Find Resources By Topic: Opera

Where to find:

• Books/Music
• Journals/Magazines
• Career Resources
• Reference Tools
• Repertoire Guides
• Dictionaries/Encyclopedias
• Libretti/Translations

Books & Music

Books and printed music are arranged according to the Library of Congress' Classification System. The library has circulating (stacks) and non-circulating (reference) collections. Each collection is divided in to three sections.

M	Printed Music/scores (organized by instrumentation/genre)
ML	Books about music and musicians
MT	Books on music theory, pedagogy, and technique

The best finding aid is the CIM/Case library catalog. Some important call numbers related to opera are:

M 1500	Full scores of operas
M 1503	Vocal scores of operas (piano reductions)
M 1507	Collections of opera excerpts
ML 48	Opera librettos (texts)
ML 410	Biographies of composers and musicians
ML 1700	History of Opera

Journals / Magazines

Current issues are on the periodical shelves. Request back issues for current year at the circulation desk. Bound periodicals (2002-) are shelved alphabetically by title in the Glass Lounge. Bound periodicals dated before 2002 are located in storage.

• Avant Scene Opera
• Cambridge Opera Journal
• Classical Singer
• Notes (National Opera Association)
• Opera America Newsline
• Opera Journal
• Opera News
• Opera Quarterly

Career, Audition, & Competition Resources

Several periodicals (listed above) provide information about auditions, competitions and job opportunities in opera. See the library guide on Career Resources. Of particular note is the Career Guide for Singers produced by Opera America (Ref. ML 12 Op2 2000).

The CIM Opera Department & Library jointly subscribe to Opera America's Career Service Center which includes access to opera and career resource information (See Bonnie Eggers for more information).

The library also provides access to Bridge Worldwide Music Connection, an online resource describing performance opportunities, jobs, competitions, festivals and other opportunities in music. Please inquire at the library's circulation desk for login information.

Reference Tools

The library has several books that make finding literature and information about opera easy. Because of their usefulness, these resources are shelved in the reference section. This list is not comprehensive. Please take some time to browse the reference section.

Finding Literature: These are excellent resources when you are looking for repertoire. They provide lists of repertoire by voice range, subject, etc. Often they provide additional information about the music (difficulty, range, etc.)

• Guide to Operatic Roles and Arias (Boldrey) Ref. ML 102.Op2 Bo637gr
• Music for the Voice (Kagen) Ref. ML 128.V87 K119m 1968
• Repertoire for the Solo Voice (Espina) Ref. ML 128.V87 Es65r
• Singer's Repertoire (Coffin) Ref. ML 128.V87 C654s
• Song: a Guide to Art Song Style and Literature (Kimball). Ref. ML 128.V87 K516s 2005

Finding printed music for a specific song/aria: Many songs and arias are only found in collections. Unfortunately, the library catalog does not always index the contents of such collections. This is where a song index is helpful. It will tell you where to find a specific aria, lieder or song. See also Opera & Song Web Resources.

• Song Index (UT George F. DeVine Music Library)Online
• Song Index (Sears). Ref. ML128.V87 Se17
• Songs in Collections (DeCharms). Ref. ML 128.V87 D356

Dictionaries & Encyclopedias: These resources provide authoritative definitions and information about opera and related topics. Often they include bibliographies. A must-see for any paper or project.

• Oxford Music Online. Includes complete (and updated) content from the New Grove Dictionary of Opera (1992 print edition Ref. ML 102 Op2 N42n)
• Mellen Opera Reference Index (Parsons) Ref. ML102.Op2P251m
• Guide to Operatic Arias & Roles (Boldrey) Ref. ML 102.Op2 Bo637gr
• Opera: a Research and Information Guide (Marco) Ref. ML128.Op2 M334op 2001

Libretti: Librettos (opera texts) are located at ML 48 in the reference and circulating collection. They are organized alphabetically by composer. Nico Castel has authored an opera libretti series that provides IPA transcriptions and word for word translations for a related group of opera librettos. The following titles in this series are located in the ready reference section at >Ref. ML 48. (The following list is not comprehensive).

• Complete Puccini Libretti
• Complete Verdi Libretti
• Four Strauss Opera Libretti
• French Opera Libretti
• Handel Opera Libretti
• Italian Bel Canto Opera Libretti
• Italian Verismo Opera Libretti
• Libretti of Mozart's Completed Operas
• Libretti of Russian Opera
• Wagner Opera Libretti

The library also subscribes to IPA Source, the web's largest library of IPA transcriptions and literal translations of opera aria, art song, and Latin liturgical texts.