“What are the best books about or featuring The Opera?” We looked at 327 of the top nonfiction & fiction opera books, aggregating and ranking them so we could answer that very question!
The top 32 titles, all appearing on 2 or more “Best Opera” book lists, are ranked below by how many lists they appear on. The remaining 275+ titles, as well as the lists we used are in alphabetical order at the bottom of the page.
Happy Scrolling!
Lists It Appears On:
Why has opera transfixed and fascinated audiences for centuries? Carolyn Abbate and Roger Parker answer this question in their “effervescent, witty” (Die Welt, Germany) retelling of the history of opera, examining its development, the musical and dramatic means by which it communicates, and its role in society. Now with an expanded examination of opera as an institution in the twenty-first century, this “lucid and sweeping” (Boston Globe) narrative explores the tensions that have sustained opera over four hundred years: between words and music, character and singer, inattention and absorption. Abbate and Parker argue that, though the genre’s most popular and enduring works were almost all written in a distant European past, opera continues to change the viewer― physically, emotionally, intellectually―with its enduring power.
Lists It Appears On:
Ann Pratchett’s award winning, New York Times bestselling Bel Canto balances themes of love and crisis as disparate characters learn that music is their only common language. As in Patchett’s other novels, including Truth & Beauty and The Magician’s Assistant, the author’s lyrical prose and lucid imagination make Bel Canto a captivating story of strength and frailty, love and imprisonment, and an inspiring tale of transcendent romance.
Lists It Appears On:
“There is little violent crime in Venice, a serenely beautiful floating city of mystery and magic, history and decay. But the evil that does occasionally rear its head is the jurisdiction of Guido Brunetti, the suave, urbane vice-commissario of police and a genius at detection. Now all of his admirable abilities must come into play in the deadly affair of Maestro Helmut Wellauer, a world-renowned conductor who died painfully from cyanide poisoning during an intermission at La Fenice.
But as the investigation unfolds, a chilling picture slowly begins to take shape—a detailed portrait of revenge painted with vivid strokes of hatred and shocking depravity. And the dilemma for Guido Brunetti will not be finding a murder suspect, but rather narrowing the choices down to one. . . .”
Lists It Appears On:
Beginning amid the decadent glamour of China in the 1930s and ending in the 1980s in Hong Kong, this brilliant novel, which formed the basis for the award-winning movie, is the passionate story of an opera student who falls in love with his best friend, and the beautiful woman who comes between them.
Lists It Appears On:
Each chapter contains a full synopsis and study of the libretto, a detailed assessment of the opera’s musical and (often misunderstood) dramatic qualities, a performance history, and comparison of the different versions. Much new material has been incorporated. In addition four general chapters throw a vivid light on the historical background. Two Epilogues touch on Handel’s dramatic vision, the revival of his operas in the twentieth century, and their performance today.
Lists It Appears On:
“The Ghost in the bone-white mask who haunts theAnkh-Morpork Opera House was always considered a benign presence — some would even say lucky — until he started killing people. The sudden rash of bizarre backstage deaths now threatens to mar the operatic debut of country girl Perdita X. (nee Agnes) Nitt, she of the ample body and ampler voice.
Perdita’s expected to hide in the chorus and sing arias out loud while a more petitely presentable soprano mouths the notes. But at least it’s an escape from scheming Nanny Ogg and old Granny Weatherwax back home, who want her to join their witchy ranks.”
Lists It Appears On:
Diva Mawrdew Czgowchwz (pronounced “Mardu Gorgeous”) bursts like the most brilliant of comets onto the international opera scene, only to confront the deadly malice and black magic of her rivals. Outrageous and uproarious, flamboyant and serious as only the most perfect frivolity can be, James McCourt’s entrancing send-up of the world of opera has been a cult classic for more than a quarter-century. This comic tribute to the love of art is a triumph of art and love by a contemporary American master.
Lists It Appears On:
Intended for the performer and general music lover as well as for students and musicologists, this three-part retrospective of Italian opera of the romantic era focuses on the settings, characters, and styles of the librettos; the voices, orchestration, and formal structure of the music; and the contemporary exigencies of the performance itself, moving from behind-the-scenes administration and artistry to the front-and-center interpreters and the audiences they played to.
Lists It Appears On:
Passionate, witty, and brilliant, Opera as Drama has been lauded as one of the most controversial, thought-provoking, and entertaining works of operatic criticism ever written
Lists It Appears On:
From a brand-new author-illustrator team comes a humorous, heartwarming story about a special relationship between a cat and her owner. Alma the cat lives with Madame SoSo, an opera diva. When Madame rehearses, Alma softly sings along. Madame doesn’t know Alma’s secret—in fact, she doesn’t pay Alma much attention at all. But on the night of the big performance, Madame comes down with laryngitis . . . and at last Alma is given a chance to prove she is no ordinary animal. Accompanied by vivid, detail-filled illustrations, this story will resonate with anyone—feline or human—who has ever longed for a moment in the spotlight.
Lists It Appears On:
Opera is weird. Everybody wears makeup and sings all the time. Even when they’re singing your language, which is rare, you still can’t understand the words. Women play men, men play women, and 45-year-olds play teenagers. All the main characters seem to get killed off. And when somebody dies, he takes ten minutes to sing about it. Yet, for all its weirdness, an operatic experience is an experience in breathtaking beauty. When you hear a soprano float a soft high C, or a tenor singing a love song, or a full-throated chorus in the climax of a scene’s dramatic finale, you can’t help getting goosebumps.
Lists It Appears On:
“A classic returns!
Viking is pleased to reissue this Don Freeman tale about an operaloving mouse. Maestro Petrini, the tiny page-turner for the Prompter at the Metropolitan Opera House, has always evaded Mefisto the cat until the day Petrini gets carried away by Mozart?s Magic Flute and joins the performers onstage.”
