Taking eight of the most popular and frequently performed operas in the repertoire as his starting point, the author discovers the real stories behind the opera librettos - often revealing them to be even more dramatic than their operatic counterparts. This book shows how fact and fiction overlap, and from what obscure sources a major work of imagination can spring. The eight operas covered are: "Simon Boccanegra"; "Il Trovatore"; "Rigoletto"; "Don Carlos"; "Lucia di Lammermoor"; "Un Ballo in Maschera"; "La Traviata"; and "La Boheme".
- ISBN10 0192880098
- ISBN13 9780192880093
- Publish Date 17 October 1996 (first published 6 October 1994)
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 22 October 1999
- Publish Country GB
- Publisher Oxford University Press
- Imprint Oxford Paperbacks
- Edition New edition
- Format Paperback (UK Trade)
- Pages 272
- Language English