OPERA WARS

A behind-the-scenes look at the state of opera today, by an industry insider.

Currently an opera librettist and lyricist, Vincent spent a decade as a professional singer; during five of those years, she founded and ran a small opera company in Baltimore, so she’s well equipped to explain the nuts and bolts of an art form frequently seen as mysterious by outsiders. Her determination not to intimidate sometimes makes her prose a little chirpy, and frequent operagoers will be familiar with much of the material, but this is a solid introduction for readers intrigued by but unfamiliar with the genre. The author takes readers by the hand through the process of creating, performing, and (not incidentally) selling an opera; her chapters are helpfully subtitled to flag subjects of debate—or, as Vincent prefers to call them, “battlegrounds” between opera traditionalists and those trying to coax it into the 21st century. In “The Score, or, That Should Be in a Museum!” she dissents from the view that a score is an unchangeable expression of the composer’s intent, reminding us that many operas have come down through history in multiple versions. In “The Stage, or, (Yellow) Facing the Music,” she describes with amusement far-out productions such as La bohème set in outer space, but it reminds those insisting that operas should be staged as they always have been that the traditions they defend include white singers in blackface playing Otello or taping their eyes and coyly flourishing fans in Madama Butterfly, while African American and Asian singers were denied employment. In “The Singers, or, She’s Got the Look,” she discusses the pressure on singers, women in particular, to keep their weight down, exacerbated by the fact that many opera performances are now broadcast. Frequent quotes from Vincent’s interviews with other opera professionals add weight to her arguments, while interpolations about her personal experiences give the book a human touch.

A bit basic for longtime fans, but great for opera newbies.