
  Presents stimulating, enlightening, and enjoyable reading on all aspects of opera- Project Muse

Websites

• Aria Database
  Presents more than 60 composers, including a database of the characters with a short description, the arias they sing, and the creator of the role (if known). Provides annotated links and a list of opera houses and companies- Librarian's Index to the Internet
• Opera Glass
  Presents performance histories, synopses, libretti, discographies, pictures, and information on operas and composers. Includes information on librettists, opera companies, opera people, other opera Web sites, selected reviews, and more- Librarian's Index to the Internet
• OperaWeb
  Provides details of opera singers, operas, composers, schedules, and even a Fun Zone with opera facts, trivia, and a very funny semi-serious history of opera, in Italian and English- Librarian's Index to the Internet