Opera Illustrated: An Artistic Odyssey

Desmond Maley is the music librarian at the J.W. Tate Library,
Huntington College, Laurentian University.

Christina Petrowska, a concert pianist who teaches at York University,
is also a graphic artist whose works have been exhibited in Canada, the
United States, and France. Opera Illustrated brings together more than
80 of her drawings inspired by 24 operas dating from the late 18th to
the early 20th centuries. Represented are such composers as Mozart,
Donizetti, Wagner, Verdi, and Puccini. A plot summary accompanies each
work, followed by full-page illustrations in black and white.

Petrowska, who grew up listening to the Saturday afternoon broadcasts
of the Metropolitan Opera, tells us that her intent was to capture in
visual terms the feelings, images, or facets of architecture evoked by
the music. Many of these visual interpretations make a striking
impression. Petrowska has a strong affinity for powerful dramas that
explore the dark side of human emotion, such as Donizetti’s Lucia di
Lammermoor. Often she chooses majestic Gothic settings of castles,
galleries, or churches that are shrouded in a brooding, surreal
atmosphere.

Music itself becomes a leitmotif in many designs, such as the score of
Verdi’s Aida that buttresses ancient Egyptian columns. A visual
equivalent of the musical theme-and-variations form is also employed,
with the same architecture highlighted in different ways, as in
Mozart’s Idomeneo. Other images include the weeping rose in Bizet’s
Carmen, the dance of death on a staircase in Verdi’s Rigoletto, and
the poignant bleakness of the clown in Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci.

Petrowska’s husband, baritone Louis Quilico, is portrayed in leading
roles, and there are also sketches of tenors Placido Domingo and Luciano
Pavarotti.

Several drawings originally dedicated to Spanish composer Luis de Pablo
are included in the series, but Petrowska does not say which ones they
are. At times, one wishes there were more commentary about the
inspiration behind specific pictures, such as the sets of hands among
Roman columns that illustrate Puccini’s La Boheme. Nevertheless, opera
buffs will enjoy this refreshingly personal treatment of grand opera.