In Dramaturgical Leaves: Essays about Musical Works for the Stage and Queries about the Stage, Its Composers and Performers,
the third volume in Janita R. Hall-Swadley’sThe Collected Writings of Franz Liszt, Liszt heralds his admiration for early
nineteenth-century opera and musical stage works. Included are essays on Gluck’sOrpheus, Beethoven’s Fidelio, Weber’sEuryanthe, Mendelssohn’s Midsummer’s Night
Dream, Scribe and Meyerbeer’sRobert the Devil, Schubert’s Alfonso and
Estrella, Auber’s Mute from Portici, Bellini’s Montague and Capulet,
Boieldieu’s White Lady, and Donizetti’s Favorite as well as essays on soprano Pauline
Viardot-Garcia and Liszt’s critique ofentr’acte music. This volume includes a detailed discussion of Liszt’s impact as a musical patron, a
historical review ofentr’acte music, the role of gender in opera, and Liszt’s concepts of Gestalt theory, the Archetype, and his
musicalWeltanschauung (his musical "world view"), all revealing his contribution to 19th-century music philosophy as it relates to
opera.