Lists It Appears On:
As in her previous book, Grave Mistake, Ngaio Marsh offers up a lady of a certain age, high-strung and hyperventilating, two ticks short of neurosis. Photo Finish’s dead diva, the soprano Isabella Sommita, was widely loathed, so much so that the problem is less a lack of plausible suspects than an embarrassment of options. Though the grand country-house – and with it, the country-house murder – was history by 1980, when Photo Finish was originally published, Dame Ngaio got around the problem by setting the story on a lavish island estate, cut off from the mainland by a sudden storm. Happily, Inspector Alleyn is among the guests, and can take charge in the coppers’ absence. The penultimate book in the series, Photo Finish is also one of only four books set in Marsh’s native New Zealand.
Lists It Appears On:
In this first of three volumes, Paul Jackson begins a rich and detailed history of the early years of the Metropolitan Opera broadcasts, bringing to life more than 200 recorded broadcasts.
Lists It Appears On:
This second volume of Paul Jackson’s popular chronicle of the Metropolitan Opera Broadcasts covers the period from the beginning of the Rudolf Bing era to the destruction of the old Met and the move to its present home at Lincoln Center. Jackson looks at 200 broadcasts featuring artists under the leadership of a host of great conductors including Reiner, Mitropoulos, and Solti.
Lists It Appears On:
Jane Rosenberg’s delightful retellings for children of the greatest operas―whether the tales are read as introductions to a opera or to relive a production already seen, art and text combine to give a clear understanding of plot, scene, and character. Young children in particular will enjoy reading the stories―or having them read―both as lovely fairy tales and to help them share in the magic of a real dramatic performance.
Lists It Appears On:
The author treats each of Rossini’s 39 operas, Donizetti’s 66, and Bellini’s 10, discussing the libretto and the circumstances of each opera’s first performance, outlining the plot, and ending with an analysis of the music.
Lists It Appears On:
The major operas of Mozart—Don Giovanni, The Marriage of Figaro, The Magic Flute, Cosìfan Tutte—are well known to music listeners everywhere, having secured a permanent place in the repertoire of companies throughout the world. But how much do you know about La Clemenza di Tito, Idomeneo, L’Oca del Cairo, Zaide? Charles Osborne here provides detailed descriptions of all of these and fourteen others in a volume that serves both a first-rate biography and an exhaustive critical guide to the Mozart oeuvre. Charles Osborne is obviously in command of the literature: He quotes copiously from the mountain of letters, contemporary journals, and the most recent scholarship dealing with the period. His fourfold approach—linking biography with musical, textual, and dramatic analysis—is uniquely satisfying for those seeking an integrated understanding of opera’s many dimensions. With a plot summary and character listings of each work, The Completes Operas of Mozart can be read in one sitting for a panoramic sweep of Mozart’s operatic genius or for reliable reference by the phonograph or radio.
Lists It Appears On:
In this volume, every Verdi opera is explored from four points of view: Verdi’s life at the time each was written; the story, and the way it links with the music; the libretto and librettist, and Verdi’s relations with his publishers; and the music itself, analyzed with examples from the score.
Lists It Appears On:
Pasha, a dog who believes herself to be beautiful and perfect, joins the company of “Manon” at New York’s Metropolitan Opera House, but on opening night she cannot resist singing along with the diva.
Lists It Appears On:
“An unlikely quartet is bound together across centuries and continents by the strange and spectacular history of Richard Wagner’s masterpiece opera Tristan and Isolde.
Martin is a forty-year-old lawyer who, despite his success, feels disoriented and disconnected from his life in post-9/11 Manhattan. But even as he comes to terms with the missteps of his past, he questions whether his life will feel more genuine going forward.
Decades earlier, in the New York of the 1960s, Anna is destined to be a grande dame of the international stage. As she steps into the spotlight, however, she realizes that the harsh glare of fame may be more than she bargained for.”
Lists It Appears On:
“Volume 1 traces the organic growth and development of the composer’s style from 1839 to 1851–from Oberto to Rigoletto–and examines each opera in detail, offering a full account of its dramatic and historical origins as well as a brief critical evaluation. More than 350 musical examples make the significance of these early operas to Verdi’s developing style especially clear.
In the second volume, Budden covers those operas written during the decadence of the post-Rossini period. During this time Verdi, having exhausted the simple lyricism found in such works as Il Trovatore and La Traviata, found new life as he directly confronted the masters of the Paris opera with his Les Vêpres Siciliennes. The new scale and variety of musical thought that can be sensed in the Italian operas which followed is shown here to culminate in La Forza del Destino.
The third and final volume of the study covers the quarter century which saw grand opera on the Parisian model established throughout Italy, and the spread of cosmopolitan influences that convinced many that Italian music was losing its identity. Verdi produced his four last and greatest operas during this time–Don Carlos, Aida, Otello, and Falstaff–operas which helped inaugurate “”versimo,”” in which a new, recognizably Italian idiom was realized.”
Lists It Appears On:
Now suppose a man comes along: a man who has no sense of the golden age, nor any power of living in the present: a man with common desires, cupidities, ambitions, just like most of the men you know. Suppose you reveal to that man the fact that if he will only pluck this gold up, and turn it into money, millions of men, driven by the invisible whip of hunger, will toil underground and overground night and day to pile up more and more gold for him until he is master of the world! – George Bernard Shaw (1898) In Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung), Richard Wagner proposed to produce a myth in three complete dramas, preceded by a lengthy Prelude. Though famous for his music, Wagner proved in this masterpiece that he was much more than a composer. The philosophical theme of The Ring is as relevant today as when it was first written in summer 1848.
Lists It Appears On:
This passionate love letter to opera, lavishly praised and nominated for a National Book Critics Circle Award when it was first published, is now firmly established as a cult classic. In a learned, moving, and sparklingly witty melange of criticism, subversion, and homage, Wayne Koestenbaum illuminates mysteries of fandom and obsession, and has created an exuberant work of personal meditation and cultural history.
