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Norma is by common consent the finest of the ten operas composed during Vincenzo Bellini's short career. In this 1998 book, Professor Kimbell provides the biographical and cultural context of the opera, examines its artistic qualities and suggests something of the impression Norma has made since it was first produced.

Idomeneo, by common consent Mozart's greatest opera seria, is a rich synthesis of the dramatic potentialities of Italian opera seria, French tragedie lyrique, and recent German opera. It was composed for the finest orchestra in Germany and some excellent singers. Mozart's relish of the challenge and his problems with some performers and the bureaucracy are uniquely documented in his letters home and these form the basis of a vivid account of the genesis of the opera. A detailed synopsis relates the musical and dramatic action of the opera. Further chapters trace the historical development of its subject matter 'from myth to libretto' and chart the opera's performance history, including a description of Richard Strauss's 1931 reworking. Later chapters consider the opera's general structure and the musical forms, and analyse passages of particular interest.

This book explores the fascinating musical and dramatic elements within Fidelio, Beethoven's only complete opera - one of the most admired and problematic in the repertoire. The book contains a comparison of the opera's first and final version, a consideration of its musical idiom and its performance history. It includes a synopsis, blurb, bibliography and illustrations.

This full-length study of Salome is the first in English since Lawrence Gilman's introductory guide of 1907. The handbook presents an informative collection of historical, critical and analytical studies of one of Strauss's most familiar operas.

This book is a detailed study of Mozart's last opera. The sources for the opera are discussed, and there are chapters devoted to the composition of the work, the authorship and qualities of the libretto, the music, early productions and performance history, and the practical problems of directing a production.

Le Nozze di Figaro (1786) contains a remarkable mixture of all those elements that go to produce a good opera: a sound plot, a well-structured text and fine music. This opera handbook examines the work from historical and musical perspectives, to set it in the context of Mozart's age.

This is a detailed study of the earliest opera to have gained a foothold in the modern repertoire. It includes historical sections on the creation and early performances of Orfeo and its rediscovery, and essays by a conductor and a producer who have staged notable performances of the opera in recent years.

This handbook provides an in-depth account of the origins, style, and performance history of Richard Wagner's popular operatic masterpiece Der Fliegende Hollander (The Flying Dutchman). Designed for scholars, performers and the opera-going public alike, the book represents the most detailed discussion of the opera currently available in English.

Bruce Alan Brown offers several paths towards a closer understanding of Cosi fan tutte.

This handbook explores Bizet's famous opera in a number of contexts, from its origin in Merimee's short story to the film adaptations of the last thirty years.

This book is designed to introduce the non-specialist music lover to Britten's opera, The Turn of the Screw. The book is generously illustrated and there is also a bibliography and discography.

In this text John Tyrrell brings together letters, early reviews and other documents on the composition of "Kat'a Kabanova" and its early performances. Key interpretations of the opera range from one by the opera's German translator to Janacek's first biographer Max Brod.

This is the first comprehensive guide to Pelleas et Melisande, Debussy's only completed opera, written by three of the leading authorities on French music of the period. Contains discussion of play's literacy roots, the genesis and composition of the opera, and Debussy's musical responses to the text.

Incorporating the findings of the most recent research, this compact and up-to-date guide to Verdi's Falstaff provides a reliable summary of what is currently known about the work. It includes a synopsis of the plot and an account both of Verdi's aims in composing the opera and of how he actually composed it.

A comprehensive account of Wagner's last, and strangest opera.

This guide presents a unique collection of critical, analytical and documentary essays on Puccini's most popular opera. It includes new studies on the background to Parisian bohemianism, Puccini's musical language, and the opera's stage history as well as the genesis of the opera, the structure of the libretto, and aspects of the work's reception.

Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg is Wagner's only mature comedy, and one of the richest and most profound in the history of music. This book presents an informative and stimulating study of an opera that occupies a particular place in music lovers' affections, yet always has more to reveal. The volume includes a full synopsis, bibliography and three appendices.

Caryl Emerson (a literary specialist) and Robert William Oldani (a music historian) take a comprehensive look at the most famous Russian opera, Modest Musorgsky's Boris Godunov.

Wagner's Tristan und Isolde has fascinated audiences since its first performance in 1865, its advanced harmonic language marking a defining moment in the evolution of modern music. This accessible handbook - perfect for scholars, students, performers and opera-goers alike - examines the opera's genesis, libretto, music, performance and reception.

This book is a study of Mozart's Don Giovanni, his second opera to a libretto by da Ponte. Although it is one of the handful of best-known and most often performed operas of the last two hundred years, Don Giovanni is seldom given in an authentic form and arguments persist as to its nature.

Both a reliable summary of what is currently known about Otello and an interpretation of the significance of the work within Verdi's career. There is a detailed synopsis, an analysis of how the opera was actually written and the book concludes with a study of the opera as a work of Shakespearean adaptation.

A full synopsis takes the reader through the musical and dramatic action of this, one of Britten's most challenging operas and further chapters discuss the literary background, the collaboration between librettists and composer, and the distinctive tonal symbolism of the music.

This is the first book to be devoted to Mozart's opera, La clemenza di Tito. John Rice considers the opera from historical and critical viewpoints.

This is a series of studies of individual operas written for the opera-goer or record-collector as well as the student or scholar.

The first comprehensive guide to Richard Strauss's opera, Arabella.

This addition to the Cambridge Opera Handbooks series is also the first full-length study of Mozart's Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail. It aims to familiarize the reader with all aspect of the work: Mozart's writing of the opera and its literary antecedents, its plot, its musical structure, its reception and performance history.

Douglas Jarman's study provides a clear and accessible introduction to one of the most significant operas of the twentieth century. He places it in the context to the radical developments in musical language during the early decades of the century and of the development of Berg's own musical style.

This book is a guide to Berg's second opera, Lulu, written in non-technical language.

This book explains how and why Gluck's historically important and best-loved opera Orfeo came into existence, shows why it has retained its popularity, and describes how the opera has been reinterpreted throughout the past two hundred years from its first performance.