Welcome
The combination of musical score, text, masterfully trained voices, staging -sometimes minimal sets, often dramatic scenery to match the story, all combine to bring Opera to life and present to the audience, an experience like no other.
This site is designed to help you learn about Opera and to present on a single page information resources and selected websites to help you make your time more productive.
Finding Books
Books and similar items, like DVDs, are assigned a class number based on their subjects. This forms the first part of the shelf number, also called a call number. All items assigned a shelf number that falls within the alpha-numeric ranges found below will match the identified subjects.
M = Music
M1495 - M 2199: Vocal music
M 1495: Collections
M 1497 - M 1998: Secular vocal music
M 1497: Collections
M 1500 - M1527.8: Dramatic music
M 1528 - M 1529.5: Two or more solo voices
M 1530 - M 1609: Choruses
M 1611 - M 1624.8 One solo voice
M 2000 - M 2007: Dramatic music
M 2010 - M 2017.6: Choral services, etc.
M 2018 - M 2019.5: Two or more solo voices
M 2020 - M 2101.5: Choruses
M 2102 - M 2114.8: One solo voice
ML = Literature on Music
ML 47 - ML 54.8: Librettos. Texts. Scenarios
ML 1400 - ML 3275: In this range find Vocal Music
ML 1700-1751: Literature on opera history, criticism, and companies
Library Search at Rowan University Libraries
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Opera References & Databases
- Classical Music Reference Library (Music Online) This link opens in a new windowCollection of encyclopedias, dictionaries, biographies, and other reference works on classical music.
- Garland Encyclopedia of World Music (Music Online) This link opens in a new windowEncyclopedia articles on world music.
- Oxford Music Online This link opens in a new windowAn encyclopedia on all aspects of music history and music-related topics.
- Classical Music in Video (Music Online) This link opens in a new windowVideo recordings of classical music performances and master classes.
- Classical Music Library (Music Online) This link opens in a new windowStreaming audio of classical musical recordings.
- Classical Scores Library (Music Online) This link opens in a new windowCollection of classical music scores and manuscripts for viewing online.
- JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Archive of full-text scholarly journal articles and ebooks in a broad range of academic disciplines.
- Music Index This link opens in a new windowIndexing and abstracts for Journal and magazine articles about music and the music industry (both classical and popular).
- Naxos Music Library This link opens in a new window
Streaming audio of music recordings in many genres. If you cannot use this resource, please try again later. There is a limit on the number of users at one time.
- Opera in Video (Music Online) This link opens in a new windowThe most important opera performances on video recordings.
A section of the Naxos Music Library Database that provides opera libretti. Indexed by Composer
William and Gayle Cook Music, Indiana University Bloomington
Opera Houses and Companies
Listed below, in alphabetical order, are Opera House celebrated for their architecture as much as for their companies.
Bass Performance Hall
Fort Worth, TX USA
The Bolshoi Theatre
Moscow, Russia
Copenhagen Opera House
Copenhagen, Denmark
Drottningholm Theatre
Stockholm, Sweden
English National Opera: London Coliseum
London, United Kingdom
Estates Theatre
Prague, Czech Republic
Festspielhaus Baden-Baden
Bayreuth, Germany
Gran Teatre del Liceu
Barcelona, Spain
Grosses Festspielhaus
Salzburg, Austria
Guangzhou Opera House
Guanzhou, China
Hungarian State Opera House
Budapest, Hungary
L'Opera Bastille
Paris, France
L'Opera Royal, Versailles Court Theater
Versailles, France
Lyric Opera House
Chicago, USA
Margravial Opera House
Bayreuth, Germany
Mikhailovsky Theatre
St. Petersburg, Russia
Mariinsky Theater
St. Petersburg, Russia
Metropolitan Opera
Lincoln Center, New York City
Oslo Opera House
Oslo, Norway
Palais Garnier
Paris, France
Palau de laes Arts Reina Sofia
Valencia, Spain
Prague National Theatre
Prague, Czech Rep.
Romanian Athenaeum
Bucharest, Romania
Royal Opera House
London, England
Royal Swedish Opera
Stockholm, Sweden
Salle Favart: L'Opera-Comique
Paris, France Sydney
Sydney, Australia
Teatro Alla Scala
Milan, Italy
Teatro Amazonas
Manaus, Brazil
Teatro Colón
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Teatro di San Carlo
Naples, Italy Teatro
La Fenice
Venice, Italy
Teatro Massimo
Polermo, Italy
Teatro Olimpico
Vicence, Italy
Teatro De la Zarzuela
Madrid, Spain Teatro Real Madrid, Spain
Teatro Regio di Parma
Parma, Italy
Teatro Regio Torino
Turin, Italy
Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie
Brussels, Belgium
Vienna Staatsoper
Vienna, Austria
War Memorial Opera House
San Francsisco, USA
OPERA EDUCATION AND PROMOTION
The National Opera Association seeks to promote a greater appreciation of opera and music theatre, to enhance pedagogy and performing activities, and to increase performance opportunities by supporting projects that improve the scope and quality of opera.
Opera America: The National Center Website
Opera America draws on resources and expertise from within and beyond the field to advance a mutually beneficial agenda that serves and strengthens the field.
Selected Websites
SELECTED WEBSITES
An article by Fiaona Maddocks, published in the Guardian Newspaper, Friday 19 August, 2011.
1288 Arias - 177 Operas - 65 Composers - 389 Translations - 1027 Aria Texts - 223 MIDIs
Bachtrack is your guide to the best classical music concerts, opera and dance performances worldwide. Browse for some of the 12,000 upcoming events in our database, look for your favourite composer or performer or read some of the 200 reviews we write each month across the world. Learn about world trends in music and get tips on the opera and ballet stars of tomorrow (website).
The Gilbert and Sullivan Archive
"The Premier Light Opera Website"
Opera and Composers: A Pronunciation Guide
Native pronunciation of the words included in the guide.
45,000 performances, 50,000 artists, 900 opera companies.
Maintained by Stanford University, includes Libretti, source texts, Performance histories, synopses Role Characters and more.
Timeline of US Opera since 1845
This timeline is specific to Opera development in the U.S.
Guide Information
Authorship and Terms of Use
This site is designed as a starting point for those interested in the study of Opera. It was developed by Bruce Whitham and Marjorie Morris and updated by Bret McCandless.
Rowan Library research guides are hosted on the Springshare portal, to which Rowan University Libraries subscribes.
Rowan University makes no claim to freely available websites nor does it accept responsibility for the information or opinions expressed by those who have created or authored the content or by those who are quoted on the sites.
The use of this guide infers acceptance of the Copyright & Fair Use, spelled out on the Rowan University Libraries site. If you do not agree to abide by these terms you are required to leave the site.