Such Devoted Sisters Book

This book is written as if it is one elaborate inside joke with a select group of friends. Topics are bounced back and forth like beach balls, and there is sometimes no indication what is drawn from history or merely invented in the jolly minds of the authors. This book is certainly not useful for finding out specific facts about specific operas, and it's not likely to increase your general knowledge of the genre either. It won't make sense unless you have at least a passing knowledge to start of with, and really all you'll leave with is trivia, and perhaps some silent film recommendations (a strange tangent for a book about sung music.)

But that's not to say it's not worth reading. Playful and exuberant, I found myself actually giggling on more than one occasion. Among other things, the authors delighted in finding reviews that vilified composers and operas that are beloved today, and also snarky tidbits various composers and maestri have said about each other. Delicious opera gossip abounds, although how much is historically documented is unclear, as this is not a particularly academic book and hardly ever cites sources.

This book was first published in 1986, so some of the information is outdated, but that only adds to the fun, because you get to see what the authors predicted correctly or incorrectly. I'm sure they would be delighted to know that Rusalka has been popular these last few years in the US, and I would be interested to hear their opinions on some of the newer pieces in the opera repertoire, since they were so disparaging about the work being produced in the 70s and 80s. Overall, if you're in the mood for an opera book that's considerably less dense and considerably more frivolous than most books written on the subject, without being targeted at newcomers to the genre, you've come to the right place.