Opera: A Penguin Anthology

by Stephen Brook

A richly entertaining look at the sublimities and follies of the opera, both onstage and off. Gathering material from an impressively broad range of sources, the author provides the reader with sections on operatic history, practice, and issues, as well as regaling opera fans with amusing accounts of backstage antics. Anyone who has ever enjoyed an opera will relish these eyewitness recollections of opera's great singers, composers, conductors, and directors through three centures.

544 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1997

About the author

Stephen Brook has been a contributing editor to Decanter since 1996 and has won a clutch of awards for his writing on wine. The author of more than 30 books, his works include Complete Bordeaux, now the definitive study of the region and in its third edition, and The Wines of California, which won three awards. His most recently published book is The Wines of Austria. Brook also fully revised the last two editions of Hugh Johnson’s Wine Companion, and he writes for magazines in many countries.