Weep, Shudder, Die: On Opera and Poetry

by Dana Gioia

Overview

"Looking at opera from the standpoint of its texts, as only a gifted poet and librettist can do, Dana Gioia examines why a surprisingly small number of operas have attained a secure place in the repertory. His insight into the workings of this uniquely lyrical fusion of the arts makes Weep, Shudder, Die not only a definitive assessment of the importance of poetry to the operatic undertaking, but a gift to opera lovers everywhere. Read…Reflect…Delight!"
—Ted Libbey, author of The NPR Listener’s Encyclopedia of Classical Music

“Weep, Shudder, Die should be read by anyone who enjoys opera, or who cares about its place in today's world. Dana Gioia explores, with imagination and insight, the relationship between the libretto and the music. I learned a great deal in reading it, and at the same time enjoyed the experience immensely.”
—Henry Fogel, Former President, Chicago Symphony Orchestra and League of American Orchestras

A unique book about opera—personal, impassioned, and provocative. 

Weep, Shudder, Die explores opera from the perspective by which the art was originally created, as the most intense form of poetic drama. The great operas have an essential connection to poetry, song, and the primal power of the human voice. The aim of opera is irrational enchantment, the unleashing of emotions and visionary imagination.

Gioia rejects the conventional view of opera which assumes that great operas can be built on execrable texts. He insists that in opera, words matter. Operas begin as words; strong words inspire composers, weak words burden them. Ultimately, singers embody the words to give the music a human form for the audience.

Weep, Shudder, Die is a poet’s book about opera. To some, that statement will suggest writing that is airy, impressionistic, and unreliable, but a poet also brings a practical sense of how words animate opera, lend life to imaginary characters, and give human shape to music. Written from a lifelong devotion to the art, Gioia’s book is for anyone who has wept in the dark of an opera house.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781589881969
Publisher:	Dry, Paul Books, Incorporated
Publication date:	12/03/2024
Pages:	220
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 7.90(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Dana Gioia is a poet and critic. He has published six full-length collections of verse―99 Poems: New & Selected won the Poets’ Prize as the best new book of the year, and Interrogations at Noon won the American Book Award―and a memoir, Studying with Miss Bishop (Paul Dry Books, 2021). His controversial volume Can Poetry Matter? was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, and is credited with helping revive the role of poetry in American public culture. Gioia has written five opera libretti, collaborated with musicians in genres from classical to jazz, and has served as the Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts and as California State Poet Laureate. He divides his time between Los Angeles and Sonoma County, California.

Editorial Reviews

This impassioned and insightful book will delight opera fans and intrigue anyone interested in poetry and the performing arts.”
—Booklist

"A vigorous case for the humble opera libretto as poetic drama . . . Smart, lively."
—Kirkus Reviews

“Gioia’s knowledge of opera is comprehensive. He exhibits thorough familiarity and understanding of the Puccini, Verdi, and Mozart standards, as well as rarely performed contemporary works and a great deal more . . . It is difficult to imagine an opera lover who would not enjoy this book. There were many points at which I said to myself, ‘Ah. I never thought about it that way, but I see what he means.’ . . . Five stars: A book about opera to enjoy and to learn from.”
—Fanfare

"Exploring the relationship between text and music, Gioia argues that seamless collaboration between composers and librettists has produced some of opera’s most spectacular works . . . Gioia’s at his most convincing when he’s affectionately analyzing the form’s particularities, including the unabashed emotion with which it captures the 'extremes of human existence' ('No one suffers silently in opera')."
—Publishers Weekly

"In twenty-five themed chapters, Gioia offers us deeply insightful and inspiring meditations upon matters operatic as he has observed and absorbed them during a lifetime of attending the opera..."
—Quadrant

“Dana Gioia has done as much as any living poet in the last half century to restore music and drama to the increasingly tuneless and predictable realm of American verse. Now, with Weep, Shudder, Die, the fruit of a lifelong love affair with opera, he restores poetry and drama to their rightful place in the realm of classical music. Gioia argues that ‘in opera the words come first,’ but that the real gift of the medium—to poet, composer, performers, and audience—is the opportunity to collaborate in the creation and experience of a uniquely stirring work of art, a meeting of Muses like no other. This brief book is itself a showcase of critical acuity and stylistic flair, which, like the best librettos, will leave you humming long after the performance is complete.”

—Boris Dralyuk, author of My Hollywood and Other Poems

"Looking at opera from the standpoint of its texts, as only a gifted poet and librettist can do, Dana Gioia examines why a surprisingly small number of operas have attained a secure place in the repertory. His insight into the workings of this uniquely lyrical fusion of the arts makes Weep, Shudder, Die not only a definitive assessment of the importance of poetry to the operatic undertaking, but a gift to opera lovers everywhere. Read…Reflect…Delight!"

—Ted Libbey, author of The NPR Listener’s Encyclopedia of Classical Music

“Weep, Shudder, Die should be read by anyone who enjoys opera, or who cares about its place in today's world. Dana Gioia explores, with imagination and insight, the relationship between the libretto and the music. I learned a great deal in reading it, and at the same time enjoyed the experience immensely.”
—Henry Fogel, Former President, Chicago Symphony Orchestra and League of American Orchestras

From the Publisher

2024-10-11
A vigorous case for the humble opera libretto as poetic drama.

Gioia, a poet and former chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, turns his attention to the “extravagant and alluring art of opera” and the power of words because the “libretto is not a shabby coat rack on which the magnificent vestments of music are hung.” The “text exists in a state of potentiality; music will transform its meaning and merit.” Surprisingly, the 100 most frequently performed operas were written by only seven poets, including Richard Wagner, who wrote all his own libretti. Gioia notes that the only operatic partnership for which the writers get top billing are Gilbert and Sullivan. When Lorenzo Da Ponte wrote for Mozart, his operas became much better, culminating inDon Giovanni. Gioia recollects coming to love opera as a young boy: “I wanted to surrender to an ecstasy beyond my control.” The collaborations of Hugo von Hofmannsthal and Richard Strauss “rank among the most surprising and successful experiments in modern opera.” He discusses how opera strives for emotional intensity, “explores the extremes of human experience, especially the outmost limits of suffering.” At the NEA, he helped fund dozens of operatic world premieres and revivals. Nevertheless, he worries about the shrinking numbers of Americans who attend operas—“America is no operatic superpower.” Gioia laments that many historically important American operas are rarely performed. As a young student, he went to Vienna as a composer and left as an opera-loving poet. After incisive chapters on Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim—“American opera has no better libretto” thanSweeney Todd—he wraps up this smart, lively book describing his rewarding experiences writing librettos.

A poet shares his joyful exuberance for opera.

Kirkus Reviews