# Librettos - hard copy recommendations



## rollerphant (Oct 11, 2011)

First time poster....lurking the past couple months.

I'm an opera newbie, been bitten by the bug in the past 2 months (since the Met's premiere of Anna Bolena)

So, I've learned that I can't stand the CD booklet sized libretto's or librettos without English translations...and not that big a fan of online versions. And following along without a libretto just doesn't make much sense to me. Watching on DVD hasn't been a problem since there are the subtitles, but listening to CD's is a big problem. I really would like to have a paperback sized libretto. It would also be nice it I didn't have to take out a second mortgage to buy them.

So....any suggestions would be *greatly* appreciated.


----------



## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Welcome to TC. I was caught out when I bought a second-hand copy of Janacek's Jenufa - the inner booklet was missing. I came across a series of books that were printed by John Calder (London)/Riverrun Press (NYC) in association with the Royal Opera and ENO. I bought one which featured the libretto both in Czech and English for Jenufa and Kata Kabanova - in addition there was a thematic guide and an essay on the composer. There was a series of 30-odd retailing for about £3 each at the time - perhaps you might find cheap used copies on Amazon or somesuch. Sad to say that Anna Bolena wasn't part of the series, though.


----------



## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

Hello rollerphant & welcome to the forum. What a great opera to start with & you'll have to let us know about your opera journey in the weeks & months to come.

Sadly, once you're bitten by the bug, you're doomed to financial ruin but you'll be among fellow addicts 

I'm surprised you don't like the libretti booklets, I find them just the right size when I'm travelling. But I'm still waiting for someone to invent a heads-up display for the libretto so I can read the words as I walk to work.

There are some libretti here, but they're not perfect. For example the _Lucia di Lammermoor_ doesn't contain the Wolf's Crag scene.

Sorry but I don't know of any more.


----------



## rollerphant (Oct 11, 2011)

Thanks...those do look like a good suggestion. I'm on the other side of the water though, so something US would be wonderful. As for not liking the booklets....well, I'm well past 40, and they've started printing everything in such small type...


----------



## FragendeFrau (May 30, 2011)

When I was looking around in the Met Opera Shop, they had a series of libretti (red cover), paperback, original language and English. The one I looked at was $6.

You might check out their website to see if any interest you. I didn't look carefully but I don't think they had extensive extra info, just a brief synopsis & libretto.

Here's a link to the results of a search for 'libretti' hope it works for you!


----------

