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.

List of IllustrationsPreface to the Fourth EditionIntroductionPart I. Music and Drama to the End of the Sixteenth Century 1. The Lyric Theater of the Greeks2. Medieval Dramatic Music3. The Immediate Forerunners of OperaPart II. The Seventeenth Century 4. The Beginnings: Opera in Florence and Mantua5. Other Early Seventeenth-Century Italian Court Operas, Including the First Comic Operas in Florence and Rome6. Italian Opera in the Later Seventeenth Century in Italy7. Seventeenth-Century Italian Opera in German-Speaking Lands8. Early German Opera9. Opera in France from Lully to Charpentier10. Opera in EnglandPart III. The Eighteenth Century 11. Masters of the Early Eighteenth Century12. Opera Seria: General Characteristics13. Opera Seria: The Composers14. The Operas of Gluck15. The Comic Opera of the Eighteenth Century16. The Operas of Mozart and His Viennese ContemporariesPart IV. The Nineteenth Century 17. The Turn of the Century18. Grand Opera19. Opera Comique, Operetta, and Lyric Opera20. Italian Opera of the Primo Ottocento: Rossini, Donizetti, Verdi, and Their Contemporaries21. The Romantic Opera in Germany22. The Operas of Wagner23. The Later Nineteenth Century: France, Italy, Germany, and AustriaPart V. Other National Traditions of Opera from the Seventeenth to the Early Twentieth Centuries 24. National Traditions of OperaPart VI. The Twentieth Century 25. Introduction / Opera in France and Italy26. Opera in the German-Speaking Countries27. National Traditions in Russia and Neighboring Countries; Central and Eastern Europe; Greece and Turkey; the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, and Finland; Spain, Portugal, and Latin America28. Opera in the British Isles; Canada; Australia and New Zealand(r)MDBRØ (r)MDNMØ29. Opera in the United StatesAppendix: Chinese OperaList of AbbreviationsBibliographySources and Translations of Musical ExamplesIndex