Lists It Appears On:
A novelist and short-story writer, Willa Cather is today widely regarded as one of the foremost American authors of the twentieth century. Particularly renowned for the memorable women she created for such works as My Ántonia and O Pioneers!, she pens the portrait of another formidable character in The Song of the Lark. This, her third novel, traces the struggle of the woman as artist in an era when a women’s role was far more rigidly defined than it is today.
Lists It Appears On:
A detailed guide to operas, arranged alphabetically by composer, discusses monodies, masques, and grand, tragic, and comic operas, modern music dramas, operettas, and musicals and features contributions from musicologists, critics, musicians, and other experts.
Lists It Appears On:
“Do you cringe when your opera-loving friends start raving about the latest production of Tristan? Do you feel faint just thinking about the six-hour performance of Parsifal you were given tickets to? Does your mate accuse you of having a Tannhäuser complex? If you’re baffled by the behavior of Wagner worshipers, if you’ve longed to fathom the mysteries of Wagner’s ever-increasing popularity, or if you just want to better understand and enjoy the performances you’re attending, you’ll find this delightful book indispensable.
William Berger is the most helpful guide one could hope to find for navigating the strange and beautiful world of the most controversial artist who ever lived. He tells you all you need to know to become a true Wagnerite–from story lines to historical background; from when to visit the rest room to how to sound smart during intermission; from the Jewish legend that possibly inspired Lohengrin to the tragic death of the first Tristan. Funny, informative, and always a pleasure to read, Wagner Without Fear proves that the art of Wagner can be accessible to everyone.”
Lists It Appears On:
“An invaluable guide for both casual opera fans and aficionados, 100 Great Operas is perhaps the most comprehensive and enjoyable volume of opera stories ever written.
From La Traviata to Aïda, from Carmen to Don Giovanni, here are the plots of the world’s best-loved operas, told in an engaging, picturesque, and readable manner. Written by noted opera authority Henry W. Simon, this distinctive reference book contains act-by-act descriptions of 100 operatic works ranging from the historic early seventeenth century masterpieces of Monteverdi to the modern classics of Gian-Carlo Menotti.”
Lists It Appears On:
With an encyclopedic knowledge of opera and a delightful dash of irreverence, Sir Denis Forman throws open the world of opera–its structure, composers, conductors, and artists–in this hugely informative guide. A Night at the Opera dissects the eighty-three most popular operas recorded on compact disc, from Cilea’s Adriana Lecouvreur to Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte. For each opera, Sir Denis details the plot and cast of characters, awarding stars to parts that are “worth looking out for,” “really good,” or, occasionally, “stunning.” He goes on to tell the history of each opera and its early reception.
Lists It Appears On:
This specially priced two volume set includes a reissue of the first volume, covering Handel’s operatic works from 1704-1726 and originally published by Oxford University Press in 1995, and Winton Dean’s acclaimed second volume (1726-1741), which first appeared in 2006. These volumes contributed to the revival of interest in these long-neglected works and are essential reading for anyone interested in Handel or the development of the opera as an art form.
Lists It Appears On:
“Opera is the fastest growing of all the performing arts, attracting audiences of all ages who are enthralled by the gorgeous music, vivid drama, and magnificent production values. If you’ve decided that the time has finally come to learn about opera and discover for yourself what it is about opera that sends your normally reserved friends into states of ecstatic abandon, this is the book for you.
Opera 101 is recognized as the standard text in English for anyone who wants to become an opera lover–a clear, friendly, and truly complete handbook to learning how to listen to opera, whether on the radio, on recordings, or live at the opera house. “
Lists It Appears On:
In its 75th year, The New Kobbe’s Opera Book has been subjected to the most thorough revision in its history. The opera-lover’s bible from its first appearance, it has now been redesigned and extended, numerous existing entries have been completely rewritten, and the book now incorporates some 200 new operas. The total number of works covered is now nearly 500, including important new works like John Adams’ Nixon in China, Harrison Birtwistle’s Gawain, and Thomas Ades’s Powder Her Face, and a number of half-forgotten works that are now undergoing revival. 46 new composers are featured. Lord Harewood’s strongly individual commentaries, together with his unparalleled knowledge of and enthusiasm for opera, are complemented by substantial contributions from his co-editor Antony Peattie. This is a guide to virtually every opera the reader is likely to come across.
