HISTORY OF OPERA: THE LAST FOUR HUNDRED YEARS

Why has opera transfixed and fascinated audiences for centuries? This is a story of the history of opera, examining its development, the means by which it communicates, and its societal role. In a new revision with an expanded examination of opera as an institution in the twenty-first century, this book explores the tensions that have sustained opera over 400 years: between words and music, character and singer, inattention and absorption.