Add to ORKGA brief history of the origins of opera in the United States identifies titles, composers, and premieres to establish the point that composers in America were active in writing operas and that the music of European composers were available to them as models for their own works. A history of Shakespearean operas from their origin in the late seventeenth century in England to the present (1985) follows to illustrate that Shakespearean operas by American composers did not appear until after the Second World War. Eleven American composers are cited with their Shakespearean works. Their operas are grouped under three headings: festive comedies, dark comedy and romance, and tragedies. Among the comedies are three operas based on The Taming of the...
