While not experts, both my wife (Hildegard) and I love grand opera. When we first started collecting jigsaw puzzles nearly a decade ago, we were delighted to discover that opera scenes were quite fashionable for cutting into large puzzles starting in the 1910's right up to the 1930's. Parker Brothers, for example, listed in its very early 1910 catalog in the 750 and 1000 piece sizes two separate scenes from "Pagliacci" and "Salome Dancing before the Throne". And the Winter 1911-1912 Pastime catalog lists a broad range of opera scenes available in puzzles:
| 1000 and 750 pieces | 600 pieces | 400 pieces |
|---|---|---|
| La Boheme I-The Studio | Cavalleria Rusticana | Aida II |
| A New Scene from Carmen | Pagliacci II | Pagliacci I |
| New Carmen Picture from Scene II | Cavalleria I | Pagliacci II |
| The Barber of Seville | Carmen II | Cavalleria I |
| Pagliacci I | Scene from "Barber of Seville" | Carmen II |
| Scene from "Barber of Seville" | Carmen I | Barber of Seville |
| Carmen II | Salome on the Temple Steps | Carmen I |
| Salome-Dance of the Seven Veils | Die Walkure | Die Walkure |
| Carmen I | Salome-Dance of the Seven Veils | Salome-Dance ofthe Seven Veils |
| Salome before Herod | Barber of Seville | |
| La Tosca | ||
| New Picture of a Scene from Aida | ||
| Aida III | ||
| Aida II |
Over the next two decades, many titles were dropped, some marketed in a different size and new ones added, but the listings were never as numerous as in the early catalogs. By the 1930's Madam Butterfly and Carmen were about the only titles available. New titles added after the Winter 1911-1912 catalog:
- Scene from "Valkyre" (1912, 600 pieces)
- Rigoletto (Autumn 1913, 1000 and 750, 500 pieces)
- Lohengrin-The Swan Boat (Autumn 1913, 1000 and 750 pieces)
- Faust and Marguerite-Apparition (Autumn 1913, 500 pieces)
- Faust and Marguerite-The Meeting (Autumn 1913, 500 pieces)
- Carmen-Outside the Arena (Autumn 1913, 400 pieces)
- New Scene from Carmen (Autumn 1913, 400 pieces)
- Street Scene in Paris-Opera La Boheme (1914, 400 pieces)
- New Cavalleria Rusticana (1915, 500 pieces)
- Aida (Grand Opera) (1917, 1000 pieces)
- La Boheme-Outside the Café (1917, 400 pieces)
- La Boheme-Brilliant Studio Scene (1917, 1000 and 750 pieces)
- La Tosca and the Artist (1917, 400 pieces)
- Tanhausser (1921, 1000 and 750 pieces)
- Othello II (Fall 1927-Winter 1928, 1000 pieces)
- Othello I (Fall 1927-Winter 1928, 750 pieces)
- Othello III (Fall 1927-Winter 1928, 750 pieces)
- Salome on the Steps (1929-30, 400 pieces)
- Madame Butterfly (1931, 750 pieces)
Please note that the above spellings are from the Pastime catalog listings and are not necessarily the correct spellings. Also note, some of the titles put on the box label may differ a little from the catalog listings. Interestingly, almost all opera puzzles we have found were made by Parker Brothers as Pastime puzzles.
Much of the artwork for the opera puzzles is as "grand" as the grand opera it is trying to represent. However, despite referring to two texts, we have been unable to identify precisely the location and every character in several of the scenes depicted. While some of this may be "artistic liberty", we have invited my law school roommate, Jay Feldman, to join us in refining identifications. Saturday afternoons, while most of us were watching football games, socializing or studying at law school, Jay would tune in to the Metropolitan Opera and sit at the kitchen table in our rental apartment studying the score while listening to live opera from the Met. Of course, Sunday afternoons were dedicated to watching the New York Giants on TV. Living in the NYC area he has maintained a series subscription to the Met and season tickets to the Giants while studying opera at the evening division of the Juilliard. We welcome his assistance. Obviously, we invite anyone wishing to sell/trade an opera puzzle, to contact us (raahna@oldpuzzles.com).
