In 1972 Elias Canetti said that 'with Wozzeck Buchner achieved the most complete revolution in the whole of literature'. The same can be said of Berg's opera, as revolutionary in …
With his last opera Mozart created a piece of theatre which defies categorization. In theory it is a Singspiel, a mixture of songs and dialogue, in which the spectacular effects …
In this Guide to Pelleas and Melisande, Maeterlinck's original play is reprinted in full, so that the opera lover can read the scenes that Debussy did not set to music. Hugh …
"Bizet describes himself as 'pagan', and Carmen has a savage Mediterranean beauty quite unique in music. The essays included in this guide suggest some reasons for its legendary …
Fidelio is Beethoven's only opera, and the composition he is said to have loved the most. Elizabeth Forbes introduces the background and composition of the opera, written and …
This famous opera has had a chequered performance history, and Professor Laurel E. Fay, in an illuminating musical analysis, points out that the interpretation of the opera depends …
'A Landmark in Musical History' is John Luke Rose's title for the introduction to this extraordinary piece of theatre. It belongs to the German tradition of mystical writing, and a …
What can explain Wagner's obsession with Tannhauser, an opera which he first conceived in 1845 and still considered unfinished at his death in 1883? The subject is the struggle of …
Aida is, for most of us, the quintessence of Ancient Egypt but it is certainly not just for archaeologists. Michael Rose points out that it is really about patriotism - an issue of …
Rossini is one of the great operatic composers and a major innovator in the field of serious and comic operas. Moise et Pharaon is a score which he revised for Paris ten years …
