MUSIC Freeman, associate editor of Opera News and author of the first volume of The Metropolitan Opera Stories of the Great Operas (LJ 11/15/84), presents this second volume of stories from 125 more operas, this time covering less familiar works, such as early pieces (Monteverdi's Il ritorno d'Ulisse in partria, 1640) and contemporary ones (John Adams's Nixon in China, 1987). The entries are arranged by composer, with a brief introduction providing background on the life and works of each. Because Freeman focuses on less familiar works, he includes Verdi's early operas (I Lombardi, Stiffelio, I due Foscari) rather than the works often performed today. Many of the operas are known more from references in the literature of opera (Halevy's La Juive, 1835) or because of well-known excerpts from otherwise forgotten works (Catalani's La Wally, 1892). However, these works are part of the vocabulary of opera, so there is a need for the hard-to-find information presented here. The biographies and shorter synopses of many of these pieces are available in standard reference works, but this is still a good selection for larger music collections with a need for in-depth materials. James E. Ross, WLN, Seattle-