Beth L. Glixon, Dr, University of Kentucky, USA

'...there is much here to stimulate and enhance the enjoyment of the thoughtful opera-goer, while at the same time there is much food for thought for performers, and above all producers...' Opera

• Contents: Introduction; Part I 17th-Century Opera: The Early Years: Singing Orfeo: on the performers of Monteverdi's first opera, Tim Carter; Training a singer for Musica Recitativa in early 17th-century Italy: the case of Baldassare, John Walter Hill; Re-voicing Arianna (and laments): two women respond, Suzanne G. Cusick. Part II Monteverdi and Cavalli: Monteverdi's mimetic art: L'incoronazione di Poppea, Ellen Rosand; Tacitus incognito: opera as history in L'incoronazione di Poppea, Wendy Heller; Didone by Cavalli and Busenello: from the sources to modern productions, Dinko Fabris; Censoring Eliogabalo in 17th-century Venice, Mauro Calcagno. Part III Italian Opera During the Second Half of the 17th Century: La sirena antica dell'Adriatico: Caterina Porri, a 17th-century Roman prima donna on the stages of Venice, Bologna and Pavia, Beth L. Glixon; Dances from the 'four corners of the Earth': exoticism in 17th-century Venetian opera, Irene Alm; On the road with the 'suitcase aria': the transmission of borrowed arias in late 17th-century Italian opera revivals, Jennifer Williams Brown. Part IV Opera Outside Italy: Why the first opera given in Paris wasn't Roman, Margaret Murata; The articulation of Lully's dramatic dialogue, Lois Rosow; Recovering the Lullian divertissement, Rebecca Harris-Warrick; Opera and the Spanish political agenda, Louise K. Stein; What did Handel learn from Steffani's operas?, Colin Timms; Performance and political allegory in Restoration England: what to interpret and when, Andrew R. Walkling; The politics of opera in late 17th-century London, Robert D. Hume; Name Index.