A Book of Operas: Their Histories, Their Plots, and Their Music

Henry Edward Krehbiel was one of America's most distinguished music critics, and this book captures his lifelong passion for opera as a living, breathing art form. Rather than treating operas as static monuments, Krehbiel presents them as dynamic works that evolve with each generation of performers and audiences. The book opens with a fascinating account of how Italian opera first took root in America, using the story of Rossini's "Il Barbiere di Siviglia", its initial failure and eventual triumph, as a window into the broader cultural negotiations involved in bringing European art to American shores. From there, Krehbiel traces the histories, plots, and musical innovations of the era's most beloved operas, revealing how character motivations, compositional techniques, and performance traditions shifted over time. His scholarship bridges the gap between technical musical analysis and theatrical reality, showing readers not just what makes these works brilliant on the page, but how they come alive on stage. This remains essential reading for anyone who wants to understand opera not as a dusty relic but as a vital artistic tradition shaped by centuries of reinterpretation.