Grabbing Operas by Their Tales: Liberating the Libretti

Opera treated in an irreverent tenor.

Grabbing Operas by Their Tales flippantly retells the plots of fifteen of the best known and well-loved operas. Using irreverent humor, word play, footnotes, and absurdities, each opera plot is described in an entertaining and educational way.

The fifteen operas are:

• Carmen by Bizet
• Faust by Gounod
• Romeo and Juliet by Gounod
• Hansel and Gretel by Humperdinck
• Don Giovanni by Mozart
• Tales of Hoffmann by Offenbach
• Tosca by Puccini
• Turandot by Puccini
• Cinderella by Rossini
• Samson and Delilah by Saint-Saens
• Il Trovatore by Verdi
• Aida by Verdi
• Otello by Verdi
• Lohengrin by Wagner
• Die Walkure by Wagner.

Grabbing Operas by Their Tales is great reading for music lovers.