The opera companion
Subtitle: a guide for the casual operagoer.
By: by George Martin ; drawings by Everett Raymond Kinstler.
Publisher: Dodd, Mead
Published: 1961
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 277
Subjects: Opera.
Notes: Vol. 1 of a 2-vol. version of the 1-vol. original edition; contains the original text except for the 47 opera synopses. Synopses can be found in vol. 2 (or in the original edition).

"Apollo editions"--T.p. verso. 

Includes index.
Table of contents: value: The casual operagoer's guide. The overture, the prelude and three chords; value: Melody, aria and recitative; value: The operatic voice as an artistic instrument; value: The operatic voice as a mechanical instrument; value: The castrati; value: Sounds of the orchestra : the instruments; value: Sounds of the orchestra : the scoring for Carmen; value: Tuning 'A' : the problem of pitch; value: The claque; value: Ballet in opera; value: The emergence of opera as a form of public entertainment; value: A history of opera in terms of persons and houses : seventeenth and eighteenth centuries; value: A history of opera in terms of persons and houses : nineteenth and twentieth centuries; value: Glossary. A glossary of operatic terms and miscellanea; value: Statistics. Repertories of several of the world's opera houses; value: App. A. Catalogue of all operas mentioned in the text and many others... Pt. 1, Operas with first performances from 1597 through 1939; Pt. 2, Operas with first performances from 1939 through 1959; Pt. 3, The operas of Mozart, Verdi, Wagner and Puccini listed in order of production; value: App. B. Basic operatic Italian.