Opera

　　Essential reading – whether you are a seasoned opera goer looking for a quick brush-up before a performance, or new to the genre and wanting to know more.

　　From Baroque to Italian, from Vivaldi to Debussy explore 400 years of music drama from late-Renaissance Italy to works from contemporary names including Philip Glass and Thomas Ades. Discover hundreds of classic and modern opera interpretations, learn about the lives of operatic masters, from Monteverdi to Adams plus, read act-by-act synopses of more than 160 operas from Madama Butterfly and Tosca to Candide and The Maid of Pskov which signpost the highlights of each opera and help you follow the story-line and identify characters.

作者簡介

　　Alan Riding is an opera devotee who as European Arts Correspondent for The New York Times has attended innumerable opera productions in theatres from London to Vienna, Berlin to Milan, Paris to New York.

　　Leslie Dunton-Downer has written librettos for operas produced in Aspen, New York, Paris, Spoleto (Italy) and Moscow. She has collaborated with leading composers, conductors, singers and directors.