Okay.... So the solution/backsolve
There are five numbered clues featuring music. The musical pieces are:
1)"Rigoletto" by Verdi
2)"Ring of the Nibelung" by Wagner
3)"Ode to Joy" by Beethoven
4)"The Pearl Fishers" by Bizet
5)"Madame Butterfly" by Puccini
You can verify the composers by
1A1AThe composers initially (a nonsense string of letters)
[-----] whose answer is
VWBBP1AThe composers initially (a nonsense string of letters)
[-----] . And you could try to verify the works by
66A66AThe works initially (a nonsense string of characters)
[-----] but you will find they do not fit as
66A66AThe works initially (a nonsense string of characters)
[-----] is
APFCT66AThe works initially (a nonsense string of characters)
[-----] .
So we need a work by Verdi begining with A, by Wagner beginning with P, by Beethoven beginning with F, by Bizet beginning with C, and by Puccini beginning with T.
They are AIDA, PARSIFAL, FIDELIO, CARMEN, and TOSCA.
You can find those names hidden in five clues.
sAID A mouthful = On the nose
one who sPARS IF ALone = Pugilist
boneFIDE LIoness in "Born Free" = Elsa
CAR MEN = Racers
---- brody; winner of "the PianisT" OSCAr = Adrein
The initial answers of which spell out OPERA (which literally means "works")
... now....
Finding words in clues is dang near impossible. I hoped the odd wording of some of the clues wording of the clues would help. You might not know you were looking for AIDA or TOSCA (Verdi and Puccini were proficient) and if somehow it wasn't obvious we were probably looking for Operas FIDELIO may not have been obvious (it was Beethoven's only opera). But Bizet work beginning with C screams for CARMEN and then the clue right there is "Car Men" so... c'mon. Then the weird "spars if only"? Why "if alone" and why is the lioness "bonafide"? The Aida and Tosca are a bit more nature but wording "winner of 'the pianist' oscar"; shouldn't that be "'the pianist' oscar winner"? I deliberately reworded it to make it awkward.
Any way. I tried to leave hints as to the mechanism with clues
21D,
9D9DGirl in an elevator (don't take this at face value)
[---] , and
13D13DNumber in a moon egg
[---] which were otherwise
awful clues and a reference to tessalations in
26D26DArtist known for his tessellations (which... might help you with this meta... or maybe not) [this is *not* one of the clues referred to in 42A]
[------] .
This whole thing was inspired by the WSJ contest this weekend which had the clue ""It happened one night" Oscar winner".