| The Ultimate Art |
| Dedication |
| Epigraph |
| Preface |
| Chapter One— Introduction: The Difference Is They Sing |
| • | I |
| • | II |
| • | III |
| • | IV |
| • | V |
| • | VI |
| • | VII |
| • | VIII |
| • | IX |
| 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 |
| • | A |
| • | B |
| • | C |
| • | D |
| • | E |
| • | F |
| • | G |
| • | H |
| • | I |
| • | J |
| • | K |
| • | L |
| • | M |
| • | N |
| • | O |
| • | P |
| • | Q |
| • | R |
| • | S |
| • | T |
| • | U |
| • | V |
| • | W |
| • | Y |
| • | Z |