Great Operas

In volume 1 of the series The Great Opera Companion: Short Guides to a Hundred Best Operas, Michael Steen, author of The Lives and Times of the Great Composers, now provides the original compendium of self-standing short guides to 25 of the world’s greatest and most popular operas, including the ‘top twenty’. Sixteen of these also are in issue as individual guides.

With four famous operas each from Mozart, Verdi and Puccini, and two each from Rossini, Donizetti and Wagner, there is a feast of information. Here are short guides to The Marriage of Figaro and Don Giovanni; to the splendour of Aïda, the heart-breaking La Traviata; the drama of Tosca; the extraordinary ‘philosophical’ love story of Tristan und Isolde. On the way you can be briefed about such favourites as Handel’s Giulio Cesare, Bizet’s Carmen, Gounod’s Faust, Johann Strauss’s Die Fledermaus, Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin and Britten’s Peter Grimes.

With plot summaries, composer biographies, observations on musical points of interest and background on the historical and cultural context of each opera, every one of these guides will enhance your appreciation and enjoyment and help you discuss the work and the performance with your fellow opera-goers. Steen shares his expert knowledge with a lightness of touch that makes each guide a pleasure to read.

Witty and informative, Great Operas is an indispensable reference guide for both seasoned opera-goers and those enjoying opera for the first time.

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