Mozart's Operas: A Companion

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Mozart's Operas: A Companion Mary Hunter Yale University Press ISBN 978-0-300-11833-9 266 pages £25.00

Yet another companion to Mozart's operas, surely that's been done before? Well yes it has, but this one is certainly detailed, thorough and very useable.

The operas themselves are divided into three categories: Opera seria, Singspiel and Opera buffa. As you would expect the better known are given significantly more analysis and comment than the smaller and the lesser known: Don Giovanni gets 13 pages whilst the unfinished Zaide gets just over half of one page. The remaining pages are filled with thorough and interesting essays on the anatomy of his operas, theatres and …