Bradfield, Nancy Margetts. Costume in Detail: Women’s Dress, 1730-1930. Boston: Plays, Inc., 1968. GT580 .B67 1968

An illustrated book of suggestions for pursuing authenticity in historical costuming for women. Does not contain patterns, but good for corroborating details of period costume.

Cassin-Scott, Jack. Costumes and Settings for Staging Historical Plays. Boston: Plays, inc., 1979. PN2067.C33 1979 vols. 1-4

Generalized instructions for the production of historical sets and staging. Covers the Classical Greeks, medieval Europe, and England during the Elizabethan, Restoration, and Georgian Periods.

Monro, Isabel and Dorothy Cook. Costume Index: A Subject Index to Plates and Illustrated Text. New York: H.W. Wilson, 1937. Ref Z5691.M75

An alphabetized list of characters (e.g., "chimney sweeps," "abbots, 10^th to 12^th centuries") and the bibliographical locations of costume designs for each. An annotated index of Oberlin’s holdings is in the back.

Visual History of Costume, A. London: Batsford; New York: Drama Book Publishers, 1983. GT733 .V57 1983 vols. 1-4

A collection of plates and reproductions of paintings and drawings, all reflecting period European dress from the sixteen century to the nineteenth century. Again, contains no patterns; most useful for checking costume authenticity.

Dance

Hilton, Wendy. Dance and Music of Court and Theater: Selected Writings of Wendy Hilton. Stuyvesant, NY: Pendragon Press, 1997. GV1649 .H54 1997

Gigantic collection of essays, instructions, and analyses of Baroque dance, largely French. Includes treatises on etiquette, choreographic notation, and the steps of early 18^th-century dancing.

Marrocco, W. Thomas. Inventory of 15^th century Bassedanze. New York: Cord, 1981. GV1655 .M37

A list of sources for choreographies (with accompanying musics in modern notation) for nearly 100 Renaissance dances.

Historical Performance Practice: Music

Brown, Clive. Classical and Romantic Performing Practice 1750-1900. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. ML 457 .B79 1999

Written for instrumentalists, this summary of the practices of accentuation, articulation, vibrato, rubato, and other embellishments is a useful supplement to the study of vocal performance practice.

Carter, Stewart, ed. A Performer’s Guide to Seventeenth-Century Music. New York: Schirmer Books, 1997. ML457.P49 1997.

A collection of essays by current authorities on the performance issues of the seventeenth century. It begins with a chapter on the voice, with entries on solo and choral singing.

Donington, Robert. The Interpretation of Early Music. New York: W.W. Norton, 1989. ML 457 .D64 1989

A primary introduction to the construction of historically authentic musical performance. Includes treatises on the ethics and aesthetics of historical performance (and modern interpretations of early music) and a chapter on the issues particular to opera (e.g., the use of female singers in roles traditionally written for boys and castrati)

Kite-Powell, Jeffery T. A Performer’s Guide to Renaissance Music. New York: Maxwell Macmillan International: 1994. ML 457 .P58 1994

Introduction to practices of vocal and instrumental performance in the Renaissance. Includes a chapter on dance, as well as a section on practical considerations such as copyright and Renaissance music theory.

Mayer Brown, Howard and Stanley Sadie, eds. Performance Practice. New York: W.W. Norton, 1990. ML457 .P47 1990 vols. 1-2

A history of performance values for all instruments, including the voice, from the medieval era to the early twentieth century. Contains a succinct history of the development of bel canto.

Taruskin, Richard. Text and Act: Essays on Music and Performance. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995. ML457 .T37 1995

Fun-filled essays on Taruskin’s adventures in HP musicology. Of use to those who wish to justify (or debunk) the pursuit of authenticity in musical performance.

Warren, Raymond. Opera Workshop: Studies in Understanding and Interpretation. Aldershot, Hants, England: Scolar Press; Brookfield, Vt.: Ashgate Publishing Co., 1995. ML1700 .W3 1995

A series of analyses of thoughtfully produced historical operas, from Monteverdi to Britten.

Myths and Fairy Tales

Grimal, Pierre. Dictionnaire de la Mythologie Grecque et Romaine. Patricia Beardsworth, trans. New York, NY: Blackwell, 1985. Ref BL715 .G713 1985

Illustrated, broad guide to the mythologies of the world. Includes a chapter on prehistorical religion.

Zipes, Jack. The Oxford Companion to Fairy Tales. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2000. Ref PN3437 .O94 2000

A general dictionary of subjects and authors of the world’s fairy tales, including entries on the staging thereof in operas and ballets.

Period Acting

Fleshman, Bob, ed. Theatrical Movement: a Bibliographical Anthology. Metuchen, N.J. : Scarecrow Press, 1986. Ref PN2071 .G4 T46 1986

A reference bibliography covering systems of stage movement, both general and culture-specific. Includes entries on Asian, African, Middle Eastern, Oceanic, and Native American dance.

Fox, Levi. The Shakespeare Handbook. Boston, Mass.: G.K. Hall, 1987.

Ref PR2976 .S3374 1987

A collection of essays on subjects around the production of historically aware Shakespearean theatre. Entries include titles such as: "Shakespeare in Performance" and "Elizabethan and Jacobean Theatre."

Henke, James T. Courtesans and Cuckolds: a Glossary of Renaissance Dramatic Bawdy (Exclusive of Shakespeare). New York: Garland, 1979.

Ref PE3724 .O3H4 1979

A dictionary of Elizabethan jargon for deciphering the more opaque vocabulary in Renaissance drama. The language can, of course, be applied to Shakespeare’s work, too.

Spevack, Marvin. A Complete and Systematic Concordance to the Works of Shakespeare. Hildesheim: Georg Olms, 1968-1980. Ref PR2892 .S6 vols. 1-9

A gargantuan concordance to the complete works, cataloguing every word the Bard published. Huge. Unbelievably huge.

Stage Combat

Hobbs, William. Fight Direction for Stage and Screen. London: A & C Black, 1995. PN2071 .F5 H598 1995

An updated edition of Hobbs’s Stage Combat, with beginner’s instructions for persuasive stage fighting. Includes entries on historical accuracy and avoiding fight cliches, among other subjects. Appendices include a list of suppliers of stage weaponry.

Lane, Richard J. Swashbuckling: a Step-By-Step Guide to the Art of Stage Combat and Theatrical Swordplay. New York: Limelight Editions, 1999.

PN2071 .F5 L36 1999.

A more detailed instruction text on stage swordplay, with emphasis on weaponless combat, broadsword fighting, and especially rapier technique. Illustrated and easy to follow.

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Compiled and edited by Leslie Roberts and Kathy Abromeit

Annotated by Leslie Roberts

August 2, 2001