A Short History of Opera

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.

Table of Contents:
List of Illustrations Preface to the Fourth Edition Introduction Part I. Music and Drama to the End of the Sixteenth Century 1. The Lyric Theater of the Greeks 2. Medieval Dramatic Music 3. The Immediate Forerunners of Opera Part II. The Seventeenth Century 4. The Beginnings: Opera in Florence and Mantua 5. Other Early Seventeenth-Century Italian Court Operas, Including the First Comic Operas in Florence and Rome 6. Italian Opera in the Later Seventeenth Century in Italy 7. Seventeenth-Century Italian Opera in German-Speaking Lands 8. Early German Opera 9. Opera in France from Lully to Charpentier 10. Opera in England Part III. The Eighteenth Century 11. Masters of the Early Eighteenth Century 12. Opera Seria: General Characteristics 13. Opera Seria: The Composers 14. The Operas of Gluck 15. The Comic Opera of the Eighteenth Century 16. The Operas of Mozart and His Viennese Contemporaries Part IV. The Nineteenth Century 17. The Turn of the Century 18. Grand Opera 19. Opera Comique, Operetta, and Lyric Opera 20. Italian Opera of the Primo Ottocento: Rossini, Donizetti, Verdi, and Their Contemporaries 21. The Romantic Opera in Germany 22. The Operas of Wagner 23. The Later Nineteenth Century: France, Italy, Germany, and Austria Part V. Other National Traditions of Opera from the Seventeenth to the Early Twentieth Centuries 24. National Traditions of Opera Part VI. The Twentieth Century 25. Introduction / Opera in France and Italy 26. Opera in the German-Speaking Countries 27. 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 28. Opera in the British Isles; Canada; Australia and New Zealand(r)MDBRO (r)MDNMO 29. Opera in the United States Appendix: Chinese Opera List of Abbreviations Bibliography Sources and Translations of Musical Examples Index

About the Author :
Donald Jay Grout was, until his death in 1987, Given Foundation Professor of Musicology Emeritus at Cornell University. He was author of the classic A History of Western Music, and Alessandro Scarlatti: An Introduction to His Operas, as well as general editor of The Operas of Alessandro Scarlatti. Hermine Weigel Williams is Scholar-in Residence at Hamilton College. She has contributed to The New Grove Dictionary of Music, The Operas of Alessandro Scarlatti, and The Symphony: 1720-1840. She is author of Francesco Bartolomeo Conti: His Life and Music, Sibelius and His Masonic Music, and co-author of Giovanni Battista Pergolesi: A Guide to Research. She is also co-editor of Facts Behind the Songs: A Handbook of American Popular Music from the Nineties to the 90's.

Review :
Whether it be Monteverdi or Gluck or Wagner, no saner guide than Grout can be recommended The Times Literary Supplement (of earlier edition) Combines learning with a grace of expression seldom encountered in works of this kind. The subject is treated in greater detail than the word 'short'might indicate. Saturday Review (of earlier edition) A Short History of Opera is perhaps one of the best known and most widely circulated texts on the history of this art form...This is a vitally important book, and it is likely to be one of the first places students, researchers, and fans will consult. -- Tom Kaufman The Opera Quarterly