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...