| # | Books | Authors | Lists |
| (Titles Appear On 1 List each) | |||
| 33 | 2013-14 Season Book 2013-14 Season Book | Met Opera | |
| 34 | 2017–18 Season Book 2017–18 Season Book | Met Opera | |
| 35 | A Cadenza for Caruso | Barbara Paul | Wikipedia |
| 36 | A History of Opera: Milestones and Metamorphoses (Opera Classics Library) (Opera Classics Library Series) | Burton D. Fisher | Goodreads |
| 37 | A Knife At The Opera | Susannah Stacey | Wikipedia |
| 38 | A Short History of Opera | Donald Jay Grout | Aria Database |
| 39 | A Song for Bellafortuna | Vincent B. “Chip” LoCoco | Goodreads |
| 40 | A Song of Love and Death: The Meaning of Opera | Peter Conrad | Goodreads |
| 41 | Abend in Bayreuth | Zdenko von Kraft | Wikipedia |
| 42 | Amadeus | Peter Shaffer | Goodreads |
| 43 | An Aria of Omens (Wisteria Tearoom Mysteries, #3) | Patrice Greenwood | Goodreads |
| 44 | An Invitation to the Opera | John Louis DiGaetani | Opera Cast |
| 45 | Analyzing Opera : Verdi and Wagner (California Studies in 19th Century Music) | Carolyn Abbate, Roger Parker | Opera Cast |
| 46 | Angels and Monsters: Male and Female Sopranos in the Story of Opera, 1600-1900 | Richard Somerset-Ward | Goodreads |
| 47 | Anna Karenina | Leo Tolstoy | Wikipedia |
| 48 | Annals of the Metropolitan Opera | Metropolitan Opera Guild | Opera Cast |
| 49 | Bantam of the Opera | Mary Daheim | Wikipedia |
| 50 | Bayreuth : A History of the Wagner Festival | Frederic Spotts | Opera Cast |
| 51 | Beethoven | Maynard Solomon | Goodreads |
| 52 | Beethoven: The Universal Composer | Edmund Morris | Goodreads |
| 53 | Bellini | Arnaldo Fraccaroli | Wikipedia |
| 54 | Bodily Charm: Living Opera | Linda Hutcheon | Goodreads |
| 55 | Bravo! Brava! A Night at the Opera | Operaversity | |
| 56 | Callas: Portrait of a Prima Donna | George Jellinek | Classical Net |
| 57 | Carmen: Libretto | Georges Bizet | Goodreads |
| 58 | Caruso: Roman einer Stimme | Frank Thiess | Wikipedia |
| 59 | Catherine Hayes: The Hibernian Prima Donna | Basil Walsh, with Foreword by Conductor, Richard Bonynge | Classical Net |
| 60 | Chagall and Music Chagall and Music | Met Opera | |
| 61 | Constanze – gewesene Witwe Mozart translated as: Constanze, formerly widow of Mozart: her unwritten memoir | Klemens Diez | Wikipedia |
| 62 | Cosi Fan Tutte : Mozart (English National Opera Guide, No 23) | John Nicholas | Opera Cast |
| 63 | Cosi Fan Tutti | Michael Dibdin | Wikipedia |
| 64 | Crochets and Quavers | Max Maretzek | Five Books |
| 65 | Crosby’s Opera House: Symbol of Chicago’s Cultural Awakening | Eugene H | Classical Net |
| 66 | Cruel Music (Tito Amato, #3) | Beverle Graves Myers | Goodreads |
| 67 | Cry to Heaven | Anne Rice | Goodreads |
| 68 | Daniel Deronda | George Eliot | Wikipedia |
| 69 | Das imaginäre Tagebuch des Herrn Jacques Offenbach | Alphons Silbermann | Wikipedia |
| 70 | Das Rheingold : Translation and Commentary | Richard Wagner, Rudolph Sabor | Opera Cast |
| 71 | Das wilde Herz: Lebensroman der Wilhelmine Schröder-Devrient | Hermann Richter | Wikipedia |
| 72 | Death at the Opera | John Gano | Wikipedia |
| 73 | Death on the High C’s | Robert Barnard | Opera Pulse |
| 74 | Der Ring Des Nibelungen : A Companion | Rudolph Sabor | Opera Cast |
| 75 | Der Sieg der Melodie: ein Puccini-Caruso-Roman | Max Kronberg | Wikipedia |
| 76 | Die goldene Stimme | Erich Ebermayer | Wikipedia |
| 77 | Die Primadonna Friedrichs des Grossen | Oskar Paul Wilhelm Anwand | Wikipedia |
| 78 | Die Primadonna: ein Mozartroman | Ottokar Janetschek | Wikipedia |
| 79 | Die Walkuere | Richard Wagner, Rudolph Sabor | Opera Cast |
| 80 | Diva : Great Sopranos and Mezzos Discuss Their Art | Helena Matheopoulos | Opera Cast |
| 81 | Don Giovanni in Full Score | Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart | Goodreads |
| 82 | Don Juan in Hankey, PA | Gale Martin | Goodreads |
| 83 | Donizetti | Arnaldo Fraccaroli | Wikipedia |
| 84 | Ein Ende in Dresden: ein Richard-Wagner-Roman | Joachim Kupsch | Wikipedia |
| 85 | Ejs : Discography of the Edward J. Smith Recordings ‘the Golden Age of Opera, 1956-1971’ (Discographies, No 54) | William Shaman, William J. Collins, Calvin M. Goodwin | Opera Cast |
| 86 | Eleanor Steber : An Autobiography | Eleanor Steber, Marcia Sloat | Opera Cast |
| 87 | Emblems of Eloquence: Opera and Women’s Voices in Seventeenth-Century Venice | Wendy Heller | Questia |
| 88 | Encore, Opera Cat! | Tess Weaver | Goodreads |
| 89 | Encounters with Verdi | Marcello Conati, Richard Stokes, Julian Budden | Opera Cast |
| 90 | English Opera in Late Eighteenth-Century London: Stephen Storace at Drury Lane | Jane Girdham | Questia |
| 91 | Enrico Caruso : My Father and My Family (Abr Ed) (Opera Biography Series, No 2) | Enrico Caruso, Jr., Andrew Farkas | Opera Cast |
| 92 | Expecting Someone Taller | Tom Holt | Wikipedia |
| 93 | Farinelli, il castrato | Andrée Corbiau | Goodreads |
| 94 | Feuerzauber: ein Lebens-Roman Richard Wagners | Max Kronberg | Wikipedia |
