Leads the reader on an operatic tour of pre-Civil War America in this cultural study of what was an almost ubiquitous art form. It covers orchestral and choral musicians as well as stars, impresarios, business methods, repertories, advertising techniques, itineraries, sizes of companies, and methods of travel.

Opera for the People is an in-depth examination of a forgotten chapter in American social and cultural history: the love affair that middle-class Americans had with continental opera (translated into English) in the 1870s, 1880s, and 1890s and the women who managed, sang in, and bankrolled these companies.