Libretto Sources (original) (raw)

Last Updated: Mar. 31, 2000

Annotated Bibliography of Printed Sources for Libretti and Other Texts

Including unpublished, copyrighted editions and translations

Send additions and corrections to lneff@indiana.edu

Please do not send routine reference questions to the above address (questions like "Where can I find the libretto of this opera?"). Instead, browse this page (which is just a selection), see the bibliography under "Libretto" in The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, check reference sources at your local library, and look at online library catalogs. And don't overlook booklets that come with recordings, old and new!

Go to:

Key: Types of information listed here given in brackets usually at end of entry if not clear from bibliographic information.

Mixed Collections * Apter, Ronnie and Mark Herman: List of Their Singing Translations * The book of 101 opera librettos : complete original language [_sic_] texts with English translations. New York : Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, 1996. 1474 pages (Clickherefor list of titles included in this book.) * Dix cycles de lieder = Ten cycles of lieder : Beethoven, Brahms, Mahler, Schubert, Schumann : traduction mot a mot, accent tonique par Marie-Terese Paquin. Montreal : Presses de l'Universite de Montreal, 1977. * German opera, 1770-1880. Librettos. New York : Garland, 1985- * Harrison, Donna Esselstyn. Poetry in song literature : a handbook for students of singing. Evanston, Ill. : Wm. Caxton, c1989. * Italian opera librettos, 1640-1770 / introd. by Howard Mayer Brown. New York : Garland, 1978- * Jeffers, Ron. Translations and annotations of choral repertoire. Corvallis, Or. : Earthsongs, c1988- * Vol. 1. Sacred Latin texts. * Kaldis, Cynthia. Latin music through the ages. Wauconda, Ill. : Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers, c1991. * Includes poetical works in Latin with English translation * Masters of the Italian art song : word-by word and poetic translations of the complete songs for voice and piano / by Timothy LeVan. Metuchen, N.J. : Scarecrow Press, 1990. * Miller, Philip Lieson. The ring of words : an anthology of song texts. The original texts selected and translated, with and introduction. New York : W.W. Norton, [1973]. * The opera libretto library : the authentic [_sic_] texts of the German, French, and Italian operas with music of the principal airs, with the complete English and German, French, or Italian parallel texts. New York : Avenel Books, 1980. * Reprint of three vols. originally published: New York : Crown Publishers, 1939. * Phillips, Lois. Lieder, line by line and word for word. 1st U.S. ed. New York : C. Scribner's Sons, 1980, c1979. * Piatak, Jean and Regina Avrashov. Russian songs & arias : phonetic readings, word-by-word translations, and a concise guide to Russian diction. Dallas, Tex. : Pst...Inc., 1991. * WARNING: This book has far too many problems to be useful to singers. Check the review by Laurence Richter in Slavic and East European Journal, v. 38, no. 2 (summer 1994), p. 401-404. * Pocket Opera - Pippin English Versions * Prawer, Siegbert Salomon. The Penguin book of Lieder. Edited and translated. New York : Penguin Books, [1964]. (Penguin reference book, R25) * Russkii muzykal'nyi teatr 1700-1835 gg.: khrestomatiia / sostavil prof. S.L. Ginzburg. Leningrad : Iskusstvo, 1941. * Contains brief histories, synopses, and libretto excerpts. * Stikhotvornaia komediia, komicheskaia opera, vodevil' kontsa XVIII-nachala XIX veka : v 2 tomakh / <vstupitel'naia stat'ia,="" biograficheskie="" spravki,="" sostavlenie,="" podgotovka="" teksta="" i="" primechaniia="" a.a.="" gozenpuda="">. Leningrad : Sovetskii pisatel', Leningradskoe otd-nie, 1990. (Biblioteka poeta. Bolshaia seriia)</vstupitel'naia> * Word-by-word translations of songs and arias, by Gerton Coffin, Werner Singer [and] Pierre Delattre. New York : Scarecrow Press, 1966-1972.

Libretti according to composer

Bach, Johann Sebastian

Addresses for unpublished items

Author: Lyle Neff, lneff@indiana.edu