| 95 | Fidelio: English National Opera Guide 4 | Ludwig van Beethoven | Goodreads |
| 96 | Final Encore | Martha Albrand | Wikipedia |
| 97 | First Night Fever | Hermann Prey | Opera Cast |
| 98 | Flügel der Morgenröte | Kurt Arnold Findeisen | Wikipedia |
| 99 | Flying Dutch | Tom Holt | Wikipedia |
| 100 | Fortissimo: Backstage at the Opera with Sacred Monsters and Young Singers | William Murray | Opera Pulse |
| 101 | Franco Corelli : A Man, a Voice (Great Voices, 5) | Marina Boagno, Gilberto Starone, Teresa Bretegani | Opera Cast |
| 102 | French Opera at the Fin de Siècle: Wagnerism, Nationalism, and Style | Steven Huebner | Questia |
| 103 | French Opera, Its Development to the Revolution | Norman Demuth | Questia |
| 104 | Gambara | Honoré de Balzac | Wikipedia |
| 105 | Giulietta Simionato : How Cinderella Became Queen (Great Voices, 4) | Jean-Jacques Hanine Roussel, Samuel Chase | Opera Cast |
| 106 | Goetterdaemmerung | Richard Wagner, Rudolph Sabor | Opera Cast |
| 107 | Grand Opera: The Story of the Met | Met Opera | |
| 108 | Great Singers on Great Singing | Jerome Hines | Opera Cast |
| 109 | Her Deadly Mischief (Tito Amato, #5) | Beverle Graves Myers | Goodreads |
| 110 | History of Opera (Norton/Grove Handbooks in Music) | Stanley Sadie | Classical Net |
| 111 | In My Own Voice: Memoirs | Christa Ludwig, Regina Domeraski | Opera Cast |
| 112 | Inez | Carlos Fuentes | Goodreads |
| 113 | Inspector Morse: Masonic Mysteries | Colin Dexter | Goodreads |
| 114 | Interpretation in Song | Harry Plunket Greene | Five Books |
| 115 | Interrupted Aria (Tito Amato, #1) | Beverle Graves Myers | Goodreads |
| 116 | Inventing the Business of Opera: The Impresario and His World in Seventeenth Century Venice | Beth L. Glixon | Goodreads |
| 117 | Italian Opera | David Kimbell | Five Books |
| 118 | Janacek’s Operas : A Documentary Account by the Composer | John Tyrrell | Opera Cast |
| 119 | Jon Vickers: A Hero’s Life | Jeannie Williams, Birgit Nilsson and Jonathan Vickers | Opera Cast |
| 120 | Jussi (Opera Biography Series, No 7) | Anna-Lisa Bjorling, Andrew Farkas | Opera Cast |
| 121 | Konig und Kunstler: Roman Konig Ludwigs II. und Richard Wagner | Max Kronberg | Wikipedia |
| 122 | La Dame aux Camélias | Alexandre Dumas fils | Goodreads |
| 123 | La Divina | Anne Edwards | Wikipedia |
| 124 | La Traviata [With 2 CDs] | Giuseppe Verdi | Goodreads |
| 125 | Last Look at the Old Met | Judith Clancy | Classical Net |
| 126 | Lawrence Tibbett : Singing Actor | Andrew Farkas | Opera Cast |
| 127 | Le crime de l’opera translated as: The Crime of the Opera House | Fortuné du Boisgobey | Wikipedia |
| 128 | Le Fantôme de l’Opéra translated as The Phantom of the Opera | Gaston Leroux | Wikipedia |
| 129 | Les petits mystères de l’Opera | Albéric Second | Wikipedia |
| 130 | Life of Giuseppe Verdi: A Book for Young People | Giuseppe Signorini | Goodreads |
| 131 | Lily Pons: A Centennial Portrait | Jame A | Classical Net |
| 132 | Living Opera | Joshua Jampol | Goodreads |
| 133 | Love for Three Oranges Aida | Leontyne Price | WOSU |
| 134 | Luisa Tetrazzini : The Florentine Nightingale (Opera Biography Series ; No. 5) | Charles Neilson Gattey | Opera Cast |
| 135 | M. Butterfly | David Henry Hwang | Goodreads |
| 136 | Madame Bovary | Gustave Flaubert | Wikipedia |
| 137 | Madame Butterfly | Giacomo Puccini | Goodreads |
| 138 | Maria By Callas | Met Opera | |
| 139 | Maria Malibran : Diva of the Romantic Age | April Fitzlyon | Opera Cast |
| 140 | Maria Malibran: A Biography of the Singer | Howard Bushnell | Goodreads |
| 141 | Maria Meneghini Callas | Michael Scott | Opera Cast |
| 142 | Master Class | Terrance McNally | Opera Pulse |
| 143 | Master of Illusion (Book One) | Anne Rouen | Goodreads |
| 144 | Master of Illusion (Master of Illusion #2) | Anne Rouen | Goodreads |
| 145 | Memoirs of a Singer | Friedrich Bruckbräu | Wikipedia |
| 146 | Memoirs of Lorenzo Da Ponte (Da Capo Press Music Reprint Series) | Lorenzo Da Ponte, Elisabeth Abbott | Opera Cast |
| 147 | Metropolitan Opera Encyclopedia: A Comprehensive Guide to the World of Opera | David Hamilton, editor | Classical Net |
| 148 | Mimomania: Music and Gesture in Nineteenth-Century Opera | Mary Ann Smart | Questia |
| 149 | Molto Agitato Molto Agitato | Met Opera | |
| 150 | More Than Singing | Lotte Lehmann | Opera Cast |
| 151 | Mozart | Maynard Solomon | Goodreads |
| 152 | Mozart: A Life | Peter Gay | Goodreads |
| 153 | Mozart’s Women: His Family, His Friends, His Music | Jane Glover | Opera Pulse |
| 154 | Murder at the Opera: a collection of eleven murder mysteries | Thomas Godfrey | Wikipedia |
| 155 | Murder in the Opera House | Queena Mario | Wikipedia |
| 156 | Music of a Life | Andreï Makine | Goodreads |
| 157 | My friends from Cairnton | Jane Duncan | Wikipedia |
| 158 | New Grove Dictionary of Opera (4Vols.) | Stanley Sadie | Opera Cast |
| 159 | Of Lena Geyer | Marcia Davenport | Wikipedia |
| 160 | One Dead Diva | Phillip Scott | Wikipedia |
