GLR May-June 2023

The “robber barons” of the title are not American industrialists but a criminal coterie of card sharks, blackmailers, and con men who, pretending to be European aristocrats, preyed upon the young sons (and also the daughters) of aristocrats and wealthy industrialists. Maurice Schwabe knew them well because he was one of them. He came from a respectable upper-middle class family whose respectability is what Maurice rejected in favor of a much more exciting and dangerous life of crime, spe cializing in fraud and blackmail, not to mention spying. Like Wilde, he was addicted to “feasting with panthers.”

Schwabe probably carried his secrets to the grave when he was killed in 1915 by a German officer who, convinced that Schwabe was a traitor because he spoke perfect German, sum marily executed him for treason. When Schwabe enlisted, he changed his German name to the more English-sounding Shaw, but he could not convince a German officer that he was Eng lish—an irony that Wilde the dramatist would have relished. Al though it is doubtful that Maurice Schwabe was “ the manbehind Wilde’s downfall,” his supporting role certainly deserves a place in the perennially fascinating story.

An Operatic Fiasco à Trois

T HE WORD “OPERA” comes from the root op , meaning to work or to produce in abundance, as in “operation” or “cornucopia.” A profusion of dramatic plots in the context of a collapsing operatic production forms the backbone of this complex and engaging novel set in Italy, where opera began. Ann

In frustration, the opera’s composer has abandoned the whole effort and moved to Palermo—over 1,000 kilometers and a ferry ride away, in Sicily. Into this jumble each main character brings personal apprehensions. Initially peeved at what sounded like a dull assign ment, Ally finds herself bowled over by Pe

R OSEMARY B OOTH

LIBRETTO: A Novel by Ann Wadsworth Wheatmark. 356 pages, $36.95

Wadsworth’s Libretto is the story of two women and a man with pressing work and relationship issues that they need to resolve together. If serendipity figures in their finding each other, inten tion takes over, and while significant loss occurs, so does height ened connection. Libretto takes place in the ancient hilltop city of Perugia, cap ital of the Umbria region of central Italy, while the author’s first novel, Light, Coming Back , took place in her hometown of Boston. However disparate the two locales, both become the set ting for major transformations. Libretto ’s keenly observed details describe Perugia’s steep streets, blustery weather, cheek-by-jowl stone buildings, narrow passageways, and ubiquitous cafés. The action is said to have happened “some years ago,” but it’s hard to pinpoint precisely when. A reasonable guess might be the 1990s, as people are using computers and leaving messages on their phones (“ telefoninos ”), but they pull out paper address books and don’t exchange emails or search the Internet. Most of Libretto ’s many characters are Perugian, but the prin cipal three aren’t even Italian. Allyn (“Ally”) Crosbie narrates the story. The 45-year-old vaguely American writer has flown to Perugia for an assignment negotiated by her editor-agent in Lon don, to write an article for OperaNews about rumored difficul ties with rehearsals for a new opera titled Sirius . Stage director Elaine Bishop, 55 years old, who owns a condo in New York and a “world-class” professional reputation, is overseeing the pro duction. She has hired respected musician and composer Vincent Norrie, a youthful-looking Scot of indeterminate age, as répéti teur , or coach of the opera singers. It’s clear from the start that Sirius is in trouble. In Vincent’s words, the situation suggests “a rattling car full of Keystone Kops headed for a cliff.” Crucially, the libretto has been found to lack enough narrative power to carry the opera’s story, but the librettist, a popular poet, is unwilling to make further revisions. Rosemary Booth is a writer and photographer living in Cambridge, MA. May–June 2023

rugia’s vistas, entranced by residents’ midday and evening passegiatta , or downtown strolls, and eagerly savoring local pasta and Umbrian wine. “The city itself is an opera,” she says. In this captivating atmosphere, she is drawn into a romantic fling with a young woman researching Italian labor unions for a post doc degree in Syracuse, New York. Once their “passionate little affair” is over, however, the narrator wakes up to her approach ing OperaNews deadline and the need to pin down an interview. Elaine, who has an ambitious, take-charge personality, worries about damage to her professional standing if the Sirius produc tion collapses. Having gotten mediocre reviews for her most re cent job directing an opera in the U.S., she is looking to save her reputation. When not coaching Sirius singers, Vincent is at work composing a chamber opera of his own, based on the William Trevor novella My House in Umbria . The musician is still mourn ing the loss of a beloved partner to AIDS a few years earlier and is under medical treatment to manage active tuberculosis. When Vincent meets Ally at a dinner party given by a wealthy opera pa tron, he introduces her to Elaine, and things take off. Libretto ’s plot runs from late summer to the following spring but builds between December 24th and the end of February. Wadsworth nicely knits crises of work and of affection as the story line grows complicated. For example, shortly after Ally and Elaine arrive in London for a brief Christmas holiday, they hear of Vincent’s hospitalization for a pulmonary hemorrhage. The women fly back to Perugia, where they find the musician “in acute respiratory distress.” Elaine, who had supported Vincent when his partner died and is in effect his health care proxy, joins in discussions with his physicians. Ally focuses instead on the musician’s yearning to complete his chamber opera. Setting aside the OperaNews assignment, she offers to identify scenes in the Trevor novel that Vincent can set to music—maybe a “quartet for survivors”—and he accepts. Through their efforts for Vincent, the women grow closer, and they become lovers. In short order this development is over

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