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Opera Criticism, Theory & History
 Mozart & Beethoven: The Concept of Love in their Operas
Irving Singer
In this book, Irving Singer develops a new mode for understanding and experiencing the operas of Mozart and Beethoven, approaching them not as a musical technician but as a philosopher concerned with their expressive and mythic elements. Using the distinction between the sensuous and the passionate as a framework for his discussion, Singer explores not only the treatment of love in these operas but also the emotional and intellectual orientation of these two great composers. Softcover, 155 pp. $30.00.
 Enchantment: The Seductress in Opera
Jean Starobinski
Jean Starobinski considers the allure of several seducers and seductresses from 19th-century opera - Monteverdi's Poppea, Handel's Alcina, and Massenet's Manon, among others - and how their stories are woven into the fabric of Western culture. Hardcover, 262 pp. $36.95.
 Wagner: Beyond Good And Evil
John Deathridge
Celebrated scholar John Deathridge presents a critical view of Richard Wagner based on recent research and some less familiar sources, including hitherto seldom discussed letters and diaries and previously unpublished musical sketches. Rather than taking the course of least resistance by regarding him blandly as a 'classic' in the Western art tradition, Deathridge engages the debates that have raged about him and moves far beyond them. Hardcover, 302 pp. $47.95.
 Opera and the Morbidity of Music
Joseph Kerman
The death of classical music, the distinguished critic and musicologist Joseph Kerman declares, is "a tired vaccuous concept that will not die." In this wide ranging collection of essays and reviews, Kerman examines the ongoing vitality of the classical mmusic tradition from the days of Guillaume Dufay, John Taverner, and William Byrd to contemporary operas by Phillip Glass and John Adams. Hardcover, 373 pp. $33.00.
 Opera and Modern Culture: Wagner and Strauss
Lawrence Kramer
Opera and Modern Culture is a helpful guide to comprehending the impact of the modernist aesthetic in the still-influential operas of Wagner and Strauss. Softcover, 257 pp. $25.95.
 Mozart and his Operas
David Cairns
Here, David Cairns distils a lifetime of knowledge to tell Mozart's story afresh through some of his greatest works - the operas. From the early works to The Magic Flute, he shows us how Mozart's operas can deeply enrich our experience of his music as a whole, and transform our understanding of the man. Softcover, 290 pp. $20.00.
 Understanding the Women of Mozart's Operas
Kristi Brown Montesano
In this lively book, Kristi Brown-Montesano offers a detailed exploration of the female roles in Mozart's four most frequently performed operas, Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni, Cosi fan tutte, and Die Zauberflote. Each chapter takes a close look at the music, libretto text, literary sources, and historical factors that give shape to a character, reevaluating common assumptions and proposing fresh interpretations. Hardcover, 316 pp. $51.95.
 A Vision of the Orient: Texts, Intertexts, and Contexts of Madame
Butterfly
Various authors
From its original colonial beginnings, the Butterfly story has been turned
about and inverted in recent years to shed light back on the nature
of the relationship between East and West, remaining popular in
its original version as well as in retellings such as David Henry
Hwang's play M. Butterfly and David Cronenberg's screen adaptation.
The combined perspectives that result from this collaboration provide
new and challenging insights into the powerful, resonant myth of
a painful encounter between East and West. Hardcover, 262 pp. $53.00.
 On Opera
Bernard Williams
This elegant volume covers an engaging range of topics from Mozart
to Wagner, including sparkling essays on specific operas by those
composers as well as Verdi, Puccini, Strauss, Debussy, Janacek and Tippett.
Two aspects of music are of central importance to Williams: the demands
of composing, performing and staging opera on the one hand, and the
immediacy and power of its emotional purchase, the ability of music
to move both the heart and the intellect, on the other. Reflecting
Williams brilliance, passion, and clarity of mind, these essays engage
with, and illustrate, the enduring appeal of opera as an art form.
Hardcover, 149 pp. $36.00.
 The Ring: An Illustrated History of Wagner's Ring at The Royal Opera House
Richard Snelson
A celebratory history of one of the greatest of operatic events at
one of the greatest of world opera houses, this handsome full-colour
edition charts the story of Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen at
The Royal Opera House from the first staging in 1892 -- conducted
by Gustav Mahler -- through to the increasingly controversial productions
of the late 20th century. The pictorial record, The Royal Opera House
Collections, includes many images never published before. Hardcover,
182 pp. $87.95.
 Voicing Gender
Naomi Andre
Naomi Andre's book explores the power of opera to capture the fluidity
of sexuality through voices that transcend the prescriptions of gender.
Her demonstration of the relationship between the castrato sound
world and the emergance of new roles for mezzo-sopranos and contraltos
in the
early 19th century is insightful and intriguing. This is a sophisticated
and original work of historical and critical scholarship. Softcover,
230 pp. $32.95.
 A Nut at the Opera
Maurice Vellekoop
With characters such as Olga Pickuptrucksaya and Vatda Heck and references
ranging throughout the history of opera, nothing -- from the heights
of Wagnerian solemnity to the excesses of French spectacle -- escapes
the elegant
skewering of Vellekoop's pen. Featuring Vellekoop's trademark lavish,
over-the-top illustrations throughout, A Nut at the Opera is for
the opera aesthete. Hardcover, 88 pp. $24.95.
 Opera Coaching: Professional Techniques and Considerations
Alan Montgomery
The opera coach is a teacher who helps singers not only to meet the physical
and vocal demands of a score, but -- like the dramatic coach --
shapes their entire performance. A good opera coach's knowledge
will range from a full
understanding of human physiognomy and the human voice, to the
many languages used in Western vocal music, to the entire expanse
of the opera repertoire,
from its roots in 17th century sung drama through today's most
modern compositions. Opera Coaching covers all of these topics
and more, making it the ideal
resource for anyone interested in this fascinating career. Softcover,
209 pp. $29.95.
 Opera as Drama
Joseph Kerman
In this second edition of the classic text, Joseph Kerman provides
a serious and meticulously written treatise on the dramatic virtue
of the operatic
form. Chapters include Orpheus: The Neoclassical Vision, Opera
as Sung Play, Mozart, Opera as Symphonic Poem,
and
Drama and the Alternative. Softcover, 232 pp. $27.95.
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George Tsypin Opera Factory: Building in the Black Void 
Fortissimo: Backstage at the Opera with Sacred Monsters and Young Singers 
Opera & Wine: Wine in Opera 
First Nights at the Opera
Opera: The Art of Dying
Angels & Monsters: Male and Female Sopranos in the Story of Opera
Silver Moon: Stories from Antonin Dvorak's most Enchanting Operas
Operetta: A Theatrical History
Athena Sings: Wagner and the Greeks
In Search of Opera
Molto Agitato: The Mayhem Behind the Music at the Metropolitan Opera
A Season of Opera: From Orpheus
to Ariadne
Wagner: The Terrible Man and
His Truthful Art
Cinema's Illusions,
Opera's Allure: The Operatic Impulse in Film
