In "The Aspern Papers, " Mr. Argento skillfully opens up the Henry James novella, adding a backstory and more characters, so that past and present coexist and collide.
Composers interested in writing operas should study the oeuvre of Dominick Argento, whose "The Aspern Papers" (1988) recently had a splendid new production at the Dallas Opera, the company that commissioned it and gave the work its world premiere.
In the novella, the narrator, a scholar of the long-dead poet Jeffrey Aspern, insinuates himself into the household of Juliana Bordereau, the poet's aged former lover, to try and secure the valuable papers that may be in her possession.