A Book of Operas

The Standard Operas

The Complete Works of John Greenleaf Whittier

Titus Andronicus, with line numbers

Musical Memories

Chopin and Other Musical Essays

According to Wikipedia: "The Imaginary Invalid (French: Le malade imaginaire) is a 1673 three-act comédie-ballet by the French playwright Molière with dance sequences and musical interludes by Marc-Antoine Charpentier. It was originally choreographed by Pierre Beauchamp. Molière had fallen out with the powerful court composer Jean-Baptiste Lully, with whom he had pioneered the comédie-ballet form a decade earlier, and had opted for the collaboration with Charpentier, Lully's rival and arguably a more gifted composer. Le malade imaginaire would turn out to be his last work. He collapsed during his fourth performance as Argan on 17 February and died soon after. Beyond the obvious irony, given the play's title, it is possible that Molière was poisoned by Lully, or at the jilted collaborator's instigation."

Sometimes classified as tragedy, sometimes as comedy, and sometimes as "problem play." According to Wikipedia: "The Life of Timon of Athens is a play by William Shakespeare about the legendary Athenian misanthrope Timon (and probably influenced by the philosopher of the same name, as well), generally regarded as one of his most obscure and difficult works. Originally grouped with the tragedies, it is generally considered such, but some scholars group it with the problem plays."

Short poetry collection. According to Wikipedia: "Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (1854 - 1900) was an Irish playwright, novelist, poet, and author of short stories. Known for his barbed wit, he was one of the most successful playwrights of late Victorian London, and one of the greatest celebrities of his day. As the result of a famous trial, he suffered a dramatic downfall and was imprisoned for two years of hard labour after being convicted of the offence of 'gross indecency.'"

Short biography. Edition of 1913. According to Wikipedia: "Wilhelm Richard Wagner (22 May 1813, Leipzig, Germany – 13 February 1883, Venice, Italy) was a German composer, conductor, theatre director and essayist, primarily known for his operas (or "music dramas", as they were later called). Unlike most other great opera composers, Wagner wrote both the scenario and libretto for his works." "Franz Liszt (October 22, 1811 – July 31, 1886) was a Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist and teacher."

His complete poetical works. According to Wikipedia: "Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772 – 1834) was an English poet, critic and philosopher who was, along with his friend William Wordsworth, one of the founders of the Romantic Movement in England and one of the Lake Poets. He is probably best known for his poems The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Kubla Khan, as well as his major prose work Biographia Literaria."

Die Shakespeare-Trag?die, auf Deutsch übersetzt von Christoph Martin Wieland. Laut Wikipedia: "Die Trag?die von Hamlet, Prinz von D?nemark ist eine Trag?die von William Shakespeare. Im K?nigreich D?nemark dramatisiert das Stück die Rache, die Prinz Hamlet an seinen Onkel Claudius wegen Mordes an K?nig Hamlet, Claudius 'Bruder und Prinz Hamlets Vater richtet Danach tritt er als Thronfolger in Erscheinung und nimmt Gertrude, die Witwe des alten K?nigs und die Mutter von Prinz Hamlet, mit, die den wahren und vorget?uschten Wahnsinn - von überw?ltigender Trauer bis zu brodelndem Zorn - anschaulich darstellt und Themen wie Verrat, Rache, Inzest, und moralische Korruption.

Shakespeare-Kom?die in deutscher ?bersetzung. Laut Wikipedia: "The Comedy of Errors ist eines der frühesten Stücke William Shakespeares. Es ist seine kürzeste und eine seiner absurdesten Kom?dien, wobei ein Gro?teil des Humors aus Slapstick und falscher Identit?t stammt, zus?tzlich zu Wortspielen und Wortspielen Die Kom?die der Irrungen (zusammen mit The Tempest) ist eines von nur zwei von Shakespeares Stücken, um die klassischen Einheiten zu beobachten. "

The classic comedy. According to Wikipedia: "Much Ado About Nothing is a romantic comedy by William Shakespeare set in Messina, Sicily about a pair of lovers named Claudio and Hero due to be married in a week. To pass the time before their wedding day they conspire with Don Pedro, the prince of Aragon, to trick their friends, Beatrice and Benedick, into confessing their love for one another. The prince's brother Don John, however, jealous of both Don Pedro's power and his affection for Claudio, conspires to sabotage the coming wedding."

One of Shakespeare's "problem" plays. (Not quite a comedy, not quite a romance). According to Wikipedia: "Measure for Measure is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1603 or 1604. It was originally classified as a comedy, but is now also classified as one of Shakespeare's problem plays. Originally published in the First Folio of 1623, the play's first recorded performance was in 1604. The play deals with the issues of mercy, justice, truth and their relationship to pride and humility: "Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall"

Paradise Lost (1667), Paradise Regained (1671), Samson Agonistes (1671), and Minor Poems (1645). According to Wikipedia: "John Milton (December 9, 1608 ? November 8, 1674) was an English poet, prose polemicist, and civil servant for the Commonwealth of England. Most famed for his epic poem Paradise Lost, Milton is celebrated as well for his treatise condemning censorship, Areopagitica. Long considered the supreme English poet, Milton experienced a dip in popularity after attacks by T. S. Eliot and F. R. Leavis in the mid 20th century; but with multiple societies and scholarly journals devoted to his study, Milton's reputation remains as strong as ever in the 21st century."

