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 volume ever written on the subject' The Times Literary Supplement

Why has opera transfixed and fascinated audiences for centuries? Carolyn Abbate and Roger Parker answer this question in their scrupulous and provocative retelling of the history of opera, examining its development, the means by which it communicates, and its societal role. In a new revision with an expanded examination of opera as an institution in the twenty-first century this book explores the tensions that have sustained opera over 400 years: between words and music, character and singer, inattention and absorption. Abbate and Parker argue that, though the genre's most popular and enduring works were almost all written in a distant European past, opera continues to transform the viewer with its enduring power.

Why has opera transfixed and fascinated audiences for centuries? Carolyn Abbate and Roger Parker answer this question in their scrupulous and provocative retelling of the history of opera, examining its development, the means by which it communicates, and its societal role.


About the Author

Carolyn Abbate is Professor of Music at Harvard University and the author of Unsung Voices and In Search of Opera. Her work has been translated into many languages. She herself is a translator, and has been involved in theatre as a dramaturge and director.

Roger Parker is Professor of Music at King's College, London, and the author of Leonora's Last Act and Remaking the Song. He is founding co-editor of the Donizetti critical edition, and editor of The Oxford Illustrated History of Opera.

Book Information
ISBN 9780141009018
Author Carolyn Abbate
Format Paperback
Page Count 656
Imprint Penguin Books Ltd
Publisher Penguin Books Ltd
Weight(grams) 484g
Dimensions(mm) 198mm * 129mm * 29mm