This list provides an overview of books addressing topics related to opera.

We welcome feedback, suggestions, additions, and corrections to this information.

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Oxford Dictionary of Opera. John and Warrack, with West, Ewan. Oxford University Press. 1992. ISBN 0198691645

Biographical information on composers and libreticists. Entries on place names, certain opera houses or musical cities associated with performances, performers, musical definitions, brief plot outlines, and performance information.

The Viking Opera Guide. Amanda Holden, with Kenyon, Nicholas and Walsh, Stephen. Viking (Penguin Group) 1993. 1993. ISBN 0670812927

Glossary, Black and white photos and illustrations. Short and medium length plot outlines. Premier dates and venues. Composers, biographical information, good indices, lists of contributors and brief works lists of libretticists, composers and lists of titles. (1304 pages).

History of Opera (Norton/Grove Handbooks in Music), Stanley Sadie (Editor). W.W. Norton & Company. 1990. ISBN 0393028100 (hardcover)

The New Kobbe's Opera Book. Anthony Peattie, with Earl of Harewood. Putnam Publishing Group. December 1997. ISBN 0399143327 (hardcover).

A comprehensive anthology of opera synopses and articles.

Understanding the Women of Mozart's Operas. Kristi Brown-Montesano. University of California Press. February 2007. ISBN 0520248023 (hardcover).

Brown-Montesano, head of the music-history faculty at the Colburn Conservatory in Los Angeles, California, views each character as the subject of a story, not merely the object of a hero's narrative or the stock figure of convention. From amiable Zerlina, to the awesome Queen of the Night, to calculating Despina, all of Mozart's women have something unique to say. These readings also tackle provocative social, political, and cultural issues, which are used in the operas to define positive and negative images of femininity: revenge, power, seduction, resistance, autonomy, sacrifice, faithfulness, class, maternity, and sisterhood. Keenly aware of the historical gap between the origins of these works and contemporary culture, Brown-Montesano discusses how attitudes about such concepts – past and current – influence our appreciation of these fascinating representations of women.

Phaidon Book of the Opera - A Survey of 780 Operas from 1597, Catherine Atthill. Phaidon Press. 1979. ISBN 0714818852 (paperback)

Pfitzner's Palestrina. Owen Toller. Toccata Press. 1996. ISBN 0907689248 (hardcover).

Long acknowledged in Germany as one of opera's outstanding achievements, Palestrina has been largely overlooked elsewhere. This thoroughly researched and approachably written book also considers the gestation of the work, discusses its historical background and tackles the thorny question of Pfitzner's relationship with the Nazis.

Nineteenth-Century Italian Opera from Rossini to Puccini, Daniele Pistone. Amadeus Press. 1995. ISBN 0931340829 (hardcover)

The Bel Canto Operas: Of Rossini, Donizetti and Bellini, Charles Osborne. Amadeus Press. 1995. ISBN 0931340845 (paperback)

Verdi's Theater: Creating Drama Through Music. Gilles De Van, with Gilda Roberts (translator). University of Chicago Press. 1998. ISBN 0226143694 (hardcover), 0226143708 (paperback).

In this innovative study, the author focuses on an often neglected aspect of Verdi's operas: their effectiveness as theater, arguing that two main aesthetic conceptions underlie all of Verdi's works: that of the "melodrama" and the "musical drama." In the melodrama the composer relies mainly on dramatic intensity and the rhythm linking various stages of the plot, using exemplary characters and situations. But in the musical drama reality begins to blur, the musical forms lose their excessively neat patterns, and doubt and ambiguity undermine characters and situations, reflecting the crisis of character typical of modernity. Although melodrama tends to dominate Verdi's early work and musical drama his later, both aesthetics are woven into all his operas: musical drama is already present in Ernani (1844), and melodrama is still present in Otello (1887). Indeed, much of the interest and originality of Verdi's operas lies in his adherence to both these contradictory systems, allowing the composer/dramatist to be simultaneously classical and modern, traditionalist and innovator.

