A Book of Operas

A Book of Operas is a guide to the standard operatic repertoire by Henry Edward Krehbiel, originally published in 1908. Krehbiel was the chief music critic of the New York Tribune for forty three years from 1880 until his death in 1923, and was the most influential American music critic of his generation. The opera guide was one of his most successful books and was reprinted many times during the early twentieth century.

The book presents detailed treatments of a selection of standard operas, with each opera given its own chapter of around thirty pages. The selections include the central works of the Italian, German, and French repertoires that had become the foundation of operatic life in American cities by the early twentieth century. There are chapters on Mozart’s Don Giovanni and The Marriage of Figaro, on Verdi’s major works including Rigoletto and Aida, on Wagner’s Die Walküre and Tannhäuser, on Gounod’s Faust, and on several other pieces that any opera goer of the period would have expected to encounter at the Metropolitan or in the touring companies of the period.

The format Krehbiel uses for each opera is consistent. He provides the historical background to the composition, including any particular circumstances of the libretto and the relationship between the composer and the librettist. He then gives a detailed plot summary, with attention to the dramatic structure as well as the surface events. The musical analysis follows, with descriptions of the major numbers and pointers to particular passages that a listener might want to attend to. He concludes with brief biographical material on the composer and notes on the performance history of the work.

Krehbiel’s particular taste was for the central German Italian tradition. He was an unqualified admirer of Wagner, a careful student of Verdi, and a respectful critic of Mozart. He was less sympathetic to some of the newer composers of his time, particularly the Russian school and the French impressionists, and the selection of operas in the book reflects his preferences. For readers interested in early twentieth century operatic culture and in how the standard repertoire was being presented to American audiences during the formative period of American operatic life, this is a central document. It pairs naturally with his sequel A Second Book of Operas.