Abbate and Parker's A History of Opera is the first full new history of opera in sixty years - now in paperback in an updated second edition 'The best single vo

"The fourth edition incorporates new scholarship that traces the most important developments in the evolution of musical drama. After surveying anticipations of

A comprehensive history of opera that traces each milestone in opera history from the 16th century Camerata through the next 400 years, and featurrd in depth an

A historical survey of opera, from its beginnings in Florence 400 years ago, up to opera in the 1990s.

Richly textured, extravagantly colorful, and filled with larger-than-life characters, the history of opera is as mesmerizing and commanding as opera itself. And