Paul Thom is a philosopher-musician and adjunct professor in the School of Philosophical Inquiry at the University of Sydney and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities.

This valuable and very readable book offers a compelling philosophical account of opera as artwork and supports it with detailed case studies of major operas from Monteverdi’s Orfeo to Berg’s Wozzeck. Each opera is studied in relation to a selected modern production, and the author’s evaluations of these are fascinating.

• Chapter One. Speech, Harmony, RhythmChapter Two. Representing the MarvellousChapter Three. A Gallery of AffectsChapter Four. A World of Terror and LaughterChapter Five. The Power of the CrescendoChapter Six. The Aesthetic AttitudeChapter Seven. Sublime DiversionsChapter Eight. A Grand Comic OperaChapter Nine. Shock and SentimentChapter Ten. The Limits of ExpressibilityChapter Eleven. The Limits of TonalityChapter Twelve. The Uncanny

Paul Thom is a philosopher-musician and adjunct professor in the School of Philosophical Inquiry at the University of Sydney and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities.

This valuable and very readable book offers a compelling philosophical account of opera as artwork and supports it with detailed case studies of major operas from Monteverdi’s Orfeo to Berg’s Wozzeck. Each opera is studied in relation to a selected modern production, and the author’s evaluations of these are fascinating.

• Chapter One. Speech, Harmony, RhythmChapter Two. Representing the MarvellousChapter Three. A Gallery of AffectsChapter Four. A World of Terror and LaughterChapter Five. The Power of the CrescendoChapter Six. The Aesthetic AttitudeChapter Seven. Sublime DiversionsChapter Eight. A Grand Comic OperaChapter Nine. Shock and SentimentChapter Ten. The Limits of ExpressibilityChapter Eleven. The Limits of TonalityChapter Twelve. The Uncanny

Paul Thom is a philosopher-musician and adjunct professor in the School of Philosophical Inquiry at the University of Sydney and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities.

This valuable and very readable book offers a compelling philosophical account of opera as artwork and supports it with detailed case studies of major operas from Monteverdi’s Orfeo to Berg’s Wozzeck. Each opera is studied in relation to a selected modern production, and the author’s evaluations of these are fascinating.

• Chapter One. Speech, Harmony, RhythmChapter Two. Representing the MarvellousChapter Three. A Gallery of AffectsChapter Four. A World of Terror and LaughterChapter Five. The Power of the CrescendoChapter Six. The Aesthetic AttitudeChapter Seven. Sublime DiversionsChapter Eight. A Grand Comic OperaChapter Nine. Shock and SentimentChapter Ten. The Limits of ExpressibilityChapter Eleven. The Limits of TonalityChapter Twelve. The Uncanny