An attempt to show why opera is one of the greatest forms of dramatic art, this has accounts of some of the greatest operas by Monteverdi, Gluck, Mozart, Verdi, Wagner, Debussy and Berg. This revised edition has new material including a section on Idomeneo and an epilogue on operatic criticism. Among Professor Kerman's other books include Beethoven (with Alan Tyson) and Musicology. He is the co-editor of the journal 19th-century Music, and writes regularly for The New York Review of Books, and Critical Enquiry.