Opera in Fiction
ForumOpera, or Nobody Knows the Traubel I've Seen
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1amysisson
I'm about 2/3 of the way through Mozart's Blood by Louise Marley, which is vampire/werewolf fiction with a main character who has been performing with opera companies throughout her unnaturally long life.... I know the author is opera-trained and experienced, and I'm enjoying her insider view of things. I also think she's handling very well the jumping around in various points of time. Many operas are mentioned, but "Don Giovanni" is figuring heavily so far.
What other fiction have people read that heavily involves opera? I read Eva Ibbotson's The Reluctant Heiress, which may also have been published under the title "The Magic Flute", which of course involves that particular opera.
I have but have not yet read a lovely illustrated edition of Phantom of the Opera and hope to read that soon, as well as The Phantom of Manhattan by Federick Forsyth (altough I'm skeptical of how that will be....)
What other fiction have people read that heavily involves opera? I read Eva Ibbotson's The Reluctant Heiress, which may also have been published under the title "The Magic Flute", which of course involves that particular opera.
I have but have not yet read a lovely illustrated edition of Phantom of the Opera and hope to read that soon, as well as The Phantom of Manhattan by Federick Forsyth (altough I'm skeptical of how that will be....)
2aulsmith
My favorite "opera in fiction" is Elizabeth Enright's The Saturdays where one of the children picks their Saturday adventure as going to the Metropolitan Opera to see Siegfried.
4theoria
Not opera, but involving an opera singer: Ann Patchett, Bel Canto
5lilithcat
There are slews; here are some of them:
Of course, James McCourt's Mawrdew Czgowchwz is wonderful!
Ethan Mordden's The Venice Adriana (about a very thinly disguised Maria Callas)
Ann Patchett's Bel Canto - and there will be an actual opera based on this book soon: https://www.lyricopera.org/worldpremiere/
Robertson Davies The Lyre of Orpheus is about the commissioning and writing of an opera.
Willa Cather's Song of the Lark is about an aspiring opera singer.
In the world of early music, there's Anne Rice's Cry to Heaven, about a castrato's career.
There are a fair number of mysteries set in the world of opera:
Donna Leon's Death at La Fenice as well as The Jewels of Paradise
Phillip Scott's One Dead Diva,
and, you know, the woman who gave her name to this forum, Helen Traubel, wrote The Metropolitan Opera Murders.
Of course, James McCourt's Mawrdew Czgowchwz is wonderful!
Ethan Mordden's The Venice Adriana (about a very thinly disguised Maria Callas)
Ann Patchett's Bel Canto - and there will be an actual opera based on this book soon: https://www.lyricopera.org/worldpremiere/
Robertson Davies The Lyre of Orpheus is about the commissioning and writing of an opera.
Willa Cather's Song of the Lark is about an aspiring opera singer.
In the world of early music, there's Anne Rice's Cry to Heaven, about a castrato's career.
There are a fair number of mysteries set in the world of opera:
Donna Leon's Death at La Fenice as well as The Jewels of Paradise
Phillip Scott's One Dead Diva,
and, you know, the woman who gave her name to this forum, Helen Traubel, wrote The Metropolitan Opera Murders.
6amysisson
Lots of great stuff here.... I'm especially intrigued by Willa Cather's Song of the Lark -- I've enjoyed what I've read of her work so far.
Thanks, everyone!
Thanks, everyone!
7abbottthomas
I wonder if Louise Marley had The Makropulos Casein mind when she wrote that book? Janacek's opera from a play by Karel Capek has a heroine- also an opera singer - who takes a potion developed by her father which prolongs life indefinitely - she isn't undead, though ;-)
I have a book of short stories by various authors written to celebrate Glyndebourne's 75th Anniversary called Midsummer Nights. Each story is based on an opera: the first in the book, by Jackie Kay, is inspired by the said Makropulos Case.
Finally on your theme, Donna Leon, in her marvellous Venice based crime novels, uses quotations from opera as epigraphs. The one I am currently reading, Friends in High Places, has:....Ah dove Sconsigliato t'inoltri? In queste mura Sai, che non è sicura La tua vita (from Mozart's Lucio Silla)
I have a book of short stories by various authors written to celebrate Glyndebourne's 75th Anniversary called Midsummer Nights. Each story is based on an opera: the first in the book, by Jackie Kay, is inspired by the said Makropulos Case.
Finally on your theme, Donna Leon, in her marvellous Venice based crime novels, uses quotations from opera as epigraphs. The one I am currently reading, Friends in High Places, has:....Ah dove Sconsigliato t'inoltri? In queste mura Sai, che non è sicura La tua vita (from Mozart's Lucio Silla)
8amysisson
^Thanks! I just ordered Midsummer Nights -- sounds like fun!
9lilithcat
Donna Leon is a huge opera fan. She's done a lot of work with Cecilia Bartoli. She actually wrote The Jewels of Paradise, which involves the work of Agostino Steffani, at Bartoli's behest, when CB was preparing a recording of his music.
10amysisson
Yikes, I can see I'm an opera lightweight in comparison to all of you. :-) We've been season ticket holders for Houston Grand Opera for a few years, but I admit I'm still feeling my way around. I do find that reading fiction that involves opera, for instance, has a way of shining new light on it for me.
I wish my tastes were more sophisticated, but I am struggling with work that is more atonal, and am a sucker for all the wildly popular ones. If I had to pick a favorite composer, it would probably be Puccini.
I wish my tastes were more sophisticated, but I am struggling with work that is more atonal, and am a sucker for all the wildly popular ones. If I had to pick a favorite composer, it would probably be Puccini.
11aulsmith
There's also an opera in Barbara Hambly's Free Man of Color
12LolaWalser
As lilithcat says, there are MANY works of fiction with opera as theme or setting. I'm not sure there are anywhere close as many those that are directly inspired by an opera, such as my great favourite, Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita (HTML link because none of the touchstones is correct). I liked Gounod's Faust well enough, but Bulgakov made me like it even more!
13aulsmith
With more difficulty than I had hoped, I constructed a starter list called Opera in fiction. Please feel free to join in.
15marietherese
Paola Capriolo's Floria Tosca is an interesting work and well worth checking out, especially if you're familiar with Puccini's opera (although it works well as an historical novel and a disquieting psychological study even for those who don't have said familiarity). I can't remember who penned it but wasn't there a series of cozy mysteries featuring Geraldine Ferrar as the detective released in the 80s or early 90s? Gatti-Casaza, Emmy Destinn and Caruso showed up in the various stories; I remember these being light-hearted and rather fun.