In a footnote on 'The Magic Flute' thread Dave Lampson writes:

>[Wouldn't it be far easier and more expedient (not that we all aren't
>fascinated with the "is too" "is not" nature of the discussion so far)
>to simply list any librettos that aren't crazy? Should be an awfully
>short list.  -Dave]

Should it? Most of the librettos that have been smugly dismissed by opera
buffs down the years turn out on examination to be perfectly serviceable
for their purpose - plays for music.

If, though, we want quality libretti absorbing in themselves, we might
start with Da Ponte's for Mozart; the many beautiful texts written for
Charpentier, Rameau and Lully; Charpentier's "Louise; Maeterlinck's
"Pelleas" and "Ariane"; Calderon's for 17th century Spain; Krasnahorska's
"The Kiss" and "The Secret"; Kvapil's "Rusalka"; Fauchois's "Penelope";
Hofmannstahl's for Strauss; Pushkin's "Mozart & Salieri"; Auden's "Rake's
Progress"; Forster's "Billy Budd"; Elsa Bernstein's "Konigskinder" ...
and that's for starters!

When, as is usual, the jibes are aimed at Italian repertoire, they misfire
as badly.  Leaving to one side such brilliant examples as Boito's libretti
for Verdi and himself; Forzano's "Gianni Schicchi"; Giacoso and Illica's
"La Boheme"; it may be worth focussing briefly on one, much-derided example
- Cammarano's "Il Trovatore".

It is an interesting one to take, because the poet died before the work
was quite finished, and many of the more highly compressed verbal exchanges
upon which ridicule has focussed were supplied by another hand at Verdi's
own direction.

As spoken drama it would be ludicrous - unless staged in the absurdist
style of Ionesco.  But then, to apply the criteria of spoken drama to "Il
Trovatore" is equally absurd.  Viewed as a structure and text for musical
drama, it is dramatically coherent in every important way.

Taut, lean, offering superbly balanced opportunities for the 4 principals,
shorn of nearly all narrative ballast, densely packed with strong situation
and emotional thrust, "Il Trovatore" gives Verdi precisely what he wanted,
an archetype of the old-fashioned opera conventions, which produced a
massively direct emotional power in his dramatic music.

These writers and composers - Verdi especially - knew what they were doing
when fashioning texts.  Many people are content to airily dismiss Italian
opera libretti, with the caveat that "luckily, it doesn't matter anyway".
Well, of course it does matter - and, equally luckily, they're generally
wrong.

Christopher Webber,  Blackheath, London,  UK.
http://www.nashwan.demon.co.uk/zarzuela.htm
"ZARZUELA!"

 [I agree with Christopher.  As texts to be set to music, many librettos
 are brilliant.  But if we are to dissect the political correctness
 and/or storyline of most libreetos, they become ridiculous.  -Dave]