L'Opera dipinta, 1960-1980

You are getting ready for a performance of Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore and you have a few questions. How many clarinets are in the orchestra? How many orchestra members appear ons...

In Queer Opera, Andrew Sutherland argues that operas often reflect characteristics of the society and epistime in which they are written but that they also do much more than that; ...

Opera has been around ever since the late 16th century, and it is still going strong in the sense that operas are performed around the world at present, and known by infinitely mor...

In Opera as Art: Philosophical Sketches, Paul Thom argues for opera as an art, standing alongside other artforms that employ visual and sonic media to embody the great themes of hu...

In this chapter, the author reflects on the issue of race in opera and its impact on black singers. He first recounts his European operatic debut in Milan in 1960, singing the role...

The focus of this chapter is the most successful grand opera company of the decade, the troupe of Emma Abbott. This prima donna was thoroughly trained in the Italian school and per...

This chapter examines the role of race and racial representation in Ernst Krenek's 1927 opera Jonny spielt auf (“Jonny Strikes Up”) in order to determine whether it can be consider...