Reading with Style discussion

20.8 - Liz’s Task – It ain’t over...
Mozart’s The Magic Flute premiered in Vienna on Sept. 30th, 1791. In honor of this most-performed opera and of my fifth-year working at an opera company
A) Read a book on which an opera is based. OR
B) Read a non-fiction book related to opera.

Books for Part A:

1984 by George Orwell
The Aeneid by Virgil
Amadís de Gaula I by Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo
An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser
Beloved by Toni Morrison
The Best Short Stories (Classics Library (NTC)) by Guy de Maupassant
Billy Budd by Herman Melville
The Book of Sand & Shakespeare's Memory by Jorge Luis Borges
Boris Godunov by Alexander Pushkin
The Bride of Lammermoor by Walter Scott
Camille by Victor Hugo
Candide by Voltaire
Christ Recrucified by Nikos Kazantzakis
The Collected Tales by Nikolai Gogol
The Crucible by Arthur Miller
The Cunning Little Vixen by Rudolf Tesnohlidek
Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand
Dead Man Walkingby Helen Prejean
Don Carlos by Friedrich von Schiller
Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
Elizabeth and Essex: A Tragic History by Giles Lytton Strachey
The Epic of Gilgamesh by Anonymous
Eugene Onegin by Alexander Pushkin
Faust: Part One by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
The Fiery Angel by Valery Bryusov
The Gambler by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
Hernani by Victor Hugo
The House of the Dead by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Inferno by Dante Alighieri
Iphigenie by Jean Racine
Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk and Other Stories by Nikolai Leskov
Le Roi S'amuse: A Tragedy by Victor Hugo
Les Liaisons Dangereuses by Pierre A.F. Choderlos de Laclos
Love And Intrigue by Friedrich von Schiller
Lulu Plays and Other Sex Tragedies by Frank Wedekind
Macbeth by William Shakespeare
Maid of Orleans by Friedrich von Schiller
Makropoulos Secret by Karel Čapek
The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales by Oliver Sacks
Mary Stuart by Friedrich von Schiller
Metamorphoses by Ovid
The Nibelungenlied by A.T. Hatto
The Odyssey by Homer
The Oedipus Cycle: Oedipus Rex, Oedipus at Colonus & Antigone by Sophocles
Old Mortality by Walter Scott
The Oresteia: Agamemnon; The Libation Bearers; The Eumenides by Aeschylus
Orlando Furioso by Ludovico Ariosto
Othello by William Shakespeare
Paradise Lost by John Milton
The Queen of Spades and Other Stories by Alexander Pushkin
The Robbers: A Tragedy by Friedrich von Schiller
Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
Salammbo by Gustave Flaubert
Simplicissimus by Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelhausen
The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
The Storm by A.N. Ostrovsky
Street Scene by Elmer Rice
Tales of Hoffmann by E.T.A. Hoffmann
The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare
The Tempest by William Shakespeare
Thaïs by Anatole France
The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Wilhelm Tell by Friedrich von Schiller
Woyzeck by Georg Büchner
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

For Part B, the non-fiction book can be about a composer (Puccini: A Biography), about opera (The Rough Guide to Opera or The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century), a famous singer (The King and I: The Uncensored Tale of Luciano Pavarotti's Rise to Fame by His Manager, Friend and Sometime Adversary), about a festival or organization (Bayreuth: A History of the Wagner Festival). I'd even allow books about the protagonists or subjects of a well-known opera, such as American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer (related to Doctor Atomic).

OK, now I'll say nice lists!

Are these comprehensive lists or suggestions from which to work?

Denae wrote: "Are these comprehensive lists or suggestions from which to work?"

The first list is nearly comprehensive, but I will consider suggestions/requests. I did not include works that shouldn't meet the 100 page minimum (Much Ado About Nothing, for example). I have about a dozen books to add, but I left my research at work :(

Part B is pretty wide open; if you can state how the book is related to opera, I will accept it.

Also for Part A: The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

"The opera version of The Grapes of Wrath was composed by Ricky Ian Gordon to a libretto by Michael Korie based on John Steinbeck’s 1939 novel of the same title."

Shannon wrote: "Also for Part A: The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

"The opera version of The Grapes of Wrath was composed by Ricky Ian Gordon to a libretto by Michael Korie based on John Steinbeck’s 1939 no..."

Excellent find! Wiki's list of operas by title did not include this one. I've added it to the list.

Would Phantom of the Opera work?

Jayme(the ghost reader) wrote: "Would Phantom of the Opera work?"

Unfortunately, no.

I know Oliver Twist was made into a musical but was it ever made into an opera?

Rebekah wrote: "I know Oliver Twist was made into a musical but was it ever made into an opera?"

Not that I or the internets are aware of

I've been searching too but haven't seen anything other than the plays, movies and musicals. It's okay. i was just looking for combo points but i have found that it fits 3 of the tasks already.

What about Bel Canto? Does that work?

Rebekah wrote: "What about Bel Canto? Does that work?"

No it does not.

This is a hard one! Do the ones on that list in French and other languages have English translations?

Rebekah wrote: "This is a hard one! Do the ones on that list in French and other languages have English translations?"

I believe all the links above are for works written in English. Please let me know if one is not.

I'd recommend Turn of the Screw -- it's a 130 page ghost story, 1984 and A Handmaids Tale -- both classic dystopias & pretty quick reads. I recently read & enjoyed Les Dangerous Liaisons & when you are done there is a fantastic movie version with John Malkovich, Glenn Close, Michelle Pfeiffer, Uma Thurman and Keanu Reeves.

Liz M wrote: "Rebekah wrote: "This is a hard one! Do the ones on that list in French and other languages have English translations?"

I believe all the links above are for works written in English. Please let m..."

Ooh good one. I think The Turn of the Screw is on one of the lists from Sam's task 20.10, and I know it's on the list for Task 20.6, (Unreliable Narrators). And it is a 5 Star Review book so it qualifies for Combo points with Task 10.2.

I was originally going to use it for Task 20.6, but I think I'll move it to this task.

Turn of the Screw qualifies for:
10.2 - Highly rated
10.5 - In bed
20.6 - Unreliable Narrator
20.8 - Opera
20.10 - Monsterfest

:D

Liz M wrote: "Turn of the Screw qualifies for:
10.2 - Highly rated
10.5 - In bed
20.6 - Unreliable Narrator
20.8 - Opera
20.10 - Monsterfest

:D"

I was thinking about that, but I had read it already. But since its been about 20 years ago,maybe a re-read wouldn't hurt. My aunt who has season opera tickets suggested Camille by Alexander Dumas-fils from which LaTraviata is based

Liz M wrote: "Turn of the Screw qualifies for:
10.2 - Highly rated
10.5 - In bed
20.6 - Unreliable Narrator
20.8 - Opera
20.10 - Monsterfest

:D"

Wa-hoo! PLUS Oldie points, AND Review Style Points (Have I mentioned how much I love it that we have Style Points for reviews? I'd been asking for that for a couple of quarters.)

Rebekah wrote: "My aunt who has season opera tickets suggested Camille by Alexander Dumas-fils from which LaTraviata is based ..."

Supposedly, La Traviata is based on a play which was adapted from La Dame aux Camélias, but I would totally accept Camille. Adding it to the list now.