| 161 | Opera and Drama | Richard Wagner, William Ashton Ellis | Opera Cast |
| 162 | Opera and Drama in Eighteenth-Century London: The King’s Theatre, Garrick and the Business of Performance | Ian Woodfield | Questia |
| 163 | Opera and Politics: From Monteverdi to Henze | John Bokina | Goodreads |
| 164 | Opera and the Culture of Fascism | Jeremy Tambling | Questia |
| 165 | Opera Antics and Anecdotes | Stephen B. Tanner | Opera Pulse |
| 166 | Opera in Italy Today: A Guide | Nick Rossi | Classical Net |
| 167 | Opera in Paris, 1800-1850: A Lively History | Patrick Barbier, Robert Luoma (Translator) | Classical Net |
| 168 | Opera in Seventeenth-Century Venice: The Creation of a Genre | Ellen Rosand | Goodreads |
| 169 | Opera Odyssey: Toward a History of Opera in Nineteenth-Century America | June C. Ottenberg | Questia |
| 170 | Opera: A Research and Information Guide | Guy A. Marco | Questia |
| 171 | Opera: Desire, Disease, Death | Michael Hutcheon | Goodreads |
| 172 | Opera: Parsifal, Salome, Mahler, Pelleas & Melisande | P. Craig Russell | Goodreads |
| 173 | Opera: The Art of Dying | Linda Hutcheon | Goodreads |
| 174 | Opera’s Second Death | Slavoj Žižek | Goodreads |
| 175 | Opernball | Josef Haslinger | Wikipedia |
| 176 | Oxford Dictionary of Opera | John Warrack, with Ewan West | Classical Net |
| 177 | Pagliacci in Full Score | Ruggiero Leoncavallo | Goodreads |
| 178 | Painted Veil (Tito Amato, #2) | Beverle Graves Myers | Goodreads |
| 179 | Penetrating Wagner’s Ring : An Anthology (Da Capo Paperback) | John Louis Di Gaetani | Opera Cast |
| 180 | Pfitzner’s Palestrina | Owen Toller | Classical Net |
| 181 | Phaidon Book of the Opera – A Survey of 780 Operas from 1597 | Catherine Atthill | Classical Net |
| 182 | Phantom | Susan Kay | Wikipedia |
| 183 | Phonetic Readings of Songs and Arias | Berton Coffin | Aria Database |
| 184 | Porporino, ou, Les mystères de Naples translated as: Porporino, or The Secret of Naples | Dominique Fernandez | Wikipedia |
| 185 | Preparing an Operatic Role | Marie Myerscough and Sir Colin Davis | Five Books |
| 186 | Prima Donna | Nancy Freedman | Wikipedia |
| 187 | Prima Donna, a novel of the opera | Pitts Sanborn | Wikipedia |
| 188 | Prince Orlofsky, Vampire Hunter | Isabelle Glass | Goodreads |
| 189 | Puccini: A Biography | Mary Jane Phillips-Matz | Goodreads |
| 190 | Puccini’s Turandot : The End of the Great Tradition (Princeton Studies in Opera) | William Ashbrook, Harold Powers | Opera Cast |
| 191 | Rates of Exchange | Malcolm Bradbury | Wikipedia |
| 192 | Renata Tebaldi : The Voice of an Angel (Great Voices, 2) | Carlamaria Casanova, Connie Mandracchia De Caro | Opera Cast |
| 193 | Richard Strauss : a critical study of the operas | William Mann | Aria Database |
| 194 | Richard Wagner : Der Ring Des Nibelungen, Goetterdaemmerung, Siegfried, Die Walkuere, Das Rheingold (Boxed Set) | Rudolph Sabor, Richard Wagner | Opera Cast |
| 195 | Richard Wagner : The Man, His Mind and His Music | Robert W. Gutman | Opera Cast |
| 196 | Richard Wagner: The Last of the Titans | Joachim Köhler | Goodreads |
| 197 | Rosa Ponselle : A Centenary Biography (Opera Biography Series, No. 9) | James A. Drake, James M. Alfonte | Opera Cast |
| 198 | Rosa Ponselle : American Diva | Mary Jane Phillips-Matz | Opera Cast |
| 199 | Ruffo : My Parabola : The Autobiography of Titta Ruffo (Great Voices Series) | Titta Ruffo, Connie Mandracchia De Caro | Opera Cast |
| 200 | Se, döden på dig väntar | Maria Lang | Goodreads |
| 201 | Selected Writings of Luigi Dallapiccola, Volume One: Dallapiccola On Opera | Luigi Dallapiccola, with Rudy Shackelford (Editor) and preface by Antál Doráti | Classical Net |
| 202 | Serenade | James M. Cain | Goodreads |
| 203 | Siegfried : Translation and Commentary | Richard Wagner, Rudolph Sabor | Opera Cast |
| 204 | Signora, a child of the opera house | Gustav Kobbé | Wikipedia |
| 205 | Singer’s Repertoire | Berton Coffin | Aria Database |
| 206 | Singing in Imagination: A Human Approach to a Great Musical Tradition | Thomas Hemsley | Opera Pulse |
| 207 | Soprano: a Portrait (U.K. title; published in the U.S. as Fair Margaret: a Portrait) | Francis Marion Crawford | Wikipedia |
| 208 | Stage-struck; or, She would be an opera-singer | Blanche Roosevelt | Wikipedia |
| 209 | Stories from the Opera | Operaversity | |
| 210 | Stories of favorite Operas | Clyde Robert Bulla | WOSU |
| 211 | Tempesta’s Dream: A Story of Love, Friendship and Opera | Vincent B. “Chip” LoCoco | Goodreads |
| 212 | The Alteration | Kingsley Amis | Wikipedia |
| 213 | The American Opera Singer : The Lives and Adventures of America’s Great Singers in Opera and Concert, from 1825 to the Present | Peter G. Davis | Opera Cast |
| 214 | The Assoluta Voice in Opera, 1797-1847 | Geoffrey S. Riggs | Goodreads |
| 215 | The Beggar’s Opera | John Gay | Goodreads |
| 216 | The Bells | Richard Harvell | Goodreads |
| 217 | The Birth of an Opera: Fifteen Masterpieces from Poppea to Wozzeck | Michael Rose | Goodreads |
