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Is there a book or web site that gives a one or two page synopsis of the more common operas?

Mark wrote:Is there a book or web site that gives a one or two page synopsis of the more common operas?

Not really, that I've seen anyway.


However, if it is a prominent opera, wikipedia.com usually has a synopsis on it. Make sure to read the entire thing, checking to see if it is cited.


Wikipedia is open source, so anyone can change it, however now they let you see if something has a citation or not.

Here are a few good places to start:

http://www.partyguideonline.com/culture ... opera.html
http://www.geocities.com/voyerju/libretti.html
http://udel.edu/~lneff/alaoplib.htm

Not a comprehensive list, but a pretty good one.

http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/ ... e=Composer

For books, I would suggest "The Opera Guide" by Stockdale and Dreyer http://www.amazon.com/Opera-Guide-F-M-S ... 781&sr=8-1

I got one originally as a present for a friend and liked it so much, I kept myself!

Hey, guys... I think you are just scared to sit through an opera. It's really quite painless. And you can borrow DVDs and videocassettes of all the operas at your local library. It will take you just as long to sit through an opera in the comfort and privacy of your home as it does to read through a synopsis of the opera. And you will know where certain tunes come from that you hear all the time.

If you are new to opera, and you don't have anything else to do, I suggest you listen to Nixon in China by John Adams. But watch the video. The special effects you see on your TV were also visible at the performance. It's very clever.

If you are watching the classics, watch them and know them. I love all the Puccini operas. Some of them get as tough and raunchy as anything you will see in the movie theater. Great stories and great music. Watch them and listen to them.