Opera: desire, disease, death.

THIS BOOK, A COLLABORATIVE EFFORT BY professors in the disparate disciplines of literary theory and medicine, brings a relatively new dimension to the study of opera and thereby immeasurably enhances our appreciation of this intriguing and complex art form.

The authors' approach to the study of opera and disease is influenced by postmodernist cultural studies and firmly roots opera and its creation in the cultural and societal context in which it is produced. Too often, as the Hutcheons note, opera is understood as performance art--a drama or plot set to the music of voice and instrumentation. The importance of the music is far greater than the "silly stories" of the libretto, its dramatic component. The perspective presented attempts to correct this imbalance by forcing attention on the social and cultural meanings ascribed to the librettos. By analyzing operas, especially those produced in Europe, much is learned about the values, needs, fears and anxieties characteristic of these societies.

The authors have chosen to examine the relationship of opera and disease partly because of their own professional affiliations but also because disease--almost always linked to sexuality--and death are vital components of many operatic plots. The book concentrates on the 19th century because modern medicine began at this time and much of the current operatic repertoire was being produced during this Romantic period. The main diseases were consumption or tuberculosis, which was the major cause of death. Its cultural meanings are revealed in a number of operas--Les Contes d'Hoffmann, La Traviata, La Boheme and others (Chapter 2).

Syphilis was also pervasive, but usually hidden. This disease finds its operatic expression in the suffering of Amfortas in Wagner's Parsifal. (Chapter 3). Other chapters deal with syphilis and cholera primarily in 20th-century operas such as Lulu and Death in Venice (Chapters 4-5). The pleasures of smoking and sex are detailed in an analysis of Carmen and other works, and, finally, the epilogue cogently discuses the "scourge of our times"--AIDS--and its artistic representation. Although there are now several important dramatic works that feature AIDS, to date no operatic librettos have been produced, but the authors believe they will be forthcoming. As a new disease, the cultural connotations attributed to it are developing in our times, and it is a disease that "all of us have watched--and are still watching--take on meanings."

Opera: Desire, Disease, Death is a provocative work that brings new understanding to an old art form, and, as such, makes a major contribution to the literature on music and medicine. Despite its macabre theme, opera-lovers everywhere will find it informative as well as entertaining