Opera & Operetta: A Guide to Research and Resources: Composers & Publishers

A starting point for information on specific works, people, places and concepts associated with Verdi, the Encyclopedia reflects the very latest scholarship

Aspects of Verdi's milieu, style, creative process and critical reception are explored in essays by highly reputed specialists. Individual chapters address themes in Verdi's life, his role in transforming the theater business, four of his operas, and non-operatic songs.

Starting with the early history of the operatic stage in Britain, the Companion places the operas in their theatrical and musical context, investigating the amateur performing tradition, providing new perspectives on the famous patter songs and analysing their dramatic and operatic potential.

Examines Rossini's life and career; the reception of his music in the nineteenth century and today; the librettos and their authors; the dramaturgy of the operas; and Rossini's non-operatic works.