New York Times Essential Library: Opera

Opera lovers are notoriously argumentative, so anyone drawing up a list of the""most important"" works in the medium should expect to generate plenty of debate. Tommasini, chief music critic for the New York Times, recognizes that some of the selections in this opinionated, and admittedly quirky, guidebook will prompt second-guessing, but he makes the case for each of them with passion and conviction. The result is a collection of original essays that should prove both illuminating to opera novices and thought provoking to long-time fans. As one would expect in a guidebook, Tommasini presents the pillars of the repertory--including stories about their composers, details of their plots and comments on their performance history--in a style that will appeal to informed readers without scaring off those whose knowledge of the music is limited. In addition, for readers who wish to explore further, Tommasini recommends CDs of each opera (although he may endorse the recordings of controversial soprano Maria Callas a bit too often for some tastes). Those familiar with Tommasini's work in the Times will know that he is a strong advocate of neglected 20th century works and of music by important contemporary composers. So it's no surprise that this book goes beyond the standards and includes a significant number of modern operas. Tommasini discusses no fewer than six works by Benjamin Britten and four by Sergey Prokofiev, as well as operas by such marginal figures as Ferruccio Busoni and Hugo Weisgall and very recent pieces by Poul Ruders, Gyorgy Ligeti, Judith Weir and John Adams. Traditionalists may bristle, but Tommasini is determined to get his readers to take chances and treat opera as a living art. Some readers will no doubt wonder whether Aaron Copland's relatively obscure The Tender Land, Stephen Sondheim's Broadway hit Sweeney Todd or Prokofiev's bit of Soviet agitprop Semyon Kotko belong in an opera Top 100. Others may scratch their heads over Tommasini's decision to include Charles Gounod's""Romeo and Juliet"" but skip his ever-popular Faust. But then, such arguments are part of what makes being an opera fan so much fun in the first place.