When first published in 1947, A Short History of Opera immediately achieved international status as a classic in the field. Now, more than five decades later, this thoroughly revised and expanded fourth edition informs and entertains opera lovers just as its predecessors have.

The fourth edition incorporates new scholarship that traces the most important developments in the evolution of musical drama. After surveying anticipations of the operatic form in the lyric theater of the Greeks, medieval dramatic music, and other forerunners, the book reveals the genre's beginnings in the seventeenth century and follows its progress to the present day.

A Short History of Opera examines not only the standard performance repertoire, but also works considered important for the genre's development. Its expanded scope investigates opera from Eastern European countries and Finland. The section on twentieth-century opera has been reorganized around national operatic traditions including a chapter devoted solely to opera in the United States, which incorporates material on the American musical and ties between classical opera and popular musical theater. A separate section on Chinese opera is also included.

With an extensive multilanguage bibliography, more than one hundred musical examples, and stage illustrations, this authoritative one-volume survey will be invaluable to students and serious opera buffs. New fans will also find it highly accessible and informative. Extremely thorough in its coverage, A Short History of Opera is now more than ever the book to turn to for anyone who wants to know about the history of this art form.

Résumé
Traces the developments in the evolution of musical drama. This book aims to reveal the genre's beginnings in the seventeenth century and its progress. It examines the standard performance repertoire and works considered important for the genre's development. It also presents an investigation of opera from Eastern European countries and Finland.

Contenu

Preface to the Fourth Edition Introduction Part I Music and Drama to the End of the Sixteenth Century The Lyric Theater of the Greeks Medieval Dramatic Music The Immediate Forerunners of Opera Part II The Seventeenth Century The Beginnings: Opera in Florence and Mantua Other Early Seventeenth-Century Italian Court Operas, Including the First Comic Operas in Florence and Rome Italian Opera in the Later Seventeenth Century in Italy Seventeenth-Century Italian Opera in German-Speaking Lands Early German Opera Opera in France from Lully to Charpentier Opera in England Part III The Eighteenth Century Masters of the Early Eighteenth Century Opera Seria: General Characteristics Opera Seria: The Composers The Operas of Gluck The Comic Opera of the Eighteenth Century The Operas of Mozart and His Viennese Contemporaries Part IV The Nineteenth Century The Turn of the Century Grand Opera Opera Comique, Operetta, and Lyric Opera Italian Opera of the Primo Ottocento: Rossini, Donizetti, Verdi, and Their Contemporaries The Romantic Opera in Germany The Operas of Wagner The Later Nineteenth Century: France, Italy, Germany, and Austria Part V Other National Traditions of Opera from the Seventeenth to the Early Twentieth Centuries National Traditions in Russia and Neighboring Countries; Central and Eastern Europe; Greece and Turkey; the Low Countries; Denmark, Scandinavia, and Finland; Spain, Portugal, and Latin America; the British Isles and the United States Part VI The Twentieth Century Introduction / Opera in France and Italy Opera in the German-Speaking Countries National Traditions in Russia and Neighboring Countries; Central and Eastern Europe; Greece and Turkey; the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, and Finland; Spain, Portugal, and Latin America Opera in the British Isles; Canada; Australia and New Zealand(r)MDBRØ (r)MDNMØ Opera in the United States Appendix Chinese Opera