| The Ultimate Art |
| Dedication |
| Epigraph |
| Preface |
| Chapter One— Introduction: The Difference Is They Sing |
| Chapter Two— Singing Greek Tragedy |
| Chapter Three— When Opera Was Still Serious |
| Chapter Four— Ariosto and His Children |
| Chapter Five— Don Giovanni: The Impossible Opera |
| Chapter Six— What Peter Sellars Did to Mozart |
| Chapter Seven— Norma: The Case for Bel Canto |
| Chapter Eight— Hugo Sung and Unsung: Or Why We Put Up with Dumb Opera Plots |
| Chapter Nine— Sex and Religion in French Opera |
| Chapter Ten— Nuremberg Used and Abused |
| Chapter Eleven— Whatever Became of the Breastplates? |
| Chapter Twelve— What Makes Otello Work? |
| Chapter Thirteen— The Odd Couple: Offenbach and Hoffmann |
| Chapter Fourteen— The Janácek Boom |
| Chapter Fifteen— Herr von Words and Doctor Music |
| Chapter Sixteen— The Twentieth Century Takes on Shakespeare |
| Chapter Seventeen— Artists on the Opera Stage |
| Suggestions for Further Reading |
| Index |