Taking eight of the most popular and frequently performed operas in the repertoire as his starting point, the author discovers the real stories behind the opera librettos - often revealing them to be even more dramatic than their operatic counterparts. This book shows how fact and fiction overlap, and from what obscure sources a major work of imagination can spring. The eight operas covered are: "Simon Boccanegra"; "Il Trovatore"; "Rigoletto"; "Don Carlos"; "Lucia di Lammermoor"; "Un Ballo in Maschera"; "La Traviata"; and "La Boheme".