Chapters of Opera: Being Historical and Critical Observations and Records Concerning the Lyric Drama in New York from Its Earliest Days Down to the Present Time

Here is a vivid account of how opera came to America, written by a man who watched it happen. Henry Edward Krehbiel, long-time critic for The New York Tribune, was present at the birth of American opera culture, and in these pages he reconstructs its messy, passionate, often desperate early days. We witness the arrival of Italian opera in New York, the debut of Rossini's 'Il Barbiere di Siviglia' in 1825, and the struggles of pioneers like Manuel Garcia and Lorenzo da Ponte to establish something that had no guarantee of survival. But this is no mere chronology. Krehbiel writes with the sharp eye of a working critic about the artistic feuds, the financial gambles, the divas and the impresarios who shaped what would become one of the world's great opera capitals. He captures a city learning to love an art form it initially distrusted, and in doing so, he offers an indispensable portrait of how American culture gets built: chaotically, expensively, and with enormous conviction. For anyone who loves opera, New York, or the story of art fighting for its place in the world, this book is a treasure.