An Egregious Mistake in a Book About Opera
By Warren Boroson
The Ethicist in Sunday’s Times argues that you shouldn’t
write in a book, even if it’s to correct an error. After all, you might be wrong. Or perhaps the
“mistake” was deliberate.
Nonsense.
Correct away.
Why help perpetuate
mistakes?
I’ll unhesitatingly
correct false information in library and other books—in pencil. And I’m proud
to admit it. On my tombstone I’m sure shall be written: “He helped make the
world a better place.”
By coincidence recently
I was reading an old opera book—published in 1908. “The Standard OperaGlass.”
Subtitled: “Detailed plots of one hundred and forty eight celebrated
operas.” And therein I lit upon an
egregious mistake.
Before I get to that
mistake: 148 celebrated operas? Are there really that many?
Well, if you
include “Armorer” by Lortzing; “By Order of His Highness” by Reinecke;
“Folkungs” by Kretschmer, “Jessonda” by Spohr; “Marga” by Pittrich;
“Melusine” by”Piper of Hamelin” by Nessler; “Vampire” by
Marschner; and a bunch of other totally and no doubt deservedly forgotten
operas.
+++
Also interesting:
old names for popular operas. Below, first the old name, then the new name.
Delila. Samson and
Delila.
Don Juan. Don
Giovanni.
Sold Bride.
Bartered Bride.
Seraglio.
Abduction from the Seraglio.
Marguerite. Faust.
Dusk of the Gods.
Gotterdammerung.
+++
Okay, back to the
egregious mistake.
I was reading the
synopsis of Puccini’s “Madame Butterfly” when I lit upon the name of the male
lead. Linkerton. Not Pinkerton.
For example,
“Goro…shows his new Japanese house to an American lieutenant, Linkerton, who
has purchased it in Japanese fashion for 999 years….”
So, just a common,
innocent typo, you say? The way “Lucia” is listed as “Lucia die [!] Lammermoor”
in the book – but only one time?
Sorry to report, Linkerton
is spelled that way in the opera book…14 times! And never the right way!
So, did I change
Linkerton to Pinkerton? It’s my own damn book, of course. But if someday it
winds up in a garage sale, should I keep future readers from thinking that this
rotter’s name was Linkerton and not Pinkerton? Should Pinkerton himself, the
seducer, escape scot-free?
I’m sorry to report
that I decided that making 14 changes was too damn much and did nothing.
By the way, do you
happen to know Lieutenant Linkerton’s – I mean Pinkerton’s – first name?
Answer: Lieutenant
Benjamin Franklin Pinkerton.