The classic comedy. According to Wikipedia: "As You Like It is a pastoral comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 or early 1600 and first published in the folio of 1623. The work was based upon the novel Rosalynde by Thomas Lodge. The play's first performance is uncertain, though a performance at Wilton House in 1603 has been suggested as a possibility. As You Like It follows its heroine Rosalind as she flees persecution in her uncle's court to find safety and eventually love in the Forest of Arden. Historically, critical response has varied, with some critics finding the work of lesser quality than other Shakespearean works and some finding the play a work of great merit. The play features one of Shakespeare's most famous and oft-quoted soliloquies, "All the world's a stage" and the phrase "too much of a good thing." The play remains a favorite among audiences and has been adapted for radio, film, and musical theatre."

Shakespeare-Geschichte spielen Henry der vierte Teil Zwei, in deutscher ?bersetzung. Nach Wikipedia: "Heinrich IV., Teil 2 ist ein historisches Stück von William Shakespeare, das zwischen 1596 und 1599 geschrieben wurde. Es ist der dritte Teil einer Tetralogie, der Richard II. Und Heinrich IV., Teil 1 vorangingen und Heinrich V. folgte. "

To present at a single glance a comprehensive view of the History of English Church Architecture from the Heptarchy to the Reformation, and to do this in a manner, which, without taxing too seriously the memory of the student, may enable him to fix in his mind the limits, and the general outline of the inquiry he is about to enter upon, is the object of the present treatise.? Instead therefore of entering, as is usual in elementary works of this nature, into a detailed account of all the parts of an Ecclesiastical structure, a certain portion only of such a building has for this purpose been selected, and so exhibited in the garb in which it appeared at successive intervals of time, as to present to the reader a means of comparison that will enable him readily to apprehend the gradual change of form through which it passed from the Eleventh to the Sixteenth Centuries, and at once to recognise the leading characteristics of the several Periods into which it is here proposed to divide the History of our National Architecture. Having thus fixed these leading characteristics in his mind, he will then be in a condition to follow us hereafter, if he pleases, into the detail of the whole subject, and to become familiar with those niceties of distinction, the detection of which—escaping, as they do, the eye of the general observer—contributes so materially to the enjoyment of the study, and a perfect acquaintance with which is so absolutely essential to a correct understanding of the true History of the Art.?That this mode of approaching the study of this subject is a convenient one, will probably be admitted by those who may remember the difficulties they encoun-tered, in their early attempts to acquire a general conception of the scheme of the History of Church Architecture, as given in most of the manuals now in use; and the complexity of detail in which they found themselves immediately involved on the very threshold of their inquiry.? It has been the practice in most elementary works on Church Architecture to derive the illustrations of the subject, indifferently from the smaller and the larger buildings of the Kingdom; and by implication to assign an equal authority to both. It will be readily admitted, however, that the History of an Art is to be gathered from its principal Monuments, and not from those the design or execution of which may have been entrusted to other than the ablest masters of the Period: in the choice, therefore, of the examples which have been selected to illustrate the series of changes which are described in the following pages, reference has been made principally to the great Cathedral, Abbey, and Collegiate Churches of the Kingdom, and occasionally only to some of the larger Parish Churches whose size or importance would seem to bring them under the above denomination.??Church Architecture in England, from its earliest existence down to the Sixteenth Century, was in a state of constant progress, or transition, and this progress appears to have been carried on, with certain exceptions in different parts of the country, very nearly simultaneously. It follows from this circumstance, first, That it is impossible to divide our National Architecture correctly into any number of distinct Orders or Styles; and secondly, That any Division of its History into a given number of Periods, must necessarily be an arbitrary one. It is nevertheless absolutely essential for the purpose of conveniently describing the long series of noble monuments which remain to us, that we should adopt some system of chronological arrangement, which may enable us to group, and to classify them in a distinct and intelligible manner: and although no broad lines of demarcation in this connected series are discernible—so gradual was the change—yet so rapid and so complete was it also, that a period of fifty years did not elapse without a material alteration in the form and fashion of every detail of a building. ?

The classic Shakespearean history play. According to Wikipedia: "King Richard the Second is a history play by William Shakespeare believed to be written in approximately 1595. It is based on the life of King Richard II of England and is the first part of a tetralogy, referred to by scholars as the Henriad, followed by three plays concerning Richard's successors: Henry IV, part 1, Henry IV, part 2, and Henry V. It may not have been written as a stand-alone work."

The classic tragedy. According to Wikipedia: "Hamlet is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601. The play, set in Denmark, recounts how Prince Hamlet exacts revenge on his uncle Claudius, who has murdered Hamlet's father, the King, and then taken the throne and married Hamlet's mother. The play vividly charts the course of real and feigned madness—from overwhelming grief to seething rage—and explores themes of treachery, revenge, incest, and moral corruption."