I think the reason STREETCAR translated better, dramatically, to opera is that it started as a play, not a novel, and a somewhat operatic play at that. Very little was needed in the way of adaptation.
I think this tends to be true generally when adapting operas from other sources. Operas that are adapted from plays tend to translate more elegantly, with less work, than those adapted from novels. And those adapted from short stories, poems, and novellas adapt more easily than those adapted from full-length fiction - no doubt because there are fewer characters, less exposition, less intricate plots, and more focus on characterisation and human relationships than on plot twists, in drama, poetry, and short fiction. I'd include Bible stories and Greco-Roman and Nordic myths in the "short fiction" or "poetry" category for this analysis.
Think about it. Two of the three Mozart/Da Ponte novels were based on plays - Le Nozze di Figaro on a play by Beaumarchais (Rossini's Barbiere di Siviglia was based on another Beaumarchais play) and Don Giovanni on a play attributed to Tirso de Molina. Puccini's Tosca was based on the play by Sardou, Fanciulla del West and Madama Butterfly on plays by David Belasco, Turandot on the play by Gozzi, and Il Tabarro on the play La Houppelande by Didier Gold. Verdi's Otello, Falstaff (and Nicolai's Die Lustigen Weiber von Windsor and Vaughan Williams' Sir John in Love), and Macbeth, on Shakespeare's plays, Ernani was based on a play by Victor Hugo, Rigoletto on the play Le Roi s'Amuse by Hugo, and Don Carlo(s) on the play by Schiller. Lalo's Le Roi d'Ys was based on a Breton legend. Meyerbeer's Robert le Diable, on a sketch by Delavigne. Britten's Peter Grimes was based on George Crabbe's poem "The Borough", while Billy Budd was based on Melville's novella, and Turn of the Screw on James's. Wozzeck was based on the play by Buechner (who also collaborated on the libretto). Lulu was based on two plays (Erdgeist, and Die Buechse der Pandora) by Wedekind. Schoenberg's Moses und Aron, on The Bible. Verdi's Nabucco, also on The Bible. Samson et Dalila, on The Bible. Pergolesi's La Serva Padrone on the play by Nelli, Massenet's La Navarraise, on Cain's play La Cigarette. Norma on the play by Soumet. The Tale of Tsar Saltan, on Pushkin's poem. Tancredi, on the play by Voltaire and the poem by Tasso. Tannhaeuser, on Mediaeval legend. Mechem's Tartuffe, on Moliere's play. Simon Boccanegra, on the play by Gutierrez. La Sonnambula on the vaudeville by Scribe. Stiffelio on the play by Le Pasteur by Souvestre and Bourgeois. The Stone Guest on the poem by Pushkin. Mozart and Salieri on the play by Pushkin. Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex on Sophocles' play. Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice, on Greek mythology. Handel's and Vivaldi's Orlando operas, on Ariosto's epic poem. Lehar's Die Lustige Witwe was based on a play, L'Attache de L'Ambassade, by Meilhac. Verdi's Giovanna d'Arco and Tchaikovsky's Maid of Orleans were both based on Schiller's play. Adriana Lecouvreur, on the play by Scribe and Legouve. Carmen, on the novella by Merimee. Cavalleria Rusticana, on the short story by Verga. Romeo et Juliette, on Shakespeare. Faust, on the plays by Goethe. Anna Bolena, on a play by Pepoli and Andrea Chenier's brother Marie-Joseph. Maria Stuarda was based on a Schiller play. Roberto Devereux came from a play by Ancelot. Les Contes d'Hoffmann were based (loosely) on three short stories by E.T.A. Hoffmann. Boris Godunov is based on Pushkin's epic poem (and on a non-fiction History of Russia). La Cenerentola and Cendrillon are both based on Perrault's fairy tale. Massenet's Le Cid is based on Corneille's play. The Cunning Little Vixen, on a short-story by Tesnohlidek. Jenufa, based on a play by Preissova. Kata Kabanova, on the play by Ostrovsky. The Makropulos Affair, on the play by Karel Capek. The Excursions of Mr. Broucek, from three novellas by Svatopluk Cech. Fedora, on Sardou's play. Dialogues of the Carmelites, on the play by Bernanos. Elektra, on the play by Sophocles. Salome, on the play by Wilde. Die Fledermaus, on a play by Meilhac and Halevy. La Forza del Destino, on a play by de Saavedra. Die Fliegende Hollaender, on a short story by Heine. Zandonai's Francesca da Rimini, on the play by d'Annunzio (itself based on the epic poem Inferno, by Dante). Der Freischuetz, on a folk tale. Lucrezia Borgia, on Hugo's play. La Gioconda, on Hugo's play Angelo, Tyran de Padoue. Gianni Schicchi, on an episode in Dante's epic poem La Divina Commedia. The Golden Cockerel, on a poem by Pushkin. May Night on a short story by Gogol. Pique Dame on a short story by Pushkin. Britten's Midsummer Night's Dream, on Shakespeare, and The Rape of Lucretia on Obey's play Le Viol de Lucrece. A Village Romeo and Juliet, on a story by Keller. Hoiby's The Tempest, on Shakespeare, and his Summer in Smoke on the play by Tennessee Williams. Il Trovatore, on the play by Gutierrez. Tiefland, on a short story by Guimera. Wagner's Rienzi on the play by Mitford (and the novel by Bulwer Lytton). Vaughan Williams' Riders to the Sea on the play by Synge. Dvorak's Rusalka on fairy tales by Fouque and Andersen. Guillaume Tell, on Schiller's play. Thomas' Hamlet, based on Shakespeare. Hansel und Gretel, on a fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm. Herodiade, on Flaubert's short story. Gluck's Iphigenie operas, on the plays by Euripides. Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk District, on the short story by Leskov. Lakme, on the play by Gondinet (who co-wrote the libretto). Linda di Chamounix, on the play La Grace de Dieu by d'Ennery and Lemoine. I Lombardi, on the epic poem by Grossi. The Love for Three Oranges, on the play L'amore delle tre Melarance by Gozzi. Luisa Miller, on Schiller's play Kabale und Liebe. Medea (in all its forms), based on Euripides. Verdi's Attila, on the play by Zacharias Werner (Attila, Koenig der Hunnen). Betrothal in a Monastery, on Sheridan's play The Duenna. Dido and Aeneas and Les Troyens, on Virgil's epic poem, the Aeneid. Der Dreigroschenoper, based on Gay's The Beggar's Opera. I Due Foscari, on the play by Byron. Purcell's The Fairy Queen, on Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream. La Favorite, on the play Le Comte de Comminges by de Baculard d'Arnaud. Lohengrin and Tristan und Isolde, on mediaeval legends. Ligeti's La Grand Macabre, on de Ghelderode's play. L'Heure Espagnole, on Nohain's play. Les Mamelles de Tiresias, on the play by Apollinaire, von Flotow's Martha on a ballet by de Saint-Georges, Maskarade on a play by Holberg, I Matrimonio Segreto on the play The Clandestine Marriage by Colman and Garrick. Parsifal, on von Eschenbach's epic poem. Pelleas et Melisande, an almost-exact setting of Maeterlinck's play. Prince Igor, based on the mediaeval epic poem The Tale of Igor's Campaign. The Tsar's Bride, on the play by Mey. I Puritani, on the play Tetes Rondes et Cavaliers by Ancelot and Saintine. Glinka's Russlan and Ludmilla on Pushkin's poem. Rimsky-Korsakov's Sadko on Novgorod legend. The Snow Maiden, on a Russian fairy tale. Weill's Street Scene on the play by Elmer Rice. Floyd's Susannah, on the Apocrypha. Porgy and Bess, on the Heywards' play Porgy.
Don Pasquale, L'Elisir d'Amore, Die Entfuehrung aus dem Serail, Giulio Cesare, L'Italiana in Algeri, Fidelio, Idomeneo, Un Ballo in Maschera, La Rondine - all based on pre-existing libretti.
Many other successful (dramatically) operas are based on history/biography - e.g., L'Incoronazzione di Poppea, I Vespri Siciliani, The Ballad of Baby Doe, Mathis der Maler, Andrea Chenier, Khovanshchina, The Mother of Us All, Nixon in China, Le Prophete, Les Huguenots, Szymanowski's Krol Roger, and a number of Handel's operas.
Not quite sure how I'd classify The Tender Land, based on James Agee's non-fiction work Let Us Now Praise Famous Men. Ditto La Vestale, based in part on the archeological work Monumenti Antichi Inediti by Winckelmann. Verdi's Aida was similarly based on archeological literature.
Others are purely original works - most of Menotti's operas, Cosi fan Tutte, Der Rosenkavalier, Die Frau ohne Schatten, Ariadne auf Naxos, Intermezzo, Capriccio, La Juive, I Pagliacci, Suor Angelica, A Life for the Tsar, Treemonisha, La Voix Humaine, La Vida Breve, La Clemenza di Tito, Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny, Les Pecheurs des Perles, La Belle Helene (inspired by Greek legend), Henze's Elegie fuer junge Liebende, Ravel's L'Enfant et les Sortileges, Donizetti's La Fille du Regiment, Wagner's Ring Cycle (loosely based on German, Icelandic, and Norse mythology), Der Meistersinger (loosely based on historical personages), The Midsummer Marriage and The Knot Garden (the latter inspired by Shakespeare's The Tempest), Postcard from Morocco, Trouble in Tahiti/A Quiet Place, The Rake's Progress, Der Schauspieldirektor, Il Segreto di Susanna.
Now, let's look at the successful operas based on full-length novels: La Traviata - based on a short novel. La Boheme, based on a section of a vignette novel. Manon and Manon Lescaut - based on short novel. Werther - based on a short epistolary novel. Candide - based on a short novel. Eugene Onegin - based on a short verse novel.
As for those based on longer novels: Lucia di Lammermoor (Walter Scott's novel The Bride of Lammermoor) is the only one to leap to mind. Some less successful operas based on longer novels include Don Quichotte, based on Cervantes' novel. Voina i Mir, based on Tolstoy's War and Peace. 0Mignon, based on episodes from Goethe's Wilhelm Meister's Lehrjahre. Penderecki's Die Teufel von Loudun, based on Aldous Huxley's novel.
A few others based on novels - I don't know the novels, so I don't know how long they are: The Fiery Angel (novel by Bryusov). L'Amico Fritz (novel by Erckmann and Chatrian). Arabella (based on von Hofmannsthal's Lucidor), Die Tote Stadt (based on Bruges la Morte by Rodenbach). Thais, based on the novel by Anatole France. Der Vampyr, based on the novel by Polidori. From the House of the Dead, based on the novel by Dostoevsky. La Wally, based on von Hillern's novel Die Geyer-Walley.
I don't pretend that these lists are comprehensive, but I think they do illustrate my point - which is that novels are far, FAR less often successfully adapted into operas than other literary forms are.
Karen Mercedes ............................ My NEIL SHICOFF pages - http://www.radix.net/~dalila/shicoff/shicoff.html My own pages - http://www.radix.net/~dalila/index.html
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + In all thy ways acknowledge him, + + and he shall direct thy paths. + + - Proverbs 3:6 + ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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