Intended for the performer and general music lover as well as for students and musicologists, this three-part retrospective of Italian opera of the romantic era focuses on the settings, characters, and styles of the librettos; the voices, orchestration, and formal structure of the music; and the contemporary exigencies of the performance itself, moving from behind-the-scenes administration and artistry to the front-and-center interpreters and the audiences they played to. More than 120 musical examples support the text, the majority of them in an alphabetical appendix of "Famous Melodies," which includes the themes of popular arias along with captions detailing the operas, the composers, the acts in which the melodies occur, and the characters who sing them. The book also includes appendices of main characters, celebrated singers and conductors, and principal librettists; a glossary; and a note on Italian pronunciation. Numerous illustrations and tables, an exhaustive topical bibliography, and a select, current CD discography round out this informative introduction to opera's golden age.