The "Rough Guide to Opera" is a unique handbook on the most thrilling of art forms, spanning four hundred years of music drama. The title features lively biographical sketches of some 150 composers from Claudio Monteverdi to Poul Ruders, animating the main events of their careers and revealing their social and musical context, and entertaining accounts of hundreds of operas both famous and neglected and comprehensive reviews of over a thousand CDs from recent digital releases to the best historical recordings. From historical figures like Caruso to contemporary stars like Bryn Terfel, Renee Fleming and Daniel Barenboim, discover the finest singers and conductors on record. Superb photographs, drawings, and CD cover images make this title an Opera-lovers essential.