Fortissimo! A Tribute to Opera Notecard Folio

Edward St. John Gorey was a Harvard graduate, a brilliant artist and writer, and a lover of the arts. Gorey (American, 1925–2000) only occasionally missed a performance of the New York City Ballet.

The Metropolitan Opera in New York reproduced select Gorey artworks for promotional materials and merchandise. His drawing on this folio’s cover—a couple with swords, shields, and headgear worthy of Wagner’s Brünnhilde and Wotan—appeared on the birthday card for the Met’s centennial in 1983.

Gorey designed the sets and costumes for a Peter Sellars production of Mozart’s Don Giovanni with the New Hampshire Symphony in 1980.

The legendary Broadway production of Edward Gorey’s Dracula garnered two Tony Awards, for Best Revival and Best Costumes.

In addition, Gorey’s book The Blue Aspic (originally released in 1968 and rereleased by Pomegranate in 2009) is the story of an operatic understudy turned diva and her singularly obsessed fan. In typical Gorey (and operatic) fashion, the tale does not end well for either of them.

Creator of more than one hundred works—from a wealth of droll, darkly hilarious books to the animated opening sequence of the PBS television series Mystery!—Edward Gorey is a master of the amusing, the strange, and the unexpected.

Contains 5 each of 2 operatic drawings by Edward Gorey