100 Great Operas and Their Stories
Researched Bibliographic Dossier
Verified edition data and a musicological research note prepared specifically for this work.
- Title
- 100 Great Operas and Their Stories
- Author
- Henry W. Simon
- Edition
- Revised and abridged Anchor edition
- Publisher
- Anchor / Doubleday
- Place
- New York
- Year
- 1989
- Extent
- 560 pages
- ISBN
- 9780385054485
- Original publication
- 1960; based on Festival of Opera (1957)
- Language
- English
- Type
- Opera synopsis and repertory guide
SCOPE & CONTENT
Simon’s enduring reference book presents one hundred operas primarily through clear act-by-act narratives, lists of characters, notable arias and concise historical background. Its purpose is practical: to let listeners understand the dramatic action before or during an encounter with the work. The broad repertory reaches from early opera through the nineteenth century and into twentieth-century works, making it a compact record of the standard canon as understood by mid- and late-twentieth-century American audiences.
RESEARCH VALUE
The guide is not intended for textual criticism or detailed music analysis. Its value lies in repertory access, reception history and the stability of the synopsis tradition. Comparing its one hundred choices with newer guides can reveal how the operatic canon expanded, contracted or shifted over time. It is also useful for identifying the arias and dramatic moments that were conventionally singled out for general listeners.
ACT-BY-ACT ACCESS
The core method is narrative clarity. Operatic plots that can be difficult to follow in performance are broken into acts and scenes, with attention to entrances, relationships and famous numbers. The format explains why the book remained useful through several generations of reprints.
CANON AS HISTORICAL EVIDENCE
A list of “100 great operas” is inevitably selective. That selectivity is itself evidence: it records which composers and works an influential reference guide expected readers to know and therefore offers a useful comparison with today’s broader repertory.
- Format
- File size
- 1.5 MB
- Subjects / people
- Books & Essays · Works & Analysis · Opera & Music Drama
- Catalogue completeness
- 9 / 10 core bibliographic fields