| 218 | The Birth of Opera | F. W. Sternfeld | Questia |
| 219 | The Book of 101 Opera Librettos | Jessica M. MacMurray | Aria Database |
| 220 | The Book of Night with Moon | Diane Duane | Wikipedia |
| 221 | The Callas Legacy : The Complete Guide to Her Recordings on Compact Discs | John Ardoin | Opera Cast |
| 222 | The Castrato and His Wife | Helen Berry | Goodreads |
| 223 | The Complete Annotated Gilbert and Sullivan | Arthur Sullivan, W. S. Gilbert, Ian Bradley | Opera Cast |
| 224 | The Complete Operas of Puccini | Charles Osborne | Aria Database |
| 225 | The Complete Operas of Richard Strauss | Charles Osborne | Aria Database |
| 226 | The Complete Operas of Richard Wagner | Charles Osborne | Aria Database |
| 227 | The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Opera (Oxford Paperback Reference) | John Hamilton Warrack, Ewan West | Opera Cast |
| 228 | The Culture of Opera Buffa in Mozart’s Vienna: A Poetics of Entertainment | Mary Hunter | Questia |
| 229 | The Definitive Kobbe’s Opera Book | Gustav Kobbe, Earl of Harewood | Opera Cast |
| 230 | The Devil in Music | Kate Ross | Wikipedia |
| 231 | The Dictionary of the Opera | Charles Osborne | NPR |
| 232 | The Diva’s Ruby | Francis Marion Crawford | Wikipedia |
| 233 | The Figaro Plays | Pierre Beaumarchais | Opera Pulse |
| 234 | The First Violin | Jessie Fothergill | Wikipedia |
| 235 | The Gilded Stage: A Social History of Opera | Daniel Snowman | Goodreads |
| 236 | The Great Poochini | Operaversity | |
| 237 | The Great Singers: From The Dawn Of Opera To Our Own Time | Henry Pleasants | Goodreads |
| 238 | The House of Green Turf | Ellis Peters | Wikipedia |
| 239 | The Inner Voice: The Making of a Singer | Renée Fleming | Opera Pulse |
| 240 | The Iron Tongue of Midnight (Tito Amato, #4) | Beverle Graves Myers | Goodreads |
| 241 | The King and I: The Uncensored Tale of Luciano Pavarotti’s Rise to Fame by his Manager, Friend, and sometime Adversary | Herbert Breslin and Anne Midgette | Opera Pulse |
| 242 | The La Scala Encyclopedia of the Opera | Giorgio Bagnoli, Graham Fawcett | Opera Cast |
| 243 | The Last Prima Donnas | Lanfranco Rasponi | Opera Cast |
| 244 | The Maestro’s Voice | Roland Vernon | Wikipedia |
| 245 | The Magic Flute (Die Zauberflote) in Full Score | Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart | Goodreads |
| 246 | The Magic Flute: An Opera by Mozart | Operaversity | |
| 247 | The Master Classes : Callas at Juilliard | John Ardoin | Opera Cast |
| 248 | The Metropolitan Opera Murders | Helen Traubel | Wikipedia |
| 249 | The Metropolitan Opera Presents: Così fan tutte | Met Opera | |
| 250 | The Metropolitan Opera Presents: Puccini’s La Bohème | Met Opera | |
| 251 | The Metropolitan Opera Presents: Puccini’s Tosca | Met Opera | |
| 252 | The Metropolitan Opera Stories of the Great Operas (Vol. 1) | John W. Freeman | Opera Cast |
| 253 | The Metropolitan Opera Stories of the Great Operas (Vol. 2) | John W. Freeman, et al. | Opera Cast |
| 254 | The Moon Opera | Bi Feiyu | Goodreads |
| 255 | The Most Beautiful Opera Houses in the World The Most Beautiful Opera Houses in the World | Met Opera | |
| 256 | The Mozart-Da Ponte Operas : The Cultural and Musical Background to Le Nozze Di Figaro, Don Giovanni, and Cosi Fan Tutte | Andrew Steptoe | Opera Cast |
| 257 | The New Encyclopedia of the Opera | David Ewen | Aria Database |
| 258 | The New Grove Dictionary of Opera | Stanley Sadie | Aria Database |
| 259 | The NPR Curious Listener’s Guide to Opera | William Berger | Goodreads |
| 260 | The One Tenor | Lindsay Perigo | Goodreads |
| 261 | The Opera Companion | George Martin, Everett Raymond Kinstler | Opera Cast |
| 262 | The Opera-Singers Wife | Elizabeth Caroline Grey | Wikipedia |
| 263 | The Operas of Mozart | William Mann | Aria Database |
| 264 | The Operas of Verdi : From Don Carlos to Falstaff (Vol. 3, Revised) | Julian Budden | Opera Cast |
| 265 | The Operas of Verdi : From Il Trovatore to La Forza Del Destino (Vol. 2, Revised) | Julian Budden | Opera Cast |
| 266 | The Oxford Dictionary of Opera | John Warrack, Ewan West | Opera Cast |
| 267 | The P. Craig Russell Library of Opera Adaptations, Vol. 1: The Magic Flute | P. Craig Russell | Goodreads |
| 268 | The P. Craig Russell Library of Opera Adaptations, Vol. 2: Parsifal / Ariane and Bluebeard / I Pagliacci / Songs | Mahler | Goodreads |
| 269 | The P. Craig Russell Library of Opera Adaptations, Vol. 3: Pelleas and Melisande / Salome / Ein Heldentraum / Cavalleria Rusticana | P. Craig Russell | Goodreads |
| 270 | The Phantom of the Opera | Gaston Leroux | Goodreads |
| 271 | The Phantom of the Opera: Piano/Vocal | Andrew Lloyd Webber | Goodreads |
| 272 | The Plain Old Man | Charlotte MacLeod | Wikipedia |
| 273 | The Primadonna | Francis Marion Crawford | Wikipedia |
| 274 | The Queen of the Night | Alexander Chee | Wikipedia |
| 275 | The Random House Book of Opera Stories, | Adele Gerard | WOSU |
