Latest Articles
Fairies in Opera, Part 4 - Worlds Apart
Though fairies possess magical powers, it is not always safe for even these beings to venture outside the safety of fairyland.
Fairies in Opera, Part 3 - Continental Titanias
Two Titania-related operas bring us to a mixture of German and French texts and settings.
Fairies in Opera, Part 2 - Ill Met by Moonlight
Nearly three hundred years apart, two English composers took on an operatic telling of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. But how different the two works are!
Fairies in Opera, Part 1 - Bright and Ill Wishes
Opera contains many different kinds of supernatural beings, from fairies and nymphs to witches and devils. Of course, the latter group gets the most press. Let’s see how some of the better deeds are accomplished.
One unusual evening hour brings out the town in two quite disparate operas...while, in another, several men find reason to climb into clocks...!
How are operatic characters ruled by the forces of Time?
Knights at the Opera, Part 14 – Postscript
What roles did the genuine Godfrey de Bouillon and Tancred play in the First Crusade?
Knights at the Opera, Part 13 - Liberating Jerusalem
Knights and feisty Saracen females battle it out, in a plethora of operas based upon a single 16th-century epic.
Knights at the Opera, Part 12 - Sixteenth-Century Epic Poetry
Madness and magic wreak havoc upon romance in operatic adaptations of Ariosto’s panoramic Orlando Furioso.
Knights at the Opera, Part 11 – Ivanhoe
Although Ivanhoe is dismissed as stodgy fare in our own time (by those who haven’t read it) for Victorians it was an exciting, exotic tale of love and adventure -- as a story, and then as an opera.