The Joy of Opera

Nigel Douglas, the international tenor and well-known broadcaster, provides an authoritative and witty account of that most enthralling and extravagant of art forms - opera - from both sides of the curtain.
Chapters on the phenomenon of the prima donna and her male counterpart examine the lives of some of opera's most colourful performers, ancient and modern, while those who rule the roost - in particular that controversial figure the 'innovative' director - do not escape the author's scrutiny.
Ranging across several continents and as many centuries, The Joy of Opera explores such topics as the filming and recording of opera; venues, from the fabulous to the downright odd; the pleasures and pitfalls of the singing life; opera's more frivolous sister, operetta; and those quintessentially operatic matters, drink and seduction.
A lavishly illustrated combination of musical history, biography, commentary and anecdote, The Joy of Opera will make fascinating reading for the uninitiated and the aficionado alike.