The Operagoer's Guide: One Hundred Stories and Commentaries.

The Operagoer's Guide: One Hundred Stories and Commentaries, by M. Owen Lee. Amadeus Press (133 S. W. 2nd Ave., Ste. 450, Portland, OR 97204-9743), 2001. 233 pp., $12.95.

Anyone who has tried to explain a convoluted opera plot to another is glaringly aware of difficulties that may arise. There are plot twists, unusual names, exotic locales, conventions of operatic style, historical considerations, operas that exist in different versions and performance traditions that have grown up around certain operas and need explanation. Father M. Owen Lee, in his latest book about opera, navigates this treacherous sea in full sail and with clarity of communication, insight, human warmth and a charming sense of humor. Listeners who tune in to the Saturday broadcasts of the Metropolitan Opera may very well have heard Father Lee's many contributions to the intermission features. His encyclopedic knowledge is shared with friendliness and candor.

Father Lee has chosen 100 operas, selecting them due to their popularity or because of some other special interest to operagoers. As he states in his preface, tastes in opera change over time, and operas go in and out of favor. A book written about opera even ten years ago perhaps might include a different selection of works. His book is designed to aid the operagoer of the twenty-first century, whom, it is expected, will be sitting in an opera house with projected super- or subtitles. Arranged alphabetically by opera title, from Aida to Die Zauberflote, his efficient, artful descriptions waste no words yet communicate fully. Each plot summary is followed by commentary relating the opera to other arts (literature, painting, architecture) and, with a few well-chosen comments, placing the opera in context historically and psychologically, giving the sort of human-interest background that makes a potential listener eager to hear the work. He avoids the temptation to chase rabbits, sticking to the clear, linear unfolding of the plots and characters. He avoids stilted language and does not speak down to the reader.

At the end of each opera entry, Father Lee lists a suggested recording. His recommendations are not always the latest recordings available--several are from the middle of the twentieth century--but are performances he feels capture something particularly true to the opera's spirit. He ...