Opera has been a quarry for theorists ever since it began, and many of the theories were developed by the best talents involved - geniuses whose words add enormously to our appreciation of the art form. Also, opera in theory and in practice has been chewed over and digested by critics as well as by singers, directors and impresarios, recalling their professional lives - from Michael Kelly, who claimed to be Mozart's favourite comic tenor, on. Eduard Hanslick, Liegh Hunt, Debussy, Thomas Love Peacock, Virgil Thomson all did their stints (long and short) as reporters on achievement in the world of opera. Some of this material is unavailable in English elsewhere. Opera in fiction is an equally rich field - from Tolstoy to Heinrich Mann to Proust to Thackeray to Alan Hollinghurst.In The Faber Book of Opera, Tom Sutcliffe covers the written record of opera in theory, in practice, in review and in fiction: an anthology of literary gems put together with substantial considered writing, drawn from the prime sources.
