These five biographies provide the first complete survey of Italian opera from the early buffo operas of Rossini to Verdi's great masterpieces, Otello and Falst

David Kimbell traces the history of Italian opera from the Renaissance to the early twentieth century.

Biographical sketches of the composers and critical interpretations of their productions accompany these summaries of eighty-seven famous operas

This volume is a reference source to literature in the English language throughout the world. It provides a survey of the world-wide literary tradition of this