| 276 | The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century | Alex Ross | Goodreads |
| 277 | The Ring of the Nibelung, Vol. 1 | P. Craig Russell | Goodreads |
| 278 | The Ring of the Nibelung, Vol. 2 | P. Craig Russell | Goodreads |
| 279 | The Rough Guide to Opera | Matthew Boyden | Operamania |
| 280 | The Soul of a Tenor: a Romance | William James Henderson | Wikipedia |
| 281 | The Tenor | Peter Danish | Goodreads |
| 282 | The Threepenny Opera | Bertolt Brecht | Goodreads |
| 283 | The Time of Our Singing | Richard Powers | Goodreads |
| 284 | The Toughest Show on Earth The Toughest Show on Earth | Met Opera | |
| 285 | The Trashcan Opera Society | Marc McVey | Goodreads |
| 286 | The Venice Adriana | Ethan Mordden | Wikipedia |
| 287 | The Verdi-Boito Correspondence | Marcello Conati, Mario Medici | Opera Cast |
| 288 | The Young Cosima, a novel | Henry Handel Richardson | Wikipedia |
| 289 | The Young Prima Donna: a romance of the opera | Elizabeth Caroline Grey | Wikipedia |
| 290 | Theatre In Vienna: A Critical History, 1776 1995 | W.E. Yates | Goodreads |
| 291 | Three Mozart Libretti : The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni and Cosi Fan Tutte | Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Robert Pack, Marjorie Lelash | Opera Cast |
| 292 | Tito Schipa : A Biography (Great Voices Series, Vol 3) | Brian Williams | Opera Cast |
| 293 | Titta Ruffo : An Anthology | Andrew Farkas | Opera Cast |
| 294 | Tosca | Giacomo Puccini | Goodreads |
| 295 | Trilby | George du Maurier | Wikipedia |
| 296 | Tristan | Thomas Mann | Wikipedia |
| 297 | Turandot | Marianna Mayer | Goodreads |
| 298 | Turandot: Full Score | Giacomo Puccini | Goodreads |
| 299 | Understanding the Women of Mozart’s Operas | Kristi Brown-Montesano | Classical Net |
| 300 | Unsung Voices : Opera and Musical Narrative in the Nineteenth Century (Princeton Studies in Opera) | Carolyn Abbate | Opera Cast |
| 301 | Verdi (Master Musicians Series) | Julian Budden | Opera Cast |
| 302 | Verdi and/or Wagner: Two Men, Two Worlds, Two Centuries | Met Opera | |
| 303 | Verdi for Kids | Operaversity | |
| 304 | Verdi, oder Die Macht des Schicksals | Hans Nowak and Georg Zivier | Wikipedia |
| 305 | Verdi, Requiem (Cambridge Music Handbooks) | David Rosen | Opera Cast |
| 306 | Verdi: A Biography | Mary Jane Phillips-Matz | Goodreads |
| 307 | Verdi. Roman der Oper (de) (Verdi: A Novel of the Opera | Franz Werfel | Wikipedia |
| 308 | Verdi’s Theater: Creating Drama Through Music | Gilles De Van, with Gilda Roberts (translator) | Classical Net |
| 309 | Vergittertes fenster: novelle um den tod des königs Ludwig II. von Bayern’ | Klaus Mann | Wikipedia |
| 310 | W.A. Mozart : Die Zauberfloete (Cambridge Opera Handbooks) | Peter Branscombe | Opera Cast |
| 311 | W.A. Mozart : Le Nozze Di Figaro (Cambridge Opera Handbooks) | Tim Carter | Opera Cast |
| 312 | W.A. Mozart, Cosi Fan Tutte (Cambridge Opera Handbooks) | Bruce Alan Brown | Opera Cast |
| 313 | Wagner and Philosophy | Bryan Magee | Five Books |
| 314 | Wagner and Russia (Cambridge Studies in Russian Literature) | Rosamund Bartlett | Opera Cast |
| 315 | Wagner in Performance | Barry Millington, Stewart Spencer | Opera Cast |
| 316 | Wagner on Music and Drama : A Compendium of Richard Wagner’s Prose Works (A Da Capo Paperback) | Richard Wagner, Albert Harry Goldman, Evert. Sprinchorn | Opera Cast |
| 317 | Wagner’s Ring: A Listener’s Companion & Concordance | Classical Net | |
| 318 | Wälsungenblut (The Blood of the Wälsungs) | Thomas Mann | Wikipedia |
| 319 | War and Peace | Leo Tolstoy | Wikipedia |
| 320 | Welt und Wahn, Barrikaden, Liebestod, Wahnfried: ein Richard-Wagner-Roman | Zdenko von Kraft | Wikipedia |
| 321 | Werther: Drame Lyrique En Quatre Actes Et Cinq Tableaux | Jules Massenet | Goodreads |
| 322 | When the Fat Lady Sings : Opera History As It Ought to Be Taught | David Barber | Aria Database |
| 323 | Where Angels Fear to Tread | E. M. Forster | Wikipedia |
| 324 | Who Was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart? | Operaversity | |
| 325 | Why come to Slaka? | Malcolm Bradbury | Wikipedia |
| 326 | Wilhelmine Schröder-Devrient: der Schicksalsweg einer großen Künstlerin | Eva Fanny Bernhardine Turk Baudissin, Grafin von | Wikipedia |
| 327 | Women Who Made New York | Met Opera | |
| Source | Article |
| Aria Database | Operatic Books |
| Classical Net | Books About Music |
| Five Books | The best books on Opera |
| Goodreads | Books about opera |
| Met Opera | Opera History |
| NPR | 5 Books To Ignite An Opera Obsession |
| Opera Cast | The Collector’s Guide to Books on Opera and Related Musical Topics |
| Opera Pulse | The Opera Singer’s Summer Reading List |
| Operamania | Best Opera books |
| Operaversity | OPERA BOOKS FOR KIDS |
| Questia | Opera History |
| Wikipedia | List of fictional literature featuring opera |
| WOSU | Books on Opera for Kids |
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