Opera in Italy Today: A Guide, Nick Rossi. Amadeus Press. 1995. ISBN 0931340772 (paperback)

Opera in Paris, 1800-1850: A Lively History, Patrick Barbier, Robert Luoma (Translator). Amadeus Press. 1995. ISBN 0931340837 (hardcover)

Metropolitan Opera Encyclopedia: A Comprehensive Guide to the World of Opera. David Hamilton, editor. Simon and Schuster. 1987. ISBN 067161732X

Essays by Leontine Price, Lucciano Pavarotti, Rise Stevens, James Levine and many other famous Metropolitan Opera performers. Beautiful color photographs and black and white illustrations. Dictionary and biographical information, too.

Saturday Afternoons at the Old Met: The Metropolitan Opera Broadcasts 1931-1950, Paul J. Jackson. Amadeus Press. 1992. ISBN 0931340489 (hardcover)

Sign-Off for the Old Met: The Metropolitan Opera Broadcasts 1950-1966, Paul Jackson. Amadeus Press. 1997. ISBN 1574670301 (hardcover)

Saturday Afternoons at the Old Met/Sign-Off for the Old Met (Two Volume Set), Paul Jackson. Amadeus Press. 1997. ISBN 157467031X (hardcover)

Last Look at the Old Met. Judith Clancy. Synergistic Press. 1969. ISBN 0912184108 (hardcover).

Read about it in more detail (including excerpts from reviews) at www.synergisticbooks.com.

Crosby's Opera House: Symbol of Chicago's Cultural Awakening. Eugene H. Cropsey. Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. 2000. ISBN 0838638228 (hardcover).

In the context of Chicago's economic and cultural climate, social milieu, and the scramble for prominence and refinement among the newly rich, Eugene Cropsey presents an illuminating chronicle of the city's first great cultural awakening, with Crosby's Opera House as the central focus. It is also the story of Albert and Uranus Crosby, who migrated from Cape Cod to Chicago where, as successful entrepreneurs, they made their fortunes and later sacrificed it all in their efforts to bring a new musical and artistic enlightnment to their adopted city. The Crosbys' struggle to enhance the cultural climate out on the urban frontier of the 1860s was a turbulent one, vividly brought to life in this book through a gallery of colorful characters, including many of Chicago's prominent citizens, as well as the numerous impresarios, artists, musicians, and other entertainers who visited or settled in Chicago.

Selected Writings of Luigi Dallapiccola, Volume One: Dallapiccola On Opera. Luigi Dallapiccola, with Rudy Shackelford (editor) and preface by Antál Doráti. Toccata Press. 1997. ISBN 0907689094 (hardcover), 0907689108 (paperback).

Essays on the operas of Mozart, Verdi, Monteverdi, Wagner, Ravel, Busoni, Malipiero and, among others, Dallapiccola himself, by one of the twentieth century's leading composers.

The Perfect Wagnerite. George Bernard Shaw. Dover Publications. 1967. ISBN 0486217078 (paperback).

Shaw's entertaining allegorical interpretation of Wagner's Ring Cycle: Wagner as a revolutionist, Siegfried as Protestant.

Wagner's Ring: A Listener's Companion & Concordance, J. K. Holman. Amadeus Press. 1997. ISBN 157467014X (hardcover)

Wagner Without Fear: Learning to Love - And Even Enjoy - Opera's Most Demanding Genius, William Berger. Vintage Books. 1998. ISBN 0375700544 (paperback)

Catherine Hayes: The Hibernian Prima Donna. Basil Walsh, with Foreword by Conductor, Richard Bonynge. Irish Academic Press, Dublin & Portland OR.. September 2000. ISBN 071652662X (hardcover).

This book details the life and times of Ireland's first great international female opera singer. It includes a chronology of her travels to 15 countries and performances, over a period of 30 years during the 19^th century.

Callas: Portrait of a Prima Donna. George Jellinek. Dover Publications. 1986. ISBN 0486250474 (paperback).

The life and career of the legendary diva. 64 photographs. 416 pp.

Lily Pons: A Centennial Portrait. Jame A. Drake, with Kristin Beall Ludecke. Amadeus Press. October 1999. ISBN 1574670476 (hardcover).

318 pp, 141 b/w photos.

The Queen's Throat: Opera, Homosexuality, and the Mystery of Desire, Wayne Koestenbaum. Vintage Books. 1994. ISBN 0679749853 (paperback)