A way with words

Great operas are inextricably linked with their composer but, asks Jessica Duchen, how often do we acknowledge the important role of the librettist?

- Jessica Duchen

‘Prima la musica, poi le parole.’ First the music, then the words? Oh dear. In opera, the reality is quite the opposite. We tend to credit opera composers ahead of their librettists. But can you imagine Mozart without Da Ponte? Verdi without Piave? Strauss without Hofmannsthal? Our favourite operas, such as Le nozze di Figaro, La traviata or Der Rosenkavalier would be nowhere without their words and their drama - provided by the writer. Composers might grumble, cajole or bully their wordsmiths, but they know on which side their bread is buttered.

A great libretto (the term means ‘little book’) can make the difference between a rare wonder and an opera for the ages. The reason Fauré’s Pénélope is so rarely performed is probably that the libretto places most of the drama offstage. L’elisir d’amore is among Donizetti’s most popular operas possibly because Felice Romani gave him a rom-com of such well-calibrated human truths that it sparked some of his best music.

Interestingly, in pop music or musicals the words are often added second to fit the tune, so people assume that’s how operas are done too. It isn’t. Moreover, in musical theatre, a writer creates the book or lyrics, but rarely both. A librettist, conversely, writes ‘a little book’, controlling an opera’s dramatic outline, but usually also the words that are sung.