For much of the twentieth century, Donald Francis Tovey (1875-1940) has been Britain's most celebrated and influential writer on music. However, as a prolific and popular lecturer, broadcaster, conductor, and essayist, Tovey left many writings unpublished at the time of his death. The Classics of Music assembles here for the first time seventy of Tovey's significant writings not previously available as a collection. Initially edited by Michael Tilmouth, late Tovey Professor of Music at the University of Edinburgh, the volume has been completed by David Kimbell and Roger Savage, also of...

Italy was the birthplace of opera. In this authoritative and accessible account of Italian opera, David Kimbell introduces those who, over three hundred years, created not only a national tradition but the central tradition from which others have drawn their inspiration. He traces the history of Italian opera from its origins in the humanism of the Renaissance to Puccini in the early twentieth century, drawing attention not only to musical issues but also to the social, literary, and philosophical ideas that have shaped modern Italian civilization.

Norma is considered one of the finest of the ten operas composed during Vincenzo Bellini's short career, representing his genius more comprehensively than is usually the case with any single work by an operatic composer. This handbook provides the biographical and cultural context of the opera. It gives a full synopsis and an examination of the music and poetry, which is rooted in the aesthetics of early 19th-century Italian opera. Professor Kimbell suggests something of the impression Norma has made on our imaginations and sensibilities in the 165 years since it was first